Page 10 - Constellation Program News Today

>> because they canceled the constellation program that was going to have us go back to the moon and then over to mars. heres what buzz said. >> what this nation needs in order to maintain its position as the 21st century leader in space exploration is a near term focus on lowering the cost of access to space and on developing key cutting edge technologies that will take us farther, further and faster, i believe this is the right program at the right time and i hope that nasa and our dedicated s...

Moments from now you are going to see the president walking up to that podium that this gentleman is walking up to. thats the kennedy space center, and you are going to hear about the future of the space program from the president. he is making an announcement coinciding with the fact that the budget for nasa has been increased, but a number of the programs that we associate with the space program are being discontinued, including the shuttle program, the constellation program to the -- to the -...

And encountered technical problems that offered rocket programs and development encounter, its costs started to increase and the gap started to grow. so that job crisis was always looming no matter what. people either through self-delusion or nasa being very fuzz bewhat numbers were actually going to be lost, it was never clear about what would happen. now that the shuttle program is ending and there is no constellation program that is going to follow on and it wasnt going to follow on even befo...

Aircraft mechanic or maybe ill stick around here and drive a truck. i dont know. >> theres just kind of a cliff out there, and were not sure whats on the other side of that cliff. >> reporter: now, apollo astro is notes, neal armstrong, gene surgeonen and jim lobo wrote an open letter and that open letter really criticized the presidents policy saying, look, cancellation of the constellation program say mistake. that shouldnt happen. we should be going back to the moon. in part, the letter reads...

If it aint broke, dont fix it. >> you believe there is nothing broken about the agency right now? >> i dont believe that were going to solve our problems by taking a shot in the dark and hoping that some commercial entity is going to be able to do what the government has been doing successfully for half a century and commercial entities have never done anywhere in the world in any country. >> so ideally then what would you like to see happen? i know of course the priority is to keep folks with a...

From orlando. it is good to see you, sir. thanks for your time. >> thanks, tony. >> well, lets start here. the president empanelled a blue ribbon commission, as you know, to look into the constellation program. remind us all again what the panel concluded. >> the panel basically concluded that the u.s., human spaceflight program was an unsustainable trajectory because its ambitions and its funding were not adequately matched. >> okay. so thats the starting point for the reevaluation and the reim...

Kennedy space center in florida. >> table nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before the decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. >> reporter: to the moon we went, as j.f.k. promised, not because it was easy, but because it was hard. now the space program that gave us mercury, apollo, gemini is at a crossroads. shuttle program is coming to a close. follow on constellation program that was supposed to take to us the moon and mars canceled. so...

Thousands of new jobs to floridas so-called space coast and expand the range of space destinations so what is the problem? his plan also essentially eliminates manned space travel among other things. virt wally every astronaut to weigh in on that plan condemned it in very harsh language including neil armstrong the first man to walk on the moon. we have brian wilson at kennedy space center. what kind of crowd will president obama face today? >> reporter: it will be a skeptical crowd. this crowd ...

Set to retire a number of years ago. so that has been in work and in action. in fact this program extends it such that we go into 2011 to be able to complete the space station. one of the concerns that people have is whether or not were going to be able to have a continuous presence in space. the continued capability going to space. that was going to be lost regardless of what happened with the presidents program. what i think is really exciting about president obamas program is were saying that...

Answers no doubt will reap untold benefits right here on earth. so the point is what were looking for is not just to continue on the same path. we want to leap into the future. we want major breakthroughs, a transformative agenda for nasa. [ applause ] now, yes, pursuing this new strategy will require that we revise the old strategy. in part, this is because the old strategy, including the constellation program, was not fulfilling its promise in many ways. thats not just my assessment. thats als...