[FPSPACE] Re: Msnbc.com (Oberg): Russia ready to take lead on space station

[John Charles]

Actually, IIRC O'Keefe was supposed to fix the budget problem so NASA could even HAVE a future.  Apparently that was done (don't ask me to explain how).  Then Columbia happened, and he apparently felt he could not leave the agency in extremis.  So the departure of O'Keefe may not reflect any disorganization in the Vision for Space Exploration.

Re: "rapidly."  Griffin is trying to advance the timetable for the introduction of the Shuttle-replacement vehicle, currently (and I hope temporarily) called the Crew Exploration Vehicle, from 2014 to closer to 2010, the date for retiring the Shuttle Orbiter.  He is also said to be scrubbing the Shuttle manifest to eliminate lots of currently planned Shuttle flights, on the basis that the system is not as safe as its successor will be.  (Which is why I was surprised to read in the msnbc article that the Buran--Russia's copy of the American orbiter--is now a viable option, etc., in spite of the criticism two decades ago by Energia's own Feoktistov and others the American orbiter, and, implicitly, the Buran concept, were uneconomical.)

John Charles
Houston, Texas
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: DSFPortree at aol.com 

  I am not yet convinced that there's any more "firm" a plan now than there was during SEI. (And we're on our second new Administrator since Bush unveiled his "plan" - not so long ago, O'Keefe was supposed to be the new guy who'd shepherd us into the future. This would seem to imply a certain amount of instability in the "vision" already.) I still contend that the Bush Space Vision is more about shutting things down than starting things up. ("Rapidly"? When did the timetable get advanced?) As you say, though, we shall see.