Congress, NASA, White House

Posey: reported Obama plan “a giant leap backwards”

Although the only details about what might (or might not) be in the White House’s new space exploration have come through assorted media reports, that hasn’t stopped one member of Congress from sounding the alarm, and loudly. Congressman Bill Posey (R-FL), a leading advocate for extending the shuttle, issued a statement today criticizing the plan as reported. It’s not up on his web site yet, so here it is below:

President’s NASA “Plan” Is A Giant Leap Backwards and Would Be Devastating to America’s Space Program and the Space Coast

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) released the following statement in reaction to news reports that the Obama Administration is preparing to eliminate America’s next generation space vehicle to invest in earth sciences:
 
“Although Congress awaits the President’s official budget request next week, I am deeply concerned over news reports citing Administration officials that the President seems determined to abdicate America’s leadership in human space exploration.  Just weeks before the 2008 election, then-Senator Obama came though Central Florida promising the nation and the residents of Brevard County that if elected President, he would close the space gap and keep America first in space.  If this news report is even half right, this plan, if you can call it a plan, would be a devastating reversal of that commitment. 
 
“This Administration has thrown hundreds of billions of dollars into a failed stimulus bill, but when it comes to keeping America first in space his ‘plan’ is to cancel the development of America’s next human space vehicle, outsource our good-paying Shuttle jobs to the Russians, place all of our hopes on a yet unproven commercial adventure, rush/force the transition to yet unproven commercial alternatives, and shifts money from human space flight to global warming research.
 
“Until we have a clearer plan for the future, the only realistic and reasonable way to preserve America’s leadership in space is too [sic] provide for a temporary extension of the Shuttle. To terminate the Shuttle later this year with no plan, but rather a vain hope, is ill advised.
 
“My biggest fear is that this amounts to a slow death of our nation’s human space flight program; a retreat from America’s decades of leadership in space, ending the economic advantages that our space program has brought to the U.S., and ceding space to the Russians, Chinese and others.  I will do all that I can to stop this ill-advised plan.
 
“The President’s U-turn on this issue is both bizarre and misguided.  I will continue to work with my House colleagues from both parties and from across the country to keep America first in space.  This issue is far from over.”  

33 comments to Posey: reported Obama plan “a giant leap backwards”

  • Major Tom

    Posey wanted to extend Shuttle, which would have come at the expense of Constellation. And now he’s complaining that Constellation is being redirected?

    Goofy…

  • common sense

    @Major Tom:

    Maybe Posey said something back when the decision was made in the early stages of Constellation to terminate Shuttle? Any link available? Then again it was a Republican WH so they can do no wrong.

    This is all hypocrisy. Posturing for the next election cycle to shepherd the discontented. Pathetic. But what’s new? We are the OPPOSITION party so let’s oppose. Whether or not we actually have access to the final plan… A politician who makes his statements based on reports based on nothing of substance so far, just hear-say…

  • Posey has never put forth a credible proposal as to how Shuttle could be extended affordably or safely.

  • Mark R. Whittington

    Posey may be a bit nutty with his shuttle extension scheme and he is wrong about space commercialization, but he hits the nail on the head about Obama priorities. Hundreds of billions of stimulus junk, not one penny for space exploration.

  • Ferris Valyn

    Common Sense,
    FWIW, Posey wasn’t in the US Congress when the decision was made.

  • common sense

    “FWIW, Posey wasn’t in the US Congress when the decision was made.”

    It was not really my point but okay. Still, according to his website: “Prior to being elected to Congress, Posey served for eight years in the Florida State Senate…” So I would assume that then he already was a Republican and he was a politician and if he ever cared for Shuttle he voiced his concerns? If he did voice his concerns back when the decision was made to retire Shuttlle then my bad and good for him. If he did not I stand by my comments. Any link about Posey’s concerns on Shuttle back then?

  • Major Tom

    “Hundreds of billions of stimulus junk,”

    So you admit that the hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars for Constellation was “junk”?

    Think before you post.

    “not one penny for space exploration.”

    The $18B+ NASA budget is still going up by hundreds of millions of dollars in a year when most agency budgets will be held flat. NASA will finally be funding actual human space exploration hardware, including heavy lift and critical technologies, instead of wasting billions duplicating military and commercial LEO launch capabilities.

    That’s a lot of “pennies” for space exploration.

    Stop making up and spreading lies.

    FWIW…

  • Mark R. Whittington

    Major Tom, NASA is going to “study” doing an HLV that may or may not become reality some time in the far future. You, however, have been an anonymous shill for this administration for quite some times, which makes being called a liar by you a little bit rich.

  • David Davenport

    Posey has never put forth a credible proposal as to how Shuttle could be extended affordably or safely.

    Safe and affordable compared to what?

    Compared to an overweight-and-growing-more-so capsule requiring a water landing atop a launch missile that cannot be throttled off?

  • richardb

    According to Foxnews, President Obama will propose a $8 billion high speed rail program after the speech…….and sell it as a jobs program.

    If true that says it all. This President has zero interest in Nasa. Zero. Never did.

    Read it and weep
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/27/obama-announce-high-speed-rail-plan-post-speech/?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a16:g2:r3:c0.062013:b30082950:z0

  • Major Tom

    “Major Tom, NASA is going to ‘study’ doing an HLV that may or may not become reality some time in the far future.”

    False.

    It’s been publicly known that Bolden has had an HLV study ongoing since late October (the study actually started earlier):

    http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/10/bolden-directs-msfc-special-team-to-evaluate-hlv-alternatives/

    And the likely outcome of the study has been public since mid-January:

    http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2010/01/bolden-review-hlv-friday-sidemount-doubt-in-linessme-boost/

    Again, keep up with the publicly known facts instead of making up and spreading lies.

    “which makes being called a liar by you a little bit rich.”

    I didn’t call you anything. I told you to stop making up and spreading lies.

    Read for comprehension.

    “You, however, have been an anonymous shill for this administration…”

    First, how can I be a “shill for this administration [sic]” when I criticized their decision to pursue any HLV, especially a STS-derived one, at this point in time in the prior thread?

    Second, Mr. Foust welcomes anonymous comments in this forum. If you don’t like anonymous comments, then you shouldn’t post here.

    Third, why are you resorting to namecalling? I didn’t call you any names like “shill”. If your skin is so thin that you immediately resort to namecalling when another poster critcizes your post, then you probably shouldn’t be posting online at all.

    “for quite some times”

    “Some times”? Is English even your first language?

    Sigh…

  • Major Tom

    “According to Foxnews, President Obama will propose a $8 billion high speed rail program after the speech…….and sell it as a jobs program.

    If true that says it all. This President has zero interest in Nasa. Zero. Never did.”

    What does the former have to do with the latter?

    What does this have to do with space policy, the subject of this forum, at all?

    FWIW…

  • Alex

    Yeah, the HSR thing is stupid, but again: NASA’s getting a little more money in this budget, to say nothing of the 18 billion it’s already getting. It’s a decently funded agency, especially considering its disappointing track record in keeping things under budget.

    Hell, NASA’s budget is 1/3 the UK’s defence budget. It’s the application of these funds that’s always been the problem, not the funds themselves.

  • Alex

    My response was to “RichardB” not Major Tom. Sorry for any confusion.

  • richardb

    The point of the HSR jobs program to this blog is that Obama will spend, some will say “throw away” 8 billion on trains but is willing to take the manned out of NASA’s space missions over the same amount of money needed to give NASA a viable manned space mission of any kind.

    Why this 8 billion can’t be spared for NASA but for rails to compete against 530 mph jets is a question for another time.

  • Major Tom

    “Why this 8 billion can’t be spared for NASA but for rails to compete against 530 mph jets is a question for another time.”

    But you can make that argument about anything in the federal budget. The White House is proposing $XX billion for Weapons System Y that DOD doesn’t need. Or the White House is proposing $XX billion for Education Program Z that history shows won’t work. So why oh why isn’t the White House proposing to spend those billions and billions of dollars on my hot topic or pet interest (civil human space exploration and NASA, in this case)?

    It’s not an argument for or against a space program or policy. It’s a non-sequitor about the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of high-speed rail.

    For example, with the exception of the Northeast Corridor, I think Amtrak has been a huge waste of taxpayer dollars on an outdated and greatly underutilized transportation mode. But that’s not an argument for this forum. It doesn’t mean that those Amtrak dollars should have gone to NASA (or any other particular department or agency) all these years.

    FWIW…

  • Major Tom

    “Hell, NASA’s budget is 1/3 the UK’s defence budget.”

    That’s surprising. I didn’t know that.

    “It’s the application of these funds that’s always been the problem, not the funds themselves.”

    Exactly.

    FWIW…

  • Compared to an overweight-and-growing-more-so capsule requiring a water landing atop a launch missile that cannot be throttled off?

    No, compared to buying it off the shelf from either the Russians or a domestic provider.

  • Alex

    I just double-checked and UK defence is 43.7 billion pounds, or 71 billion dollars.

    So, NASA’s budget at 19 billion dollars is 27%.

  • Larry

    Obama just lost my vote.

  • Robert G. Oler

    richardb wrote @ January 27th, 2010 at 5:02 pm

    According to Foxnews, President Obama will propose a $8 billion high speed rail program after the speech…….and sell it as a jobs program.

    If true that says it all. This President has zero interest in Nasa. Zero. Never did. ..

    how did you come to that conclusion.

    High Speed rail is probably not how “I” would try and build infrastructure…but it is a darn sight better then spending those 8 billion dollars at NASA.

    If one spends X number of dollars at NASA NOTHING that is produced has value to the economy after it is produced. It is what local planners call “dead cats”

    On the other hand every thin dime spent on the NASA parkway or 646 keeps on giving. Every year there is a return from it.

    spending money on NASA isnt stimulus…it is pork

    Robert G. Oler

  • Robert G. Oler

    Mark R. Whittington wrote @ January 27th, 2010 at 4:39 pm

    Major Tom, NASA is going to “study” doing an HLV that may or may not become reality some time in the far future…

    so far there is no data to support that analysis.

    General Bolden has been working on a “different” HLV for sometime. He has various teams plugging away at this…Bolden is a capable leader…

    But who cares. If we get commercial lift to space for humans…that is one giant leap for mankind

    Robert G. Oler

  • There’s already commercial lift to space, its called Energia!

  • Robert G. Oler

    Marcel F. Williams wrote @ January 27th, 2010 at 7:52 pm

    There’s already commercial lift to space, its called Energia!

    It is not American commercial space…and I dont give a darn about anyone else

    Robert G. Oler

  • David Davenport

    Bolden is a capable leader…

    He’s another leading example of an Affirmative Action chair warmer.

    Gen. Bolden is capable in that role, yessir.

  • Patrick

    This is so depressing. I guess not enough union jobs to shill for. Is there any doubt left that the wrong guy got elected. And I don’t mean this to say McCain wa the right guy, but does anybody actually believe that a former engineering student and fighter pilot would have killed our human space flight program?

  • Patrick

    Robert, as I type this on my iPhone and this is bounced off a satalite I can not think of a single thing the space program has done for progress or productivity.

  • Major Tom

    “There’s already commercial lift to space, its called Energia!”

    Energia production ended with the fall of the Soviet Union. There is no Energia, commercial or otherwise, and there hasn’t been for almost a couple decades now.

    FWIW…

  • Major Tom

    “He’s another leading example of an Affirmative Action chair warmer.

    Gen. Bolden is capable in that role, yessir.”

    This is a space policy forum. If you have racially charged issues with human resources policies, take them elsewhere.

    Ugh…

  • Robert G. Oler

    David Davenport wrote @ January 27th, 2010 at 8:06 pm

    Bolden is a capable leader…

    He’s another leading example of an Affirmative Action chair warmer. …

    racist

    Robert G. Oler

  • Robert G. Oler

    Patrick wrote @ January 27th, 2010 at 8:58 pm

    Robert, as I type this on my iPhone and this is bounced off a satalite I can not think of a single thing the space program has done for progress or productivity…

    did any of those things have to do with human spaceflight

    Robert G. Oler

  • PatC

    @Robert

    Many of the heavy communications satellites in orbit were launched by the Space Shuttle, a human spaceflight program.

    The miniturization of electronics that would eventually lead to devices like the ipod were a direct result of the Apollo, gemini, and Mercury programs.

    The first practical hydrogen fuel cells were created during the Gemini/Apollo programs.

    I could go on, but the point is this. There is no greater technological endevor humans partake in than manned spaceflight. By pushing our technological limits, we can invent and discover new and revolutionary technologies which we never thought possible. Ending manned U.S spaceflight will not only damage national pride, but also deprive the United States of the technological superiority we now are barely hanging on to. Worse, no U.S human spaceflight means even less children will be enspired to persue careers in Math, Science, and Engineering, skills our nation desperately lacks. Obama is cancelling U.S spaceflight for chump change,neglecting the damage such a decision could cause in the future for petty short term political gain.

  • Major Tom

    “Many of the heavy communications satellites in orbit were launched by the Space Shuttle, a human spaceflight program.”

    Many? There are hundreds of active comsats in orbit (and hundreds more that have been deactivated). Shuttle launched maybe a dozen comsats before Challenger.

    “The miniturization of electronics that would eventually lead to devices like the ipod were a direct result of the Apollo, gemini, and Mercury programs.”

    No they weren’t. Electronics miniaturization was driven by ICBMs and the push to fit as many lightweight warheads on a single missile as possible. NASA leveraged that (and other ICBM technologies) in Apollo, but NASA didn’t drive it.

    “There is no greater technological endevor [sic] humans partake in than manned spaceflight.”

    Says who? A lot of AI researchers, biomedical engineers, etc. would disagree with you.

    “… no U.S human spaceflight means even less children will be enspired to persue careers in Math, Science, and Engineering, skills our nation desperately lacks.”

    If we need more students to pursue STEM degrees and careers, then we should just directly incentivize them via scholarships. It would be orders of magnitude cheaper than spending hundreds of billions of dollars on human space exploration in the hope that it indirectly inspires some kids.

    “Obama is cancelling U.S spaceflight for chump change,”

    How is adding $1.3B annually to the NASA budget “cancelling U.S. spaceflight for chump change”?

    Goofy…

    “neglecting the damage such a decision could cause in the future for petty short term political gain.”

    What political gain is there to cancelling a highly visible national symbol?

    Weird…

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