{"id":87540,"date":"2010-02-03T23:35:26","date_gmt":"2010-02-03T15:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/commercial-interests-on-both-sides-of-nasa-constellation-issue\/"},"modified":"2010-02-03T23:35:26","modified_gmt":"2010-02-03T15:35:26","slug":"commercial-interests-on-both-sides-of-nasa-constellation-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/commercial-interests-on-both-sides-of-nasa-constellation-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Commercial Interests on Both Sides of NASA Constellation Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

[02-03-10] Manufacturers Lockheed Martin <\/strong>and Orbital Sciences<\/strong> have released conflicting statements in response to U.S. President Barack Obama\u2019s budget proposal to cancel NASA<\/strong>\u2019s Orion project as part of its Constellation program, 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 released Feb. 4. \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.
\n    Despite the obvious political and financial lines drawn between the budget\u2019s supporters and detractors, some companies seem to be reacting from both sides of the issue created by Obama\u2019s decision.
\n    The decision to shift the U.S. space program\u2019s reliance toward commercial entities was co-sponsored by a presidential space advisory panel created in 2009 and chaired by former Lockheed Martin Chairman Norman Augustine. The panel advised the president that, \u201callowing companies to build and launch their own rockets and spacecraft to carry American astronauts into orbit would save money and also free up NASA to focus on more ambitious, longer-term goals,\u201d according to a White House statement. Lockheed Martin, like Orbital Sciences, qualifies to receive commercial funding, as it remains a leading commercial manufacturer for the U.S. space and military industry.
\n    The battle lines become even more vague as the Aerospace Industries Association<\/strong> (AIA), with representatives from other NASA Orion partners such as Northrop Grumman<\/strong> and Lockheed Martin sitting on its board, released a statement supporting certain elements of the 2011 budget, without mentioning the NASA program cuts. The proposal \u201cis a reasonable target that takes into account the very real demands that two ongoing wars make on our troops and the equipment that supports them. Even in today\u2019s budget-reduction climate, it is extremely important that our nation stands firm behind those obligations,\u201d AIA CEO Marion Blakey said in a Feb. 2 statement.
\n     However, in a previous statement on U.S. commercial launch indemnification issued in late January, Blakey said that U.S. commercial space industry would lose more jobs without government support. \u201cAs space launch capabilities have been developed by other nations our share of commercial launches has decreased significantly. Further loss of our commercial launch share could impact civil and national security payloads because the same U.S. companies also launch under government contracts.\u201d
\n    While Orbital Sciences and fellow COTS winner SpaceX<\/strong> highlight what they believe are the job-creating and economy-stimulating qualities of the 2011 budget, Lockheed Martin hinted that it will take its fight to the political arena. \u201cThe President\u2019s budget proposal will, of course, be reviewed by Congress and ultimately will require congressional approval. As the budget process moves forward, Lockheed Martin is committed to working with Congress, the Administration and NASA to ensure a safe, viable and robust space exploration program that does not cede U.S. leadership in space.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[02-03-10] Manufacturers Lockheed Martin and Orbital Sciences have released conflicting statements in response to U.S. President Barack Obama\u2019s budget proposal to cancel NASA\u2019s Orion project as part of its Constellation program, highlighting an inevitable battle between the resulting winners and losers in the commercial sector.     \u201cWe are keenly disappointed in the Administration\u2019s budget proposal,\u201d […]<\/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-87540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87540"}],"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=87540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87540\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}