Cutbacks May Delay NASA Moon Ship

NASA will be forced to delay the first manned flight of its new spacecraft due to budget constraints. The craft, named the Orion, is designed to take humans back to the moon.

NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin told a Senate committee on Wednesday that the first missions of the new craft will be pushed into 2015 instead of 2014. Griffin says this is because budget cuts will shift money from the development of the Orion and the Ares I rocket.

The budget cuts would delay the first flight by four to six months.

The craft is being designed to replace the out-dated space shuttle which is expected to be retired in 2010. Griffin says that the four to five year gap between the space shuttle's retirement and Orion's debut will raise practical and strategic problems.

"When you don't fly for four or more years, people become stale ... facilities degrade. It's not a good thing," he said. "Our human spaceflight expertise will be depleted to a certain extent."

Mr. Griffin says that other countries will continue flying people and cargo into space while the United States is grounded.

"For the United States not to be among them is tragic," he said, adding: "When you don't fly for four or more years, people become stale. Very good people often move into other enterprises where there is more action. Facilities degrade. It's not a good thing."

After the hearing before the Senate Committee, Griffin said that while there is a chance that Orion's first missions could come by December 2014, it would only be possible if no early development money was reduced.

The Orion, designed to take astronauts to the moon and later to Mars, was announced by President Bush in 2004, a year after the space shuttle Columbia accident that killed seven astronauts. Bush said he wanted a return to the moon by 2020.

According to Griffin, he's not looking towards that deadline yet. "I'm not worried about the moon right now. I'm worried about replacing the shuttle," he said.

The Bush administration has proposed a $17.3 billion budget for NASA in 2008. This is a 3 percent increase over the previous year. Griffin says this demonstrates President Bush's commitment to space leadership and would help keep NASA on track.

According to Griffin the biggest planning problem for NASA was the resolution that President Bush signed on Feb. 15 that froze 2007 spending at the previous year's level.

This appropriation reduces overall NASA financing by $545 million from the original 2007 request. The measure also directed $677 million in specific reductions in NASA's human space flight budget, including $577 million from the program developing Orion. This is to be redistributed to other NASA programs.

"The bottom line is that we are down about half a billion dollars, and most of that came from the Orion Program," Mr. Griffin said. Developing the Orion will cost $10 billion, he said.

Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/03/01/nasa.funding.ap/
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=nw20070301092110652C565119
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/01/science/space/01nasa.html?ref=science