Rep. Olson is playing with words.

The previous President, G.W. Bush, did not visit JSC ever. Not as President.

Not even as Governor of Texas.

This speech by Olson is all a joke.

What I don’t get is why the Space Transportation Association (STA) would be party to this mockery. STA is part of the joke.

Danny Graham and Tom Rogers must be turning over in their graves. The current STA leadership should be ashamed.

FWIW,

– Al

There is no reason for Obama to negotiate with “Pete”. If he does then the POTUS is lowering himself to the whims of a first terms congressman…and would then be forced to “negotiate” with every Tom, Jane and Dick who has anything space in their district.

Sadly Olson could have played a role (I support Obama’s plan) in formulating a coherent opposition and then trying to get some group which would support it, but instead he is doing this rather childish effort.

Robert G. Oler

“We need to build a shuttle derived heavy lift vehicle right now. So President Obama needs to really stop playing games with the HLV.”

I used to get wrapped up in the Ares vs. Direct debate. (I was an Ares proponent) But Obama’s program is so feckless and nutty I’d take either instead of a decade of nothing. For once I agree with you. Obama’s main aversion to an HLV is that it might hurt some feelings in other countries.

As for Olson, he’d be better off to show some guts and not to compromise. Still too many RINOs around. They’ll never learn.

If we really wants to develop a heavy lift vehicle then we should fund it and build it– immediately. But if Obama really doesn’t want an HLV, then the president should just come out and say so– just like he said he doesn’t want us to return to the Moon.

Just be honest!

Goofy…

I’m sure the president would be glad to. Now will Olson go to visit Hawthorne, Mojave, or Virginia to see the investment our private industry has made and the unbelievable professionalism, dedication, and knowledge of the people who work in those buildings? I think we all know the answer to that one.

I disagree that Constellation is in any form the best way forward, but I really credit Olson for skipping the chicken little rhetoric and explaining his objections instead of inciting baseless panic at the perceived doom of our space program. Frankly he sounds like a legislator. If Obama makes any significant changes, which I believe is unlikely, it’ll be because of folks like Olson and not Shelby. The one piece I agree on is HLV development, though I really hope they pick something more reasonable that a 25% increase in lift over the biggest rocket that has ever flown. We may need big, but not that big.

I thought we already had multiple goals and deadlines in the 2011 budget. Didn’t Obama just add even more goals and deadlines in the speech (i.e. the initial beyond-LEO test flights, initial asteroid visit, initial Mars orbit visit, and Mars surface deadlines)?

“A couple specific areas of disagreement that Olson identified in his talk were heavy lift launch vehicle development and Orion.”

Here’s my compromise. Keep in mind that a big HLV and the original Orion are not affordable – they would devestate NASA Science, sink the ISS, prevent the revival of NASA technology development, crush U.S. commercial space, etc, just as surely as Ares I/Orion would.

So … my compromise in the HLV and Orion fields is:

– EELV Phase I HLV, on a regular development program (even if it doesn’t make sense because we don’t need it yet … hey, it’s a compromise, so it doesn’t have to be ideal). We can always go to Phase II or Phase III which we’ll probably never need, or bring in a U.S. version of RD-180, as future options.

– Orion super-lite CRV, with the possibility of commercial entry of an Orion variant in the commercial crew program, and Orion super-lite feeding into the beyond-LEO spacecraft, should one start development in a few years