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John Glenn: Bush space vision unfunded |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
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 Former US Senator (D-Ohio) and astronaut John Glenn testified before the US House of Representatives late last month about the future of NASA, where he criticized President George W. Bush for directing NASA to return to the moon, but not giving the necessary funding for NASA to accomplish the goal. Glenn, a long-time advocate for NASA and space exploration, said, “I favored the [Vision for Space Exploration] because I assumed it was in addition to, not in place of, existing programs. I assumed that money requests would follow.” Thus far, none have, and any congressional attempts to increase NASA’s budget even nominally from year-to-year have been met with defeat.
Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration was unveiled in January 2004 in the wake of the Columbia disaster. The public had grown increasingly disenfranchised with the space agency, which seemed to be past the glory days of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. The Vision for Space Exploration directed NASA to set a course back to the moon and to eventually establish a permanent manned outpost there, along with the long-term goal of landing a man on Mars.
While the proposal was met with a positive reception among the public, the science and astronomy crowds were not so pleased, as the Bush administration had not consulted extensively with the experts about the funding requirements and merits of such a program. Returning to the moon is indeed an exciting prospect, but many astronomers question the scientific wisdom of doing so, especially when money for the Constellation Program to replace the space shuttles and return man to the moon is diverting money from current science programs and still coming up short.
NASA meanwhile has announced that due to the continuing funding shortfalls, the Orion CEV and Ares I rocket system will likely not be online and carrying astronauts until March 2015. The agency had set an internal hopeful deadline of September 2013 for manned tests, but the expected funding boosts never materialized. The three remaining space shuttles - Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour - will be retired in 2010. NASA has contracts worth $700 million for International Space Station crew and cargo transportation from the Russians aboard their Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, but increasing tensions with Russia and the rest of the world are dimming hopes that NASA will be able to get permission from Congress to negotiate more contracted flights beyond 2011.
Glenn said, “I never thought I would see the day when the world’s richest, most powerful, most accomplished spacefaring nation would have to buy tickets from Russia to get up to our stations. I think that’s a bummer.” NASA has invested $100 billion in parts and launch services for the ISS, and once the space shuttle is retired, will be entirely reliant upon Russia for manned access. Neither the ESA nor any private commercial ventures predict having an ISS-docking manned craft anywhere near completion by the time the Constellation program is online.
Hoping to correct the funding issue, Glenn proposed that NASA’s budget be increased by the neighborhood of $2.8-$3 billion annually so that two or three space shuttle flights can be made a year until the Orion and Ares vehicles are ready. Rep Dave Weldon (R-Florida) and Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida) have both floated similar proposals and met defeat on the floor or in committee. NASA estimates that anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 jobs will be lost when the space shuttle fleet is retired. NASA has also stated that it is too late to cancel the space shuttle’s retirement party, as critical parts suppliers nationwide have already started to wind down their shuttle part production lines and retool for Ares and Orion. Instead, the agency says, any funding boost should be directed into the Constellation program to accelerate development and get the US back into space sooner.
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