by Jeffrey Hill<\/p>\n
U.S. President Barack Obama\u2019s decision to cut NASA\u2019s manned Constellation lunar mission program and invest $6 billion in commercial launch companies to replace the retiring Space Shuttle has drawn sharp divisions between NASA and commercial industry supporters over what role the industry will play in the future.
\n The U.S. Commercial Spaceflight Federation welcomed the President\u2019s decision, which was announced as part of the U.S. government\u2019s 2010 fiscal year budget, released Feb. 1. \u201cThe commercial crew initiative will create thousands of new high-tech jobs, help open the space frontier with lower-cost launches, and inspire a new generation with high-profile missions. This initiative is on par with the government Airmail Act that spurred the growth of early aviation and led to today\u2019s passenger airline industry, which generates billions of dollars annually for the American economy,\u201d said Bretton Alexander, president of the Federation.
\n Alexander joined a panel of commercial space company CEOs to discuss the benefits that the new budget may bring to the domestic private space industry, which has, in recent years, suffered due to lack of political support and strong international competition. \u201cInvesting in commercial spaceflight will allow us to create U.S. jobs, rather than continuing to send billions of dollars to Russia to fly our astronauts to space. With so many capable American companies here at home, why would we send all of U.S. human spaceflight to Russia? Let\u2019s create those thousands of jobs right here in the United States,\u201d said Alexander.
\n SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whose company was contracted by NASA in December 2008 to transport supplies to the International Space Station under the COTS program, also voiced support for the President\u2019s budgetary plan while criticizing NASA\u2019s political support. \u201cPeople should be relieved. It is important to separate comments from vested interests from people who cannot be swayed by any rational argument and believe that the answer has to be that funding continues in their district,\u201d said Musk. SpaceX will be ready to fly humans into space in three years for about $20 million a seat, the company said, which will open the door to America\u2019s future as a true spacefaring nation.
\n Strong opposition to NASA cuts came from both sides of the aisle and from both houses of Congress. \u201cI am not satisfied that what the President is proposing to do with these funds is better than simply going forward with the Constellation Program,\u201d U.S. Appropriations Committee member Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), said. \u201c\u2026 But the introduction of the President\u2019s budget is only the beginning of what will be a very lengthy budget process, and I will do everything in my power to ensure NASA and its 3,500 civil servants and contractors are not forgotten.\u201d
\n Voinovich was joined by Democrats in voicing displeasure. Rep. Suzanne Komas (D-Fla.), said her constituents were not happy. \u201cThe president\u2019s proposal lacks a bold vision for space exploration and begs for the type of leadership that he has described as critical for inspiring innovation for the 21st century.\u201d
\n Some commercial companies also joined the President\u2019s critics with their own concerns. ATK, one of NASA\u2019s major contracted manufacturers for the Constellation\u2019s Ares 1-X rocket, defended the program and vowed to fight the decision in a company statement, released Feb. 2. \u201cIt is not clear why at this time the nation would consider abandoning a program of such historic promise and capability \u2013 with so much invested. Ares is meeting all major milestones. The Ares I launch vehicle is an innovative and now proven design with an overriding concern for crew safety,\u201d the company said. \u201cIn the weeks and months ahead we are hopeful that the Congress and Administration will work together to deliver a budget that supports a program that capitalizes on the investments the nation has made in the Constellation program, closes the gap in U.S. capability to return to space, and best assures continued U.S. leadership in space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey Hill U.S. President Barack Obama\u2019s decision to cut NASA\u2019s manned Constellation lunar mission program and invest $6 billion in commercial launch companies to replace the retiring Space Shuttle has drawn sharp divisions between NASA and commercial industry supporters over what role the industry will play in the future. The U.S. Commercial Spaceflight […]<\/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-87274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87274"}],"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=87274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}