Posted on 03/11/2010 1:08:22 AM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The chief of NASA's space shuttle program said Tuesday that the agency could technically continue to fly its three aging orbiters beyond their planned 2010 retirement if ordered to do so by President Barack Obama and lawmakers. All it would take would be the extra funding needed to pay for it.
Space shuttle program manager John Shannon said NASA spends about $200 million a month on its space shuttle program. That's about $2.4 billion a year that would be required to keep the shuttle flying beyond their 2010 retirement date, he said.
"I think the real issue that the agency and the nation has to address is the expense," Shannon told reporters in a mission briefing.
NASA currently plans to retire the space shuttle fleet in the fall after flying the last of four final shuttle missions remaining for this year. The next shuttle to fly is Discovery, which is poised to blast off on April 5 to deliver vital supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station.
The fleet's retirement would end more than 29 years of U.S. space shuttle flights and leave NASA without a dedicated American spacecraft for launching astronauts into orbit.
Some U.S. senators and members of Congress have expressed support for extending the shuttle program, with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) filing a bill last week formally seeking a reprieve for NASA's space shuttle fleet.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Bump.
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21st century NASA produces nothing
Hey!
There are young pregnant girls who need someone to pay their veterinary/breeder fees. Not to mention banks and ratings agencies that need bailouts.
We can’t afford science!
Bullshit. Those Rovers have been the most spectacular accomplishment since the moon landings.
And I would argue that Hubble is way, way up there as well.
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1996/01/
Even if they did keep the shuttle flying just what is it going to do? After the Hubble repair missions its been pretty much just ISS re-supply trips.
I think you just answered your own question.
For which we will pay the Russians dearly ... as long as they even let us have access.
Some of what the shuttle does is old tech.
But I saw a PPT presentation of what it takes to prepare it for orbit. Yes, it is a very daunting and expensive proposition. Yes, there are a million things that could go wrong.
Yes. People might die if someone screws up.
But it is one of the finest areas of material and engineering technology/research that we have.
We’ve learned a hell of a lot more from flying the shuttle than some stupid-a** I-Pod!
After we pay them to take up a satellite and they charge us for it but the satellite is sitting in pieces reverse engineered in Kazakhstan what city do you think they will nuke first?
Just wondering.
Every dollar for space and Iraq means one less dollar for R E P A R A T I O N S such as 0boma-care
Why would they nuke us? Their best course of action would be to wait and see if Obama collapses/surrenders the US first.
In fact I doubt they would nuke us.
They have far more to fear from the Chinese, who sit on their borders and have like ten times the population, and only a quarter as much resources.
But can any patriotic American support us paying the Russians to be our taxi drivers? Why not pay them to captain and run the comm on our nuclear subs?
We’ve lost. Because the number of people who can sit and say “Help me” exceeds by large extent the number of people who say “I can...”
We are beggars, not doers. And will get what we deserve.
The same can be said of the Saturn V rocket and the Lunar Lander.
Without the Shuttles, can we maintain our satalites?
0bozo spent $2 billion on cash for clunkers, and has budgeted $4 billion for the criminal ACORN this year, yet he can't find $2.4 billion for the space shuttle?
This is the money quote of the year!
It seems like about the only thing NASA is doing is “building” the Space Station, which I thought was going to come down in 6 years anyway. Are they actually using the
station for anything worthwhile?
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