Thursday, April 22, 2010

Senate appropriators review NASA budget proposal

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden is testifying this morning before Sen. Barbara Mikulski's Senate Appropriations subcommittee about the agency's proposed 2011 fiscal year budget.

You can watch live coverage of the hearing here.

NASA's proposed $19 billion budget would begin the process of cancelling the Constellation program and investing in the development of commercial crew taxis to the International Space Station, whose life would be extended by five years to 2020.

It provides a small amount of money to fly out three more shuttle flights and retire that program.

15 comments:

Mark Lopa said...

For the love of heck, do the right thing and don't cancel Constellation. I pray there are a few politicians left in Washington with a brain.

Anonymous said...

Hope is with Senator Hutchson for extending the Space Shuttle Program!

Astronauts could be stranded in the ISS if the Soyuz developed a problem and no Space Shuttle is available to rescue the astronauts.

Anonymous said...

NASA = GLORIFIED SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAM!

We cannot afford this when there are so many Americans in need of civilized health care.

Stephen C. Smith said...

For the love of heck, cancel Constellation. It wasn't going to fly Ares I until at least 2018, two years after ISS would be splashed into the ocean so there was no place for it to go. It wasn't going to fly Ares V until at least 2028, if ever, and had no purpose other than to collect more Moon rocks which we already have. I pray there are a few politicians left in Washington not only with a brain but also with a sense of national fiscal responsibility.

Anonymous said...

I've really begun to realize the many senators have big heads and pea brains. What do they know about budgets or budgetting? NOTHING!!!!

Anonymous said...

Well WordSmithFL AKA Stevey – The ISS will fly as long as it has the right modules attached the ISS to correct its orbit and is properly maintained, direct word of NASA. So now Mr. Obama says he leaving it up to the burgeoning commercial space industry to provide gateway to space. Listen up space boy, most of the commercial companies are financial trouble and NASA still has not developed the Human Certification Document to provide guideline on what spec to build to (Mr. Frost said this doc would not be ready until 2020). Right now the only document they have in place is NPR 8708.2B which outline expectation of NASA. Obama said he will comment to a heavy lift vehicle in 2012… This will be long after he is gone. And you think with this mess going on some commercial entity is going to build something that may not meet spec … So much for a vision.

Anonymous said...

Well WordSmithFL AKA Stevey – The ISS will fly as long as it has the right modules attached the ISS to correct its orbit and is properly maintained, direct word of NASA. So now Mr. Obama says he leaving it up to the burgeoning commercial space industry to provide gateway to space. Listen up space boy, most of the commercial companies are financial trouble and NASA still has not developed the Human Certification Document to provide guideline on what spec to build to (Mr. Frost said this doc would not be ready until 2020). Right now the only document they have in place is NPR 8708.2B which outline expectation of NASA. Obama said he will comment to a heavy lift vehicle in 2012… This will be long after he is gone. And you think with this mess going on some commercial entity is going to build something that may not meet spec … So much for a vision.

Anonymous said...

I just pray you shut up space boy

Anonymous said...

A picture is worth a thousand words. A thousand words will not change anything. Vote!

Mark Lopa said...

Is it just me, or does it seem like some people have a single goal in life to be as annoying as humanly possible...and ignorant at the same time?

Anonymous said...

http://www.rv-103.com/?p=457

Review of Obama's speech.

Citizen Surfer said...

I hope Bill Nelson isn't on this panel. He has much more important things to do, such as investigate a Louisiana oil slick, back up Obama on the nationalization of our medical system, etc. He's much too busy, as he thus far has proven, to be concerned by jobs of Space Coast residents and the implications of the cancellation of the US space program. Nelson needs to continue as the bobblehead Howdy Doody "gofer" for the Washington bureaucracy rather than his "constituents" from the State of Florida.

Jimmy Minnish said...

Hello,

I am Jimmy Minnish and I have a blog titled: The Conservative Speaker @ www.theconservativespeaker.com

I used to live on the spacecoast and actually read this liberal rag on occasions. Today I am most upset with Bill Nelson, Suzanne Kosmas from up Daytona way, and Allen Boyd. These 3 are FLA DEMS who voted for Obamacare and kiss up to Obama each chance they get.

Read my posts regarding their plans to destroy NASA and spacecoast jobs to the tune of what 7K and counting?

Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong Breaks Silence: NASA on a “Long Downhill Slide to Mediocrity” @ http://www.theconservativespeaker.com/wordpress/?p=2958

One small step for man, one giant “leap back” for mankind @ http://www.theconservativespeaker.com/wordpress/?p=1877

Jimmy@theconservativespeaker.com

Anonymous said...

$2 Billion to finish the program. $2.5 Billion to cancel plus $6 Billion to develop commercial rockets. Where is the logic?

Anonymous said...

Cancel Ares, continue Orion, and launch it with what?
Cancel Aries V, cancel Altair, and build Ares V lite, to launch what?

Every President and Congress since Johnson has screwed NASA over, made it begging for funding and accepting designs that was not NASA's first choice. The shuttle is just one example. Original shuttle designs called for an orbiter on the TOP of the stack, not on the side. It may have avoided both Challenger and Columbia. Why didn't it fly? Nixon. Look it up.