“This writer, while residing in foreign capital, once had some locals ask where we kept our guns.”

This writer has traveled all across the world and your anecdote does not make any sense. The “locals”, as you call them, don’t give a hoot about where our guns are but they are more interested in the foreign policy of the US and that we don’t bring our guns to their country or the countries of their friends.

@commonsense- Clearly you've never seen or experienced the kind of value these 'intangibles' can have in dealing with other nations. Cernan has. Armstrong has. Lovell et al have. Most Americans who have never experienced the power and reach the actions of their nation has in and on other lands in shaping the perceptions and values of the United States. This writer, while residing in foreign capital, once had some locals ask where we kept our guns. Seems they believed we all pack heat in the US of A as seen in our TV programs. Our space program, along with other good -and bad elements of American life, leave lasting ipressions in other lands and cultures stronger than you may believe.

Constellation would have a fighting chance if you can get the development cost down by 75%, the operations cost down by 75% and cut half of the remaining development schedule (3 or 4 years at this point).

It might also be helpful if you could demonstrate some useful capability in the near term. For example, delivering cargo to ISS in the next year or two might make a favorable impression.

Barring that, I think you are headed for cancellation sooner or later.

(Of course, if cutting schedule and cost are anathema to you, then space exploration wasn’t the real point of Constellation for you anyways was it.)

Unfortunately everything that has been spent or will be spent on Constellation has been thrown away. The Ares costs roughly 10 times as much as the Falcon to process. The Orion weighs more than twice as much as the Dragon and carries fewer people and far less cargo. The processing and facilities costs for Constellation dwarf those for SpaceX or even Delta.

“It’s part of the ‘Cernan intangibles’ commercial space advocates so easily dismiss.”

So why are these “intangibles”? Prestige for one is very “tangible”, suffice to look at how the US for one and the world perceive the US. And there are polls in and outside the US that can provide the picture if you look for them. And if you think that 1 or 2 flights to the Moon would restore US prestige you don’t livein this time in this world. The election of the current president did way more for the US than any flight might have, in and outside the US. “Glamour”? You mean pilot with a scarf kind of glamour? “Right Stuff” kind of glamour? This kind of glamour is like the memory of a good diner. Today’s right stuff lies in other than aerospace areas: Entertainment. No one even knows the astronauts names. There is no such a figure as Chuck Yeager, Charles Lindbergh, St Exupery, Buzz Aldrin, any more. People look for glamour at Hollywood and on the Internet.

Anyway. If they are intangibles they are not going to help with today’s world. So what good are they for?

I support the Congressional plans over the President’s plans. The President’s plan is politically unsustainable and simply a waste of tax payer dollars.

The only good thing about the President plan is the fact that private industry gets a tiny bit of money to actually develop something and to do something.

@Major Tom

If you don’t realize by now that President Obama could care less about NASA then I guess ignorance really is bliss!

This is a goofy comparison.

The oil disaster in the Gulf is doing tangible, concrete damage to the environment and economy there that can be measured in dollars and cents.

By definition, intangibles like national prestige can’t be defined, measured, or assigned a dollar figure.

Moreover, national prestige, if you think it is important, is a function of government and society overall. It shouldn’t be a goal in any company’s strategic plan.

And after so many decades, who looks to routine LEO missions for national prestige, anyway? No one is impressed by the umpteenth Shuttle flight. For civil human space flight, national prestige lies beyond Earth orbit or in other, non-routine missions.

Think before you post.