{"id":87139,"date":"2010-04-14T01:36:17","date_gmt":"2010-04-13T17:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-administrator-addresses-worried-audience-at-space-symposium\/"},"modified":"2010-04-14T01:36:17","modified_gmt":"2010-04-13T17:36:17","slug":"nasa-administrator-addresses-worried-audience-at-space-symposium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-administrator-addresses-worried-audience-at-space-symposium\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Administrator Addresses Worried Audience at Space Symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"

[04-13-10] NASA<\/strong> Administrator Charles Bolden told anxious audience members at the 2010 Space Symposium that U.S. President Barack Obama\u2019s new direction for NASA, outlined in the 2010 fiscal year governmental budget, should be seen as a transformative effort rather than a massive budget cut.
\n    In the budget, released Feb. 1, the White House terminated NASA\u2019s work on Orion, the follow-up vehicle to the Space Shuttle; ended development on two NASA rockets designed to fly manned missions to the moon; and set aside funding to hand over space transportation and future human exploration mission to private commercial companies.
\n    However, some audience members remained skeptical. One NASA official, who asked not be name for this story, said that Obama\u2019s budget looks for answers to NASA\u2019s problems in the wrong direction. \u201cInstead of handing off space exploration development to private companies, I think Obama should fix the problems at NASA that got it into its mess in the first place. The Orion project needed better and more efficient management and I think we will end up throwing a lot of good work to waste.\u201d
\n    While Bolden defended the budget, he assured the audience that he did not \u201ctip the president\u2019s hand\u201d in creating it and that anxious space industry personnel should wait until Obama\u2019s scheduled speech during a space conference on Thursday, where he is scheduled to give more details on the NASA budget. \u201cBoth NASA and the president are absolutely committed to a vibrant future for human spaceflight \u2026 We will use innovative technologies developed in a step-wise approach,\u201d said Bolden.
\n    Obama\u2019s NASA budget cuts do not stop with Orion. If implemented, the new structure will see the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program dismantled and split between separate projects headed by the U.S. Department of Defense <\/strong>and a partnership between NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration <\/strong>(NOAA), according to a plan released by White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in February.
\n   \u201cThe new system will resolve this challenge by splitting the procurements. NOAA and NASA will take primary responsibility for the afternoon orbit, and [the Pentagon] will take primary responsibility for the morning orbit. The agencies will continue to partner in those areas that have been successful in the past, such as a shared ground system,\u201d the OSTP said in a statement.
\n    Manufacturers\u2019 views on Obama\u2019s change of direction are mixed. Lockheed Martin<\/strong> and Orbital Sciences<\/strong> released conflicting responses to Obama\u2019s plan, highlighting an inevitable battle between the resulting winners and losers in the commercial sector.
\n    \u201cWe are keenly disappointed in the Administration\u2019s budget proposal,\u201d Lockheed Martin said in a statement. \u201cSignificant investment has already been made by the nation and private industry in Orion, which is human rated to provide a level of safety unmatched by any previous or currently proposed crewed vehicles. Nearly 4,000 people at more than 500 commercial companies and hundreds of small business suppliers across the country have worked diligently on the Orion project to support the nation\u2019s human space flight efforts.\u201d
\n    Orbital Sciences, one of NASA\u2019s COTS contract winners eligible to receive some of the $200 million that Obama allocated for commercial industry alternatives in the fiscal year 2011 budget, praised the decision. “In its first time at bat, the Obama Administration hit the ball out of the park in setting this new direction for NASA. As a commercial partner to the space agency for over 25 years, Orbital is very excited about this new course for America\u2019s civil space program,\u201d Orbital Chairman and CEO David Thompson said in a statement.
\nBolden said that the most important thing about the budget is that it changes the status quo on how NASA operates. \u201cNASA will now take small steps along a game-changing path. The re-focus with international and commercial partners is a move that aims to promote competition and allow innovation to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[04-13-10] NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told anxious audience members at the 2010 Space Symposium that U.S. President Barack Obama\u2019s new direction for NASA, outlined in the 2010 fiscal year governmental budget, should be seen as a transformative effort rather than a massive budget cut.     In the budget, released Feb. 1, the White House terminated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}