Posted on 02/01/2010 7:05:56 PM PST by KevinDavis
Washington, D.C., February 1, 2010 The Commercial Spaceflight Federation welcomes the decision today by President Barack Obama to place U.S. human spaceflight on a new trajectory with major investments in technology, science, exploration, and commercial spaceflight. As part of this plan, NASAs new competitive commercial crew initiative will invest $6 billion over five years for multiple companies to develop human spaceflight capabilities that will take astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
(Excerpt) Read more at commercialspaceflight.org ...
In the long run, this may come back to bite Obama because he may not believe private firms can put manned ships into space on their own without government taking the lead. However, in the short run over a few years, Obama probably has slowed down the progression of US manned space flight.
Well at least there is going to be human launches.. Under Jimmy Carter there was none..
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is self-serving, and short sighted. Where do they think future engineers are going to come from? India I suppose.
Yes the space shuttle. Congress could also extend the space shuttle program over Obama’s rejection of Ares.
I well expect Obama’s head of the FAA to determine that we need a whole slew of new regulations that will just so happen be enough to kill private spaceflight...unless you grease the palm of The One.
I mean, don't we need a "public option" in space, to promote competition and choice??? What about "single payer" space travel? /s
Indeed.. Pay for Play..
It is a hustle. He’ll make private firms pay through the nose just to meet a bunch of new regs that his czars determine that we need for private spaceflight.
“...Well at least there is going to be human launches.. Under Jimmy Carter there was none.....”
You are partially right. There were no US manned flights under Carter. There were, however, a ton of Soviet manned flights.
“Where do they think future engineers are going to come from? India I suppose.”
India, China, Russia etc - countries which parents demand their children study hard and get excellent grades.
And those kids will stay home where the opportunities are, not come to the US where navel lint studies has ascendance. Back in 2002 US kids who wanted to go into space were already talking about moving to countries where there are real opportunities. What do you imagine they are saying and thinking now?
(When Bush announced the Moon to Mars program many kids went to the hearings - all walked away in fustration at the shear buraurcatic nightmare that the US space program had become. The kids could see that the solutions offered by the panels were just recipies for more of the same on a larger scale.
None of them were particularily thrilled at the idea of working for some private company whose focus was space advertizing or toutism. They thought big, not small as private companies tend to do).
“It is a hustle. Hell make private firms pay through the nose just to meet a bunch of new regs that his czars determine that we need for private spaceflight.”
And if they get too uppity he’ll nationalize them, right after he regulates and taxes them into failure.
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