End of U. S. Space Program ?

[kkeenan 14]

Recent e-mail from a coworker here at Kennedy Space Center:

Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 8:03 PM
Subject: America's Human Spaceflight Program

Family, Friends.

The following are my thoughts about the current American human spaceflight dilemma. If you would rather not read it all and understand the situation please just jump to the links at the bottom. If you believe we should just give up the over 50 years of hard work, experience and knowledge we have gained in human spaceflight, and buy seats from foreign countries then you need not do anything further, and I appreciate you taking the time to open this e-mail. However please note: China has already flown two manned missions and have a vision and goal to establish a base on the moon. Russia continues to launch their cosmonauts and some of our astronauts. India just last week ground tested their solid rocket booster (amazingly their booster looks just like ours) and they plan on using it to launch their astronauts, just as we do with the Constellation Program that our president wants to cancel.

My family and many friends from high school will tell you about a guy that got chastized by teachers for only reading books about our astronauts and the accomplishments of our fantastic human space flight program. They will remember how all that guy ever wanted to do was be a part of putting American human beings safely into space because he believed that we belonged there as a logical step in the ultimate human exploration. Well that guy is me and I have had a wonderful career doing exactly what I wanted to do. How blessed am I to be able to say that! It will be 35 years next month if you count back to when I started driving tour buses at KSC and working at the visitor center, 33 years working as an engineer and manager on the Shuttle Program and the last three years working on Shuttle and the Constellation Program (the planned replacement for shuttle). I write this not for me but for my children, my nieces, my nephews, my grandchildren (no none are on the way), my great nieces, my great nephews, my friends children (you get the picture) so hopefully they can someday have the same opportunity I have had. I don't want them to just read about it in books or watch other countries "do it" instead of us.
They deserve the same opportunity that I had. The opportunity to be a part of the ultimate human endeavor. That opportunity should be their decision, not the decision of a misguided administration that will simply cancel our human space program, thereby taking the decision out of our children's hands. Our president has put forth his recommended budget for NASA for the next 5 years. The NASA administrator ( a prior shuttle commander) serves at the discretion of the president and he is compelled to carry out the presidents orders. However, I can assure you I have yet to find anyone in NASA at any center, whether it is one involved in manned spaceflight or not, that thinks that the presidents plan is the right way to go. The president has earmarked a significant amount of that budget plan to terminate the Shuttle program (sadly thats a done deal and the train has left the station) by the end of this calendar year, BUT he also has recommended CANCELING the Constellation program at the end of this fiscal year. Constellation is a well thought out vision with goals and objectives to use what we have learned from Apollo and Shuttle to safely launch American Astronauts for years to come. He wants to give up on what has made us great. He wants to abandon U.S human spaceflight as we know it. He may as well have slapped the surviving family members of the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia astronauts right across the face. Those of you who are old enough can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing on July 20, 1969. How dare he rob future generations of that opportunity.
Yes, he wants to put the task of launching America's future (paying) astronauts into the hands of commercial companies. What? I thought I and so many of my friends and colleagues worked for commercial companies that did just that. For companies that won the right to do that thru legal and ethical contract competitions. The simple fact is that to go from 0 to 17,500 mph in 8 minutes is not something most folks will consider as a way to get a great return on investment. What private company in it's right mind will shoulder that cost risk? It will ultimately come back on the governments shoulders. The complexities and acceptance of this risk is something only our entire country can do with the support of our citizens. Yes a small company has demonstrated a rocket plane on a parabolic trajectory with their astronaut on board and I watched that with much excitement and anticipation. Cudos to them! However thats the same thing Alan Shepard did on May 5, 1961 (but Alan went higher). However, getting into orbit, back to the moon, and onward to the planets and stars is a whole nother ball game. I am all for private industries getting into space (remember the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" with the Pan Am rocket plane, taking folks to the Hilton space hotel?). Someday it will happen. But it will not happen the way our president has been misguided to believe it will.
America's airlines were born from the U.S. Gov't air mail service. I keep hearing references to that in the plan for commercializing human spaceflight. But guess what folks, we didn't ground all the air mail planes and walk away from them to wait for some up start company to come along and get us flying again! We as a nation, continued to do what we do best until the private firms fully demonstrated their capabilities in a safe and reproducible manner.

So What can you do? If you have read this far I trust you do care about keeping America as the pre-eminent human space flight nation, so please read on.

Please view the video at this link to see what you have already gotten for you tax investment in the Constellation program and a graphic representation about the dilemma. It was put together by a fine young engineer that works for one of the contractors at KSC. Jared and he worked together when Jared was co-oping and worked on the Orbiter Discovery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2IQVZmHnJQ

If you believe that we as a nation must continue the peaceful human exploration of space then please, as a minimum, go to the following website http://www.goboldlynasa.org as it provides a quick and easy way to let congress know your thoughts. By law, congress must approve the presidents budget and the cancellation of Constellation. It also has a sample letter you can print out and send in the snail mail to your congressman or woman.
Or BETTER YET please send a letter to your congressman or congresswoman and tell them what you think. To find out their contact information go to: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

The President's budget proposal is just a recommendation. It isn't a done deal yet. EACH OF YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Please feel free to forward this e-mail or use portions of it in a letter to your congressman or woman.

Thanks for reading and thanks for caring.
Love and blessings to all
Larry aka: Rocketman

[cocheese 0]

I may have been on your tour bus 30 something years ago. I remember seeing my first Bald Eagle from that bus as the driver pointed it out.

My avitar picture is one of the coolest pictures of all mankind.

Thank you for all of your dedication and hard work.

[warpedskydiver 0]

They just need to promise Barney Frank that deep exploration of Uranus will occur.

Then the politicians will show an interest in NASA again.

They waste more more than what NASA spends.

Heck if we cut the pork out of all legislation and quit passing stupid legislation we might even settle the national debt.

[shropshire 0]

I envisage a World Wide Organisation for Space exploration .... no single country should foot the bill or own the rights. The set-up will - Go boldly [sic] where no man has gone before....... um ..It will be a federated concern with equal shares for all ... except if your name is Jim.....

It will be such a wonderful Enterprise

Live Long and Prosper

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[muff528 3]

I have several friends who have been involved with NASA and the space program since the 70's who are echoing your thoughts. To paraphrase a comment I heard just this morning on the radio.... It may take years to assemble a similar collection of scientists, engineers and technicians when these are forced to disburse and find other work because of the ending of the Shuttle program and the cancellation of the Constellation project.

I think the cost of that loss by itself can't be measured. (not to mention the loss of any future technological "by-products" spun off by the space program.)

[riddler 0]

- Total cost of Apollo program, which spanned 14 years, and landed men on the moon (in 1969 dollars): $25 billion USD. Adjust for inflation in 2007 dollars: $140 billion USD

- Cost of one single year of war funds for Iraq and Afghanistan in 2010: $130 billion

I vote we suspend our wars for one year, and use the money to send several more people to the moon. And this time lets get some women on the moon.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[airtwardo 7]

Quote

- Total cost of Apollo program, which spanned 14 years, and landed men on the moon (in 1969 dollars): $25 billion USD. Adjust for inflation in 2007 dollars: $140 billion USD

- Cost of one single year of war funds for Iraq and Afghanistan in 2010: $130 billion

I vote we suspend our wars for one year, and use the money to send several more people to the moon. And this time lets get some women on the moon.

Do it for a few years and we can feed, educate and make healthy damn near everyone ON this rock...WHILE exploring space.

Wouldn't it be cool to convert all the body bags & bullets being manufactures to space suits and rocket propellant!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[freefallfreak 0]

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I vote we suspend our wars for one year, and use the money to send several more people to the moon. And this time lets get some women on the moon.

I'm all for this if they can send my ex there without a return ticket.

TripleF

"Upon seeing the shadow of a pigeon, one must resist the urge to look up."

[cocheese 0]

Dedicated to a sweet woman i know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9h0MNMfKuQ

[riddler 0]

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Wouldn't it be cool to convert all the body bags & bullets being manufactures to space suits and rocket propellant!

We're a fear-based society, so if we can find a way to be as scared about outer space as we are of foreign cultures, we'll be on every planet before you know what's going on.

Maybe we can replace the "terrorist" jargon with "alien" jargon.

Quote

When we think of the major threats to our national security, the first to come to mind are nuclear proliferation, rogue states and global terrorism. But another kind of threat lurks beyond our shores, one from nature, not humans - an extraterrestrial invasion. -BHO

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This was not an act of anal-probing, but it was an act of war. - GWB

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This is not a battle between the United States of America and aliens, but between the free and democratic world and a completely different world. - Tony Blair

Quote

I'm as frustrated with the Martians, I think, as anyone, but look, there's going to be other challenges and there are going to be other issues. As long as there's a war on aliens going on, we're all going to have to work together. John McCain

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD