Obama Set To Kill Manned Space Exploration

Flopping Aces ^ | 06-16-10 | Curt

[Starman417]

Any surprise that Obama's mediocrity rears its ugly head once again. This time by moving to kill the Constellation program, the program to get man on the moon...permanently, and then to mars.....how does he do it? As his Chicago upbringing has taught him

Constellation aimed to build upon what was arguably America’s greatest technological achievement, the first lunar landing of 1969, by launching new expeditions to the Moon and to Mars and worlds beyond. Mr Obama proposed in February that it should be scrapped because it was “over budget, behind schedule and lacking in innovation”, but he has met opposition in Congress, which has yet to approve his plan.The head of Nasa, Major-General Charlie Bolden -- an Obama appointee -- has now written to aerospace contractors telling them to cut back immediately on Constellation-related projects costing almost $1 billion (£690 million), to comply with regulations requiring them to budget for possible contract termination costs. The move has been branded a “disingenuous legal manoeuvre” and referred to Nasa’s inspector-general for investigation. “It’s bordering on arrogance by the Administration to boldly and brazenly go forward with this approach. It shows a blatant disregard for Congress,” said the Republican Congressman Rob Bishop, of Utah, whose constituency stands to lose thousands of jobs. Two weeks ago the Senate passed legislation that compels Nasa to continue work on Constellation unless Congress directs otherwise. That legislation is due to be signed into law by Mr Obama this month while Congress continues its deliberations over his proposal to cancel the current space space progamme.

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Distinguished space veterans, including the first and last men to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan, have complained that the abandonment of Constellation will set America’s space capabilities on a “downhill slide to mediocrity”. They say that, while Mr Obama has outlined a vision for Nasa that includes sending people to Mars at some point, it lacks a concise plan for developing the rockets and spacecraft to get them there.

[snip]

Obama has gone out of his way to ensure everything this country stands for...innovation, excellence, pioneering...goes by the wayside. We are to be nothing but average. No better then the rest of the world and no worse.

This program requires all the traits that has made America great. It would allow us to explore the moon with new technology, investigate the origins of our universe all the while striving to get mankind onto our nearest planet.

Read more at floppingaces.net...

[NC28203]

>>>That enough for you or should I go on?

Can’t we get many of those same benefits from an unmanned space program?

[agooga]

Not currently.

Robotics, for example, cannot assemble a 1km drill rig on the surface of Mars to pull up big core samples, analyze them and discover the microbes that are probably present there. A mission like that could be conducted by humans in the next 10 years and at a cost that is modest by the standards that this administration has been spending money.

Robots are hobbled in the same way that the deep sea rovers are hobbled in their work around the leaking well. Robots seem to amuse people, but humans on other planets inspire.

So, in my opinion, no— many of those things (and many others) cannot be truly replaced by robots. At least not until several major breakthroughs in robotics and AI takes place. If we are to be a serious, space-capable civilization, if we are to be a nation that wishes to dominate the high-ground, we need to have the ability to quickly and easily transport humans into deep space.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

What does the roman colisseum have to do with anything?

We could be a great nation again by building a Colosseum in Washington D.C. and then feeding all the politicians to the lions.