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| Re: House Panel Resists Changes in NASA Space Program (501745) | |||
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Re: House Panel Resists Changes in NASA Space Program |
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Posted by WillD on Thu Sep 24 02:10:35 2009, in response to Re: House Panel Resists Changes in NASA Space Program, posted by GP38/R42 Chris on Wed Sep 23 05:26:51 2009. I have worried since they first announced they were going to do away with the space shuttle some years back.There also seems to be a long gap between ending the space shuttle, and having the new system in place, It has been speculated that the Constellation program was conceived as a way to move away from the International Space Station by 2015. Michael Griffin, under Dubya's leadership, had a pretty strong aversion to anything with an outside influence. The ESA had expressed interest in being involved with the plans for a US return to the moon, but were told to go away. The Constellation plans would allow them a way to deorbit the ISS before 2020 and thereby rid NASA of another international involvement. Thus the delay in the Ares I program could serve as further impetus to eliminate the ISS by eliminating NASA launches to it. Of course both Congress, the Obama Administration, and the Augustine Committee have reaffirmed our support for the ISS at least through 2020. Thus I think it is important that we pursue alternatives that give us a manned spacelaunch capability within the shortest amount of time possible. To that end I'd recommend we go with DIRECT's Jupiter, or the Sidemount booster. I don't understand why they want to do away with the space shuttle before really having the replacement tested and in place. Unfortunately the Shuttle is both uneconomical and pretty much unsafe. We've now lost half the original fleet, so we can't exactly hope to continue flying something with such mission critical components in high risk locations. |
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