Comments on: What NASA programs could be vulnerable to a budget cut?

By: Space Politics » Another round of belt tightening

Space Politics » Another round of belt tightening — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:15:57 +0000

[…] then-OMB director Peter Orszag and then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, in a joint memo, asked agencies to propose targeted cuts in agency’s 2012 budget submissions amounting to at least five percent of its budget. As it turns out, the 2012 budget proposal for […]

By: Space Politics » Future budget battles

Space Politics » Future budget battles — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:33:21 +0000

[…] a joint memo by then-OMB director Peter Orszag and then-White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel asked federal agencies to volunteer “lowest impact” programs to be cut to obtain a five-… in the FY2012 budget submissions. The outcome of the election makes it only more likely that there […]

By: Paul D.

Paul D. — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:13:16 +0000

> The only reason we donâ€™t have money to keep Shuttle flying is because we have to spend billions â€œclosing outâ€ Constellation

I thought it was going to cost about $1 billion to close out Cx.

This would keep shuttle flying for about 5 months.

By: vulture4

vulture4 — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 02:28:50 +0000

>>The problem is that they do care and they saw, like so many others did, that Constellation was sending the human space flight program over a cliff.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

The only reason we don’t have money to keep Shuttle flying is because we have to spend billions “closing out” Constellation. That’s absurd. We have a flying, fully operational system for human spaceflight. Shuttle has capabilities beyond anything on the drawing board. We cannot operate both Shuttle and Constellation. But Shuttle and SpaceX can easily operate in parallel, with SpaceX serving as backup and supplement to Shuttle, until a new fully reusable vehicle is available to replace Shuttle.

By: common sense

common sense — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:29:08 +0000

@ MrEarl wrote @ June 9th, 2010 at 3:14 pm

â€œOrion is not a part of the FY2011budget. You canâ€™t cut what you donâ€™t have.â€

Just in case you missed this… http://nasawatch.com/archives/2010/06/nasa-invokes-an.html

By: Space Politics » Briefly: Feinstein, ESA, and the search for compromise

Space Politics » Briefly: Feinstein, ESA, and the search for compromise — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:39:43 +0000

[…] NASA and other US agencies prepare to examine what programs they may have to cut in future budgets, the European Space Agency is facing a budget squeeze as well, Spaceflight Now […]

By: DCSCA

DCSCA — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:08:07 +0000

“As one lady at a breakfast club I spoke at told me â€œwhy are the NASA people so special, my company made a profit last year.â€

Hmmm. Perhaps she should have reflected on the qualitative elements of her life that morning which may very well have traced their existence in her day to ‘those special people.” But then her line of thinking falls in line with other profiteers who voiced a similiar outlook in years past: ‘What good is the moon if you can’t buy or sell it?” – Ivan Boesky, ex-Wall Street financier imprisoned for securities fraud.

By: red

red — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:22:51 +0000

Major Tom: “Without these kinds of capabilities, infeasibly large masses, on the order of ten ISS-equivalents, will be required just to mount one deep space mission. Such a huge mass for a single mission probably canâ€™t be pulled off even once, and even then, a second, third, etc. mission wonâ€™t be technically or financially sustainable. You just canâ€™t get there from here with just an HLV, even an impossibly big one.”

I’d also add that the flagship technology demonstration missions enable a lot of other useful space activity in addition to astronaut exploration. For example, they have uses in military space, commercial space, space science, and ISS work.

By: red

red — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:53:48 +0000

“Once in office, he convenes a committee to give him cover to kill the Constellation program.”

Did he also use the CBO and GAO during Bush’s Administration for the same purpose?

I don’t recall any complaints about the composition of the Augustine Committee until after they finished their work.

By: Robert G. Oler

Robert G. Oler — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:43:09 +0000

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2010/06/nasa-order-may-force-shutdown-of-constellation-moon-rocket-program.html

this is a hoot…I was reading this and hearing “This is the End” from the Doors…

Robert G. Oler