[FPSPACE] Is the American manned spacecraft program dying?

[Peter Pesavento]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704375604575023530543103488.ht
ml?mod=rss_US_News

 

 

Below is an excerpt:

 

JANUARY 24, 2010, 8:02 P.M. ET


White House Decides to Outsource NASA Work 


By
<http://online.wsj.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=ANDY+PASZTOR+&ARTI
CLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND> ANDY PASZTOR 


The White House has decided to begin funding private companies to carry NASA
astronauts into space, but the proposal faces major political and budget
hurdles, according to people familiar with the matter.  

The controversial proposal, expected to be included in the Obama
administration's next budget, would open a new chapter in the U.S. space
program. The goal is to set up a multiyear, multibillion-dollar initiative
allowing private firms, including some start-ups, to compete to build and
operate spacecraft capable of ferrying U.S. astronauts into orbit-and
eventually deeper into the solar system.

Congress is likely to challenge the concept's safety and may balk at
shifting dollars from existing National Aeronautics and Space Administration
programs already hurting for funding to the new initiative. The White
House's ultimate commitment to the initiative is murky, according to these
people, because the budget isn't expected to outline a clear, long-term
funding plan.

The White House's NASA budget also envisions stepped-up support for
climate-monitoring and environmental projects, along with enhanced
international cooperation across both manned and unmanned programs.

Press officials for NASA and the White House have declined to comment.
Industry and government officials have talked about the direction of the
next NASA budget, but declined to be identified.

The idea of outsourcing a portion of NASA's manned space program to the
private sector gained momentum after recommendations from a presidential
panel appointed last year. The panel, chaired by former Lockheed Martin
Corp. Chairman Norman Augustine, argued that allowing companies to build and
launch their own rockets and spacecraft to carry American astronauts into
orbit would save money and also free up NASA to focus on more ambitious,
longer-term goals.

However, many in NASA's old guard oppose the plan. Charles Precourt, a
former chief of NASA's astronaut corps who is now a senior executive at
aerospace and defense firm Alliant Techsystems Inc., said that farming out
large portions of the manned space program to private firms would be a
"really radical" and an "extremely high risk" path. Unless the overall
budget goes up, he said, whatever new direction NASA pursues "isn't going to
be viable."

Such arguments already are raging around NASA's Ares I rocket, which could
be replaced or scaled back if the commercial option gains traction. Alliant
and other Ares proponents have argued the program is years behind schedule
primarily because Congress and previous administrations failed to provide
promised funding. The rocket's design also changed and became more complex
since its inception. Ares critics, on the other hand, counter that instead
of costing about $4.3 billion as originally planned, the Ares booster is
likely to cost more than three times that much. The program already has
spent roughly $4 billion, and these critics say that year-by-year
expenditures actually exceeded the original spending profile. NASA's last
budget projected spending another $9.5 billion through 2015. 

 

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