Most space exploration supporters believe a five-year gap in manned space flight for NASA to develop a new launch vehicle is unacceptable. (There are some that believe space exploration should be through robotics rather than manned space flight.) Aldrin creates buzz opposing NASA moon plan tells that that the second man to walk on the moon believes NASA should forget about the moon and focus on Mars. He also disagrees about retiring the shuttle, arguing that NASA should cut back to one flight a year if necessary, but maintain manned space flight instead of enduring a gap. Former astronaut Bob Crippen echoes the plea in Obama must minimize downtime before NASA's next big project.
Obama orders review of future NASA space plans tells the White House has ordered a 90 day review of manned space flight. Former Lockheed executive Norm Augustine is leading the review panel. The article explains NASA has spent $6.9B for returning to the moon and burning roughly $300M a month with the combined Orion and Ares programs.
At a recent Augustine panel meeting, NASA Surprise: Official Backs Cheaper Moon Rocket tells that the shuttle program manager, John Shannon proposed using the Shuttle's launch vehicle for both cargo and a lunar capsule. This would replace the Ares rocket currently in preliminary design. I posted Rocket Scientists Passionate About Their Mission a year ago, explaining that many in NASA believed the Ares rocket was unnecessary and existing launch vehicles could be reused. The Augustine briefing is intriguing, because space industry watchers think NASA may be signaling a possible change in direction.
Faster, Cheaper (and Better?) Way to the Moon adds that NASA is delaying the pad assembly of the Ares-I-X rocket scheduled for a test flight. The article explains that if the shuttle launch vehicle is used, it also avoids expensive reconfiguration of infrastructure at the Kennedy Space Center - more money for actual space hardware rather than earth facilities.
NASA has been flying without an administrator since January's change of presidential administrations. Bolden hearing appears set for next week tells that former astronaut Charles Bolden is likely to have a confirmation hearing on July 8. That will help!
Mmm. Buzz Aldrin has been to the moon, so he knows what it is there. (I am reminded of Mark Twain's comments about a visit to Jerusalem, but I digress.) However, the one year flight time to Mars seems impractical to me. I think we can learn about space exploration and colonization more efficiently and productively on the moon. I don't like the gap in manned space flight and also agree that rescheduling the remaining shuttle flights over the next five years is a great idea.
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