NASA Refused to Send People to the Moon
NASA and the White House have confirmed that in 2011 the budget, which will be submitted by the President on the next Monday (February 1, 2010), will reflect important changes in America's space program. (Source: space.com)
According to experts, the first report on the proposed U.S. manned flight program changes suggests that the current administration is fundamentally changing the strategy for NASA's manned flight.
One of the most important B. Obama administration's proposed changes is the astronauts' flight to the International Space Station (ISS) and the Earth's lower orbit. It will be performed not by NASA but by private companies and commercial spacecrafts. The ISS operational funding will be extended until at least 2020 (Other partners of the ISS have already agreed) and the G.W. Bush administration approved NASA's plan for 2020 to refuse a new Moon landing.
"This is a definite turning point in the country's manned flight program," - said George Washington University emeritus professor, space research program expert - John Logsdon.
Other experts notice that President Barrack Obama's proposal to the Congress to finance the flights of the U.S. astronauts to the orbital station by "space taxies" (commercial spaceships) would reduce U.S. dependence on Russia in case of the withdrawal from the "Space Shuttle" program.
NASA's spacecrafts will fly to space for only 5 more times: the White House is not going to extend their use, even if the last planned flight would be delayed up to the year 2011. Proposal to extend their use by 2015 was rejected.
This week the Presidential Administration has reported that Mr. Obama will ask the Congress for additional $6 billion to support NASA in the upcoming 5 years. This should help the private U.S. companies to develop commercial space flight programs. So far, no private company has raised men into orbit by itself or by its own spaceship.
According to experts, NASA's vision to return to the moon by 2020 was completely unrealistic due to the lack of funding.
Source: http://www.space.com/news/obama-nasa-budget-moon-ft-100128.html
Published by John Rivers
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