Report: Obama to cut Ares I, but increase NASA's budget.

[menellom]

Well, tonight we'll probably find out. I expect Obama will at least mention his decision on NASA, whatever it turns out to be.

 

[RJEvans]

I don't know why anyone would be surprised. Obama has never expressed any enthusiasm about the Space Program. With the recession and his planned spending freeze, this should not be a surprise. We all knew Ares I was on the chopping block. We all knew Constellation was fundamentally flawed.

 

[Couerl]

Bad politicians. Bad! bad! Bad!! :x

 

[jakethesnake]

Obama initially said during his campaign that he was going to postpone the Constellation program for five years and give the money to early childhood development programs, but when the state of Florida caught wind of this there was an uproar. Obama knowing that states such as Ohio and Florida have been game changers in the past four elections turned on a dime and pretended to support NASA…

Boy did he fool them… :lol:

Now Obama looks like he is going to go back to his original intension of basically doing away with NASA to become no more than a monitoring entity for global warming. :evil:

If Obama does what it appears he’s going to do, he is sealing his fate in the next election!

So I guess we are just looking at a three year hiatus for NASA instead of Obama’s initial Five year plan!

I also expect a real fight is brewing between Obama and congress, and with what is happening to Obama’s Heath care plan… I don’t believe NASA’s fate is yet set in stone… :?:

By By Obama! Hold your breath for three years NASA!

Here is an article that I think spells out what Obama's vision is for NASA.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/spa ... 0904.story

 

[menellom]

Even if NASA doesn't receive $1-3 billion, the current sources suggest that it's at least getting some kind of budget increase (a few hundred mil at least). So I'm at a loss as to why everyone suddenly thinks NASA's having its budget cut or the space program 'put on hiatus'.

With the cutting of Ares I and the end of the shuttle flights NASA will have something in the neighborhood of $7-8 billion freed up for spending on development of a proper replacement for the shuttle.

In the mean time, private and international partnerships will ensure we keep our presence in LEO stable until our heavy launch vehicle is ready to take us to the next step.

 

[nimbus]

Lots of rumors going around, many contradictory.
Sample here http://hobbyspace.com/nucleus/

 

[menellom]

See that's the kind of **** I've been talking about. Nobody's got a straight answer. We get reports of "$3 billion" one day, "$1 billion" the next, "no extra funding" the day after that, and "$1.3 billion for NASA, $6 billion for private space" after that.

 

[nimbus]

Silly season rumors. That's how it works. The plan isn't supposed to be released yet. So it follows that all anyone outside of the circles of decision-makers will hear in the mean time are rumors and echoes. Whether it's a straight answer once it's officially released is another matter -- it's a political issue and so will be crafted for its medium: the double-talking girouettist world of politics.

 

[menellom]

Well supposedly NASA has some mention in tonights State of the Union address, so we should finally have an answer straight from the horse's mouth.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Latest SDC reported speculation:

http://www.space.com/news/obama-nasa-sp ... 00128.html

 

[menellom]

This is the danger of speculation - you'll notice nowhere in that article is there a shred of confirmed data on the president's budget proposal... and yet there are posters calling for his head, seeing such speculative, rumor-ridden articles as 'proof' Obama will dismantle the space program altogether.

 

[jakethesnake]

Obama must be a political masochist; if this all pans out like the reports are suggesting then he might as well not even attempt to run for a second term, because he won’t have a chance in hell of winning!

It just blows the mind how this man can tell everyone one thing and do the complete opposite???

Kosmas calls Obama’s plans for NASA “unacceptable”

From the Orlando Sentinel:

But many Kennedy Space Center workers who supported Obama in his run for the President in 2008, feel let down by the President who as candidate promised to re-energize the agency and protect jobs here.

“The President pledged that he would minimize the spaceflight gap, but without a plan for exploration beyond research and development, he is threatening to turn the gap into an abyss with no end in sight,” Kosmas said.

“It is simply unacceptable and I will fight back, along with my colleagues from both parties, to maintain a robust space program and to preserve as many Space Coast jobs as possible.”

In a mini-briefing on Wednesday arranged for for the Orlando Sentinel and Florida Today by the White House, an administration official said he was confident that when the budget was made public on Monday, Congress and the public would back the plan to invest $6 billion in helping commercial rocket companies develop and launch spaceships that could fly astronauts to the space station.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_s ... table.html

And now Sen. Bill Nelson blasts space plan

Also from the Orlando Sentinel:

EDITOR’S NOTE: This just in from Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. Considering that until now Nelson has been a fierce defender of Obama’s space policy, this criticism will be viewed by many as especially harsh. RB

Following is Sen. Bill Nelson’s response to initial reports on the administration’s NASA budget:

“Based on initial reports about the administration’s plan for NASA, they are replacing lost shuttle jobs in Florida too slowly, risking U.S. leadership in space to China and Russia, and relying too heavily on unproven commercial companies.

“If the $6 billion in extra funding is for a commercial rocket, then the bigger rocket for human exploration will be delayed well into the next decade. That is unacceptable.

“We need a plan that provides America with uninterrupted access to space while also funding exploration to expand the boundaries of our knowledge.”

 

[EarthlingX]

This is easy publicity for some, and win-win. If President of USA decides to cut NASA budget is 'I told you so', if there will be changes for the better, they will claim victory in any case. I have a very strong feeling, things for space will get better.

Let's try and not get hit by a meteor until Monday

Wait for 2012 :lol:

 

[menellom]

A Call For Sanity

The claims of the Orlando Sentinal and the recent article posted on Space.com would be valid... if we actually knew what the president's proposal for NASA was.

Maybe you've noticed how the last month the "rumors" from "sources close to the White House" about the proposal have been all over the place? $3 billion, $1 billion, a budget cut, I believe the latest is $1 billion for NASA, $6 billion for the private industry. You know why it seems like no one knows what the plan is?

Because no one knows what the plan is! Until the president submits his 2011 budget proposal Monday NOBODY knows for sure what the plan for NASA will be. It's all just rumors and speculation till then.

Everyone, especially here on space.com (points to the hysteria of the 'so that's it no more humans in space' thread) needs to calm the **** down.

If, on Monday the president's budget proposal is a kick to NASA's balls, I'll be mad as hell and do everything in my power as a citizen to try and change it... but UNTIL we know for sure what the proposal is... RELAX!

 

[MeteorWayne]

Sounds like good advice....that will be ignored

 

[EarthlingX]

Sounds like good advice....that will be ignored

Most of them are, why would that be a difference ? :lol:

Keep you pants on kids, wait till Monday.

 

[jakethesnake]

Here it is… the end of Constellation…

What a SAD, SAD day….

From the NASA website…

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/ja ... udget.html

MEDIA ADVISORY : M10-018


NASA Announces Two News Conferences To Discuss The 2011 Budget And A Bold New Approach To Exploration


WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold news conferences on Monday, Feb. 1, and Tuesday, Feb. 2, to discuss the fiscal year 2011 budget request and announce bold new developments in the nation's civil space effort.

On Monday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Chief Financial Officer Beth Robinson will brief reporters about the agency's fiscal year 2011 budget during a teleconference at 12:30 p.m. EST. This is a change from the previously announced 3 p.m. Monday news conference in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Following remarks, reporters will have an opportunity to ask questions. To dial into the news conference, news media representatives should call:

800-857-5728 or 1-630-395-0025 and use the pass code "NASA"

A limited number of phone lines are available, so people are encouraged to call early. Replays of the teleconference will be available approximately one hour after the call ends. To listen to a replay, call:

866-431-2903 or 203-369-0952

On Tuesday, Administrator Bolden, Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will introduce new commercial space pioneers, launching a game-changing way of developing technology to send humans to space.

The announcement will take place at 10 a.m. in the National Press Club's ballroom, located at 529 14th Street NW in Washington. Reporters attending the event will have the opportunity to ask questions after remarks by Dr. Holdren and Administrator Bolden. NASA Television and the agency's Web site will carry the briefing live.

In addition to the two NASA events, Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will participate with Dr. Holdren in a briefing by the Office of Science and Technology Policy about the federal government's 2011 research and development budget. The briefing will take place at 1 p.m. EST, Monday, Feb. 1 in the auditorium of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The association is located at 1200 New York Avenue, NW, with an entrance at 12th St. and H St. NW.


To listen to the news conferences online, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

 

[jakethesnake]

Also,

From Sky News 2010

"We are cancelling the [Constellation] programme, not delaying it," the president's budget chief Peter Orszag said.

President Obama is expected to make an official statement this afternoon.

US Scraps Moon Missions In Budget Cutbacks

More than 40 years after the successful Apollo 11 mission, America will ditch plans to return to the Moon, Barack Obama is expected to announce. Skip related content

Read it here...

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100201/twl ... d0ae9.html

 

[MeteorWayne]

White House Confirms Course Change for NASA:

http://www.space.com/news/white-house-c ... 00201.html

""...[W]e are proposing a cancellation of the Constellation program at NASA even while making other investments in long range [research and development] there, which again is a significant step," Orszag said in response to a reporter's question about the tough choices Obama faced in drafting his 2011 spending plan.

The key elements of Constellation include the Orion crew capsule, its Ares 1 launcher, a larger rocket dubbed Ares 5 and the Altair lunar lander. Obama's top-line spending proposal for NASA is expected to increase slightly over the 2010 appropriation of $18.7 billion and would including some funding for an alternative means for transporting crews to and from the international space station. "

Obama Space Plan Sparks Angst from Lawmakers

http://www.space.com/news/obama-space-p ... 00201.html

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to scrap NASA's moon-bound Constellation program and turn to private companies for launching astronauts into space provoked a strong bipartisan rebuke from the Alabama, Florida and Texas congressional delegations several days before the president was slated to deliver his annual budget request to Congress.

House and Senate lawmakers from the three states home to NASA's lead human spaceflight centers unleashed a barrage of criticism in advance of the Feb. 1 release of Obama's 2011 budget request, which an administration official said would increase NASA spending by $6 billion over the next five years, keep the International Space Station in service through at least 2020, cancel the agency's 5-year-old Constellation program to build new rockets and spacecraft optimized for the moon and fund a $6 billion effort to foster development of commercial systems for ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station.

 

[EarthlingX]

Finally.