Obama Facing Uprising Over New NASA Strategy

From Yahoo News/Reuters:

WASHINGTON, March 10 - U.S. President Barack Obama is trying to tamp down an uprising in politically vital Florida against a new strategy for NASA that has rankled space veterans and lawmakers and sparked fears of job losses.

Obama's decision to kill NASA's Constellation program to launch astronauts into orbit and return Americans to the moon has prompted soul-searching on whether the United States is prepared to cede a pre-eminent space role to Russia and China.

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Obama's Plans For NASA Changes Met With Harsh Criticism

From Washington Post:

Harrison Schmitt's credentials as a space policy analyst include several days of walking on the moon. The Apollo 17 astronaut, who is also a former U.S. senator, is aghast at what President Obama is doing to the space program.

"It's bad for the country," Schmitt said. "This administration really does not believe in American exceptionalism."

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NASA Chief Bolden Seeks 'Plan B' For The Space Agency

Astronaut Nicholas Patrick holds onto the International Space Station's cupola during a February spacewalk. Reuters

From Wall Street Journal:

NASA chief Charles Bolden has asked senior managers to draw up an alternate plan for the space agency after members of Congress indicated they wanted to reject a White House proposal to hire private companies to ferry U.S. astronauts into orbit and beyond.

In an internal National Aeronautics and Space Administration memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Bolden ordered officials to map out "what a potential compromise might look like" to satisfy critics on Capitol Hill. By calling for an alternative plan, Mr. Bolden threatened to undercut White House efforts to get its proposed NASA budget through Congress.

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Under Fire, Administrator Defends NASA’s New Direction

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr., the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, faced skeptical, sometimes hostile questioning on Thursday from members of a key House committee who said they opposed the Obama administration’s plans to revamp the nation’s human spaceflight program.

General Bolden told the Committee on Science and Technology that the president’s $19 billion budget proposal for NASA — which would cancel the agency’s program to send astronauts back to the Moon, invest in new space technologies and turn to commercial companies for transportation beyond low-Earth orbit — would provide a “more affordable and more sustainable” approach to space exploration.

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Space Pioneer Burt Rutan Blasts NASA Plan

From The Wall Street Journal:

Commercial space pioneer Burt Rutan has sharply criticized Obama administration proposals to outsource key portions of NASA's manned space program to private firms.

The White House wants NASA to use outside firms to develop and operate new rockets and spacecraft that would transport astronauts into orbit and beyond, functions that had previously been considered a core function of the agency. Mr. Rutan, a veteran aerospace designer and entrepreneur, in a letter addressed to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, says he is "fearful that the commercial guys will fail" to deliver on the promises to get beyond low earth orbit, and that the policy risks setting back the nation's space program.

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New All-In-One Space Weather Tool From NASA

From Watts Up With That?:

The press release doesn’t contain any pictures, and really doesn’t do this new web tool justice, so I’ve added some screencaps. In a nutshell, the new iSWA site lets you arrange graphical packages of solar images and plots oncsreen for simultaneous evaluation. Stuff that had been scattered over several solar related websites is now in one interface. Pretty cool. – Anthony

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Nasa Rides 'Bucking Bronco' To Mars

From The BBC:

It weighs almost a tonne, has cost more than $2bn and, in 2013, it will be lowered on to the surface of Mars with a landing system that has never been tried before.

The Mars Science Laboratory will "revolutionise investigations in science on other planets", says Doug McCuistion, director of Nasa's Mars exploration programme.

It will, he says, lay the foundations for future missions that will eventually bring pieces of the Red Planet back home to Earth.

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Why NASA Picked Stormy Florida

From Christian Science Monitor:

Weather thwarts shuttle launches. But important factors favor this state.

If the space shuttle Endeavour lifts off in the early hours of Feb. 7, it will be the first shuttle launch in more than half a year to leave on time.

Each of the last three missions has been delayed for days or weeks – with one held back by a scheduling conflict and two by stormy weather. Despite its "Sunshine State" moniker, Florida has postponed shuttles due to five hurricanes, two hailstorms, a tropical storm, lightning damage, countless cloudy days, and meddlesome woodpeckers stabbing a fuel tank. And if the temperature goes below 36 degrees F., as it did earlier this month, Cape Canaveral's fickle weather will thwart yet another scheduled blastoff.

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NASA Scraps Endeavour Launch: STS- 130 Delayed Until Monday Due To Clouds

The shuttle Endeavour approaches pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
(Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now)

From The New York Daily News:

Better luck Monday, NASA.

Clouds rolled in over Cape Canaveral early Sunday morning, causing the space administration to scrub a planned nighttime launch off the space shuttle Endeavour.

"Sometimes you just got to make the call," said shuttle commander George Zamka, disappointed by the cancellation. "We understand and we'll give it another try tomorrow night."

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Briton Takes Off For Space Station As Nasa Faces Funding Crisis

Nasa astronaunt Nicholas Patrick. Photograph: Tony Kyriacou / Rex Features

From The Telegraph:

Nicholas Patrick's mission to international space station comes as Barack Obama announces cuts to US space programme.

As a schoolboy in Yorkshire watching the first moon landings on television, Nicholas Patrick could only dream of following the pioneers of Apollo into space.

Inspired by their achievements, he moved to America to achieve his childhood ambition of becoming an astronaut. On Sunday, when the shuttle Endeavour blasts off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, Patrick will embark on one of the greatest adventures ever undertaken by one of the handful of Britons to reach orbit in an American spacecraft.

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NASA's New Mission: Space To Thrive

From The Economist:

A plan to overhaul America’s space agency is long overdue.

IN 2004 George Bush announced a plan for America’s space agency, NASA, to return to the moon by 2020, land there, explore the surface and set up a base. The moon would then serve as a staging post for a journey to Mars. It was, unfortunately, unclear how this modest proposal would be paid for and, as work began and costs spiralled, the “vision” seemed more science fiction than science.

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The 'New' NASA Will Look Back At Earth

An artist's concept of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory. Credit: NASA

From Live Science:

NASA's new proposed budget will in part shift the space agency's focus from landing people on the moon back to Earth, with more money slated to go to projects that will help us understand our planet's climate and even plans to re-launch the carbon observatory that failed to launch last year.

The 2011 proposed budget for NASA, announced on Monday, cancels the Constellation program to build new rockets and spacecraft optimized for the moon, but increases NASA's overall budget by $6 billion over the next five years. Of that $6 billion, about $2 billion will be funneled into new and existing science missions, particularly those aimed at investigating the Earth sciences, particularly climate.

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NASA Budget Creates Uncertainty In Clear Lake

From Houston Chronicle:

Change came to Washington a year ago with the election of President Barack Obama, and one year later it is thundering through Houston's space community like a shuttle's sonic boom.

The totality of impacts from Obama's proposed NASA budget for Houston, the Clear Lake community surrounding Johnson Space Center and even for the astronauts themselves is still far from certain.

Space agency officials declined Tuesday to even confirm that NASA's astronaut corps would continue after the space shuttle retires within the next year.

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Obama To Scrap Nasa Moon Mission In Favour Of Private 'Space Taxis'

Farewell Orion? The Contellation space programme looks set to be scrapped. There had been plans to use the Orion module to ferry astronauts to the ISS, like in this artist's impression

From The Daily Mail:

American dreams of putting another man on the Moon were dashed last night as President Obama announced a spending freeze to help combat a £1trillion U.S. budget deficit.

NASA's plan to launch a series of new manned Moon missions was one of 120 government-funded programmes shelved.

The Constellation Project, started by George Bush, was supposed to restore America's reputation as a pioneer in human exploration and anticipated landings on Mars by the middle of the century.

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No Moon Program For NASA

Obama's Proposed Budget For NASA Starts Moon War On Earth -- Washington Post

The battle over space has begun. And it's likely to be brutal.

The Obama administration is attempting to kill NASA's ambitious back-to-the moon program, an effort that carried the imprimatur of George W. Bush. The Constellation program had already run through about $9 billion to develop a new crew capsule, Orion, and a new rocket, the Ares 1. Both are vaporized by Obama's new NASA strategy.

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Update: Obama Calls for End to NASA’s Moon Program -- New York Times

NASA Budget For 2011 Eliminates Funds For Manned Lunar Missions

Photo: No one will be following in Buzz Aldrin's footsteps under the new budget, which effectively ends plans for lunar flight by 2020. (Nasa Via Associated Press)

From The Washington Post:

NASA's grand plan to return to the moon, built on President George W. Bush's vision of an ambitious new chapter in space exploration, is about to vanish with hardly a whimper. With the release Monday of President Obama's budget request, NASA will finally get the new administration's marching orders, and there won't be anything in there about flying to the moon.

The budget numbers will show that the administration effectively plans to kill the Constellation program that called for a return to the moon by 2020. The budget, expected to increase slightly over the current $18.7 billion, is also a death knell for the Ares 1 rocket, NASA's planned successor to the space shuttle. The agency has spent billions developing the rocket, which is still years from its first scheduled crew flight.

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NASA's Next Space Suit

Photo: To infinity and beyond: David Clark Company, in partnership with Oceaneering International, is designing a new U.S. space suit for missions to the space station, moon, and Mars. It has interchangeable parts, so the arms, legs, boots, and helmet can be switched. The first configuration, shown here, is designed for launch, descent, and emergency activities, while the second design is meant for lunar exploration. Credit: Brittany Sauser

From Technology Review:

Engineers are developing a more flexible outfit--just the thing for a mission to the moon.

If NASA returns to the moon in 2020 as planned, astronauts will step out in a brand-new space suit. It will give them new mobility and flexibility on the lunar surface while still protecting them from its harsh environment. The suit will also be able to sustain life for up to 150 hours and will even be equipped with a computer that links directly back to Earth.

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NASA To Get More Money, But Must Scratch Moon Plan

From ABC News/AP:

Officials say Obama rules out NASA return to moon; budgets money for private space taxis.

President Barack Obama is essentially grounding plans to return astronauts to the moon and instead is sending NASA in new directions with roughly $6 billion more.

A White House official confirmed Thursday that when next week's budget is proposed, NASA will get an additional $5.9 billion over five years, as first reported in Florida newspapers. Some of that money will be used to extend the life of the International Space Station to 2020. The official said it also will be used to entice companies to build private spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the space station after the space shuttle retires.

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No Moon Trips: Obama's Space Vision A 'Paradigm Shift'

From Space.com:

President Obama's plan for America's space program, according to early reports, represents a fundamental shift for human spaceflight, some experts say.

The reports suggest the Obama administration intends to move toward relying on commercially-built spacecraft, rather than NASA's own vehicles, to carry humans to low-Earth orbit. The plan would also involve extending the International Space Station's lifetime and abandoning current plans to send astronauts on moon missions in the 2020s.

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What Happens If NASA's Constellation Program Dies?

From Popular Mechanics:

It has been reported that the president's budget may not include any funds for the Constellation program, NASA's primary source of hardware for future space missions. Here's a breakdown of some questions to ask in the aftermath of the apparent collapse of the United State's human space flight program.

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