Nonsense--In fact, Astronaut Jones is in training as we speak...... 
Posted on 09/12/2009 7:08:18 AM PDT by luckybogey
As America prepares to embark upon a new era of human space exploration, President Obama has commissioned a review of the nation’s human space flight plans. Known as the Augustine Committee, this panel has the important charter of evaluating the current NASA plan...
Exploration must be recognized as a national imperative that sustains U.S. leadership in space; a significant increase in human space-flight safety should be accomplished under government leadership; we must leave low Earth orbit and explore destinations beyond; and sustaining robust funding and staying the course are imperative...
...Members of the committee presented their preliminary findings to NASA chief Charlie Bolden and White House officials. Initial reports indicated the group agreed to retire the space shuttle in 2011, extend the space station until 2020 and use more commercial rockets. They also liked the idea of exploring deep space — rather than landing on the moon.
On Wednesday, the panel said that Constellation, NASA’s current back-to-the-moon program, is running $50 billion over the current budget through 2020. But the alternatives presented Friday are almost as expensive, requiring $20-to-$30 billion more than the current budget through 2020...
Norm Augustine, the retired Lockheed Martin CEO who leads the 10-member panel, said he was shocked at its inability to find an option that would fit within NASA’s current manned-space budget that the committee put at roughly $100 billion through 2020.
“I certainly didn’t think it would miss by as much as it did,” Augustine said. “One of the things that have troubled NASA the most in recent years is having objectives that they don’t the resources to match.”
That leaves the White House with a tough decision: back billions more for human space exploration, or support an emasculated program that critics will call pointless...]
(Excerpt) Read more at luckybogey.wordpress.com ...
Nonsense--In fact, Astronaut Jones is in training as we speak......
Everything is doomed under Obama’s Socialist Agenda!
This provides a perfect opportunity for private space flight to (literally) take off.
Worrying about Manned space flights being a thing of the past under a doomed socialist agenda is like worrying about whether one will have time enough to hang the wallpaper in the estate suites of the Titanic!
When the only accomplishment noted for last night’s returning Discovery crew in CA...because of weather, the shuttle has to be trucked cross-country to FL...is that they took a treadmill up to the space station, you have to wonder why we are continuing such an expensive program when we are some $30 TRILLION in debt. We are going to have to look at some of these sacred cows.
In a nutshell, his commission is recommending that actually accomplishing anything is too expensive, so he is recommending that Obama shut down everything and give NASA a budget increase. I'd say he knows his boss pretty well.
But this is supposed to be the centerpiece of the socialist agenda!!! The USSR and the ChiComs both love to beat their chests about successes in space. Obama must not have gotten the memo....
hh
It's probably much cheaper to build and launch a new Hubble with improved technology than to design build and man a new Shuttle. Same with Mars. Send 20 more advanced rovers.
If Bill Gates wants to go to Mars, let him pay and do himself using Windoz software.
I hope so.
This program has been nothing but an unsatisfied piglet suckling on the rapidly depleting teat of the federal government sow for several decades.
I believe there is a reason to explore the outer limits. Just not through the government.
I agree that manned spaceflight has reached the end of usefulness and should be ended. It’s ironic that behind the scenes JFK thought manned space flight was a waste of money, but only kept it going for PR purposes.
There’s no point in planning any Mars mission until someone invents a method to get there much quicker to avoid radiation.
Man landed on the moon with the power of a calculator. Manned Space Flight has now progressed to the point 35 years later that we can’t even get out of low earth orbit. Go figure.
I have mixed feelings here. Personally, I want to see man in space however I believe unmanned exploration is the best economical and most practical solution. I also think we also have a national defense issue and sincerely hope the Air Force has us protected in space?
I guess it comes down to money. Guns and butter? Social programs vs investment for defense, research, and technology. $3B more needed a year over current NASA budget?
As far as Augustine, the videos that I reviewed did show a lack of understanding of the launch systems however the NASA mars presentation to the panel lacked substance?
I’m not sure NASA has a voice in this administration. I believe most NASA jobs are in FL, MD, and TX. When I see our government spend $3B for the Clunker program, I question our priorities...
Would love to hear from all the skeptics who were soooo happy that they got a President who ‘isn’t anti-science’ as they somehow convinced themselves that George Bush was (I guess because he is a Christian?) will now find out that we don’t need any pesky space exploration!
Given that this technology is how our entire nation works (satellite, weapons, internet, etc...) this is a program that MUST be funded. That’s like saying “We really can’t afford electricity, but pay the cable bill!”.
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