US Senate panel votes to extend space shuttle program

AFP via Space Travel ^ | 7/15/2010 | AFP via Space Travel

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

A key Senate panel approved Thursday a 2011 budget proposal for the US space agency NASA that would extend the space shuttle program in a compromise from the Obama administration's demands. Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee unanimously approved the legislation, after months of debate and criticism.

The powerful Senate Budget Committee must still approve the bill before sending it to the full chamber for a vote.

Although the plan maintains the White House's 19-billion-dollar request for NASA funding for the fiscal year that begins on October 1, it adds another shuttle mission in 2011 to the two already scheduled for November and February.

The US space shuttles are set to be being retired early next year, after President Barack Obama opted not to fund a successor program, opting instead to encourage private spacecraft development.

NASA will then depend on Russia to fly astronauts to the International Space Station orbiting outpost until a new private or US government spacecraft becomes available.

The Senate committee's bill ordered NASA to begin working on a heavy-lift rocket immediately, rather than in 2015, as proposed by Obama.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Ping

[wastedyears]

Ping

[Captain Beyond]

Thanks for the ping.

Space Ping

[maine-iac7]

and after Feb - there will be a lot more pubbies in DC...

We need not only to keep our Space Program and our dominance in Space - we now need them to block the redirecting (redistribution program) of NASA monies to “predominantly Muslim countries” - per direction to NASA by Obama last Feb, to “help bring them into the Space industry.” and as for us - well, up to 100,000 people would lose their jobs - BUT, said obama, maybe some day we “could go to an asteroid.”

Whoopie!

[DemforBush]

I’ve been going back and forth on NASA. I just don’t know enough about the science to know if the agency’s resources would be better spent on a new manned project, or a focus on unmanned exploration.

About the only thing I *am* sure of is that Obama is just wanting to cut the funding for NASA so he can spend it someplace else. :-)

[billybudd]

Do you have a link to the claim of “redirecting (redistribution program) of NASA monies to “predominantly Muslim countries””?

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

A Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle would be advantageous because you can move heavy satellites into orbit.A large Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle will have a larger mass fraction than a smaller rocket of similar design, enabling less fuel to be used to insert a given amount of payload into orbit

[eclecticEel]

That’s nice.

It doesn’t change anything though. The shuttle needs to be retired, and we have nothing with which to replace it, and couldn’t possibly have anything for several years, and being bankrupt as a nation means we can’t afford anything anyway.

[packrat35]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=NASA%20Muslim

Put NASA and Muslim in the search on FR and you will get a lot of stories on this issue.

[packrat35]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=NASA%20Muslim

[Tallguy]

Probably done for employment reasons as much as anything. This decision will risk causing yet another shuttle accident down-the-line. If so, it will likely be the next president that has to explain why the shuttle was still flying and risking the lives of NASA crews.

The thing to have done was to keep the Aries program going. Flawed as it was, it was at least a direction that offered a way out of the box the Space Shuttle has us in.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

The Shuttle is about as flight worthy as a cement block with a bunch of bottle rockets strapped to it (and a gyroscope).

NASA, forget about AGW and get back to the drawing board.

[maine-iac7]

you ask: “Do you have a link to the claim of “redirecting (redistribution program) of NASA monies to “predominantly Muslim countries””?”

You mean besides the news stories last week?

Here are some from Feb.

http://www.thefoxnation.com/international/2010/02/22/obama-asks-nasa-chief-reach-out-muslim-countries?page=2

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2010/feb/nasa-focus-muslim-outreach

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/2010/01/boeing-lays-off-36-workers.shtml

I spoke with someone at the base tonight. He said three was NO compromise with Obama - that they basically turned everything he wanted upside down.
However, there will still be a lot of job losses - he will know more the end of this month.

Whether we can stop or find out if it is stopped - the redistribution of our money to Muslim countries instead of the Space Program is a matter for a decent investigative reporter or an honest politician to track down/ (Back in the early days of NASA - Apollo days, the NASA budget was about 10% of our budget...now it's one half of one percent - and obuma want to siphon off from that to the Muslim countries???

Good luck with that.

[billybudd]

None of the articles you linked mention anything about giving money to Muslim countries. What was described was an "outreach" program to find "partners", which I take to mean finding countries that want to pay to put scientific experiments on NASA spacecraft, as current partner countries have done. If anything, this is about bringing more money into NASA, not paying money out.

The judicial watch article is especially ridiculous in trying to tie the cutting of the manned moon mission program to this. Obviously a lot of people are upset about that, but it's silly to blame "the Muslims".

[maine-iac7]

silly to blame "the Muslims".

I didn't 'blame the Muslims" = Obama is the one who gave the DIRECTIVE - at the same time as he sliced the space program - ergo the "connection."

Also, I'm not going merely by the various news reports - only a FEW that I posted.

I have known and still know people who WORK at the space station and I've been closely connected, - from it's very beginnings in the 1960's to today.

But you probably know better than the rest of us. Enjoy your freedoms...