Neil Armstrong and other Moonwalkers Blast Obama’s Space Plan

FYI,

"First Moonwalker Blasts Obama's Space Plan
- NBC News: Neil Armstrong says rocket cancellation is `devastating'
MSNBC

: The first man to walk on the moon blasted President Barack Obama's
: decision to cancel NASA's back-to-the-moon program on Tuesday,
: saying that the move is "devastating" to America's space effort.

: Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong's open letter was also signed by
: Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the
: moon; and Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, who is marking the 40th
: anniversary of his famous lunar non-landing this week.

: The letter was released to NBC News just two days in advance of
: Obama's trip to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a space
: policy summit. Obama is expected to flesh out his vision for the
: space agency's future during his speech at the summit.

: The most controversial part of the president's policy is the
: cancellation of the Constellation program, which was aimed at
: developing a new generation of Ares rockets and Orion spacecraft to
: send astronauts into Earth orbit and beyond.

: The idea was that such spacecraft would replace NASA's space
: shuttle fleet, which is to be retired by the end of this year. But
: acting on the advice of an independent panel, the Obama
: administration determined that the Constellation program could not
: fulfill NASA's goals on the required timetable. NASA's budget
: proposal, released in February, puts the return to the moon on
: indefinite hold and instead focuses on developing technologies for
: future exploration.

: `Long downhill slide'?

: Canceling Constellation could lead to thousands of layoffs at some
: of America's biggest aerospace contractors, including Lockheed
: Martin, the Boeing Co. and ATK. Such job losses are among the
: factors behind congressional opposition to the cancellation.
: Armstrong and his fellow astronauts emphasize the bigger
: implications, however, and say in their letter that the decision
: would put the nation on a "long downhill slide to mediocrity."

: The letter notes that the U.S. space effort will be dependent for
: years to come on the Russians for transport to the International
: Space Station, at a cost of more than $50 million per seat.

: NASA is budgeting billions of dollars to support the development of
: U.S. commercial spaceships that could help fill the gap. The
: beneficiaries of those billions would include smaller aerospace
: ventures, such as California-based SpaceX and Virginia-based
: Orbital Sciences. In their letter, the astronauts say that the
: availability of such craft "cannot be predicted with any certainty,
: but is likely to take substantially longer and be more expensive
: than we would hope."

: Armstrong and his colleagues complained that the cancellation would
: amount to wasting the roughly $10 billion that has been allocated
: to Constellation over the past five years. "Equally importantly, we
: will have lost the many years required to re-create the equivalent
: of what we will have discarded," they wrote.

: "For the United States, the leading spacefaring nation for nearly
: half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with
: no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an
: indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become
: one of second- or even third-rate stature," they said in the letter.

: "America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space," the
: astronauts said. "If it does, we should institute a program which
: will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal."

: Constellation pros and cons

: The letter did not make specific policy recommendations, but the
: astronauts spoke approvingly of NASA's step-by-step Ares rocket
: development program. "Enthusiasm within NASA and throughout the
: country was very high," they said.

: However, an independent panel headed by retired aerospace executive
: Norman Augustine concluded last year that the Ares I rocket would
: not be ready in time to serve its planned role for space station
: transport. The panel said that NASA's plan to return to the moon by
: 2020 was unrealistic, due to underfunding, and that Constellation's
: first moon landing couldn't occur until 2028 or later.

: The Obama administration decided to pursue a different option,
: known as the "flexible path." This option involves developing the
: technologies for trips beyond Earth orbit, but holding off on a
: schedule for landings on the moon or Mars until such technologies
: are further along.

: Operations on the space station would be extended to 2020, and
: further steps might include trips around the moon, or to
: low-gravity destinations such as near-Earth asteroids or a Martian
: moon. Such steps would set the stage for eventual landings on Mars
: and the moon.

: "Safely sending humans into deep space for years at a time and
: exploring destinations across the solar system is not something to
: be done overnight or to be taken lightly," NASA Administrator
: Charles Bolden said Tuesday at the National Space Symposium in
: Colorado Springs, Colo.

: Bolden told reporters last week that NASA's total employment might
: actually go up, based on the fact that the White House wanted to
: increase the space agency's budget from $18.3 billion to
: $19 billion for fiscal 2011. He acknowledged, however, that the
: increases might come in climate research and aeronautics rather
: than human spaceflight.

: Bolden said elements of the Constellation program, such as work on
: the Orion spacecraft and a future heavy-lift vehicle, would likely
: be folded into the new flexible-path approach. And indeed, White
: House officials confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the Orion
: program and the heavy-lift development effort would go forward.

: Where will flexible path lead?

: The flexible-path strategy just might get astronauts into deep
: space and on to the moon and Mars sooner than the Constellation
: program would have, said James Oberg, a former NASA mission
: controller who is now NBC News' space analyst.

: "It was widely felt outside NASA, and also within it, that
: Constellation was like an unguided missile, ignoring changing
: circumstances and blindly pushing ahead," Oberg said. "Bolden has
: suggested that there are cleverer and better strategies to achieve
: the same goals and I'm inclined to agree with him."

: Apollo-era astronauts have been divided on the wisdom of canceling
: Constellation. In previous statements, Lovell has said the decision
: could have "catastrophic consequences" and Cernan has called it
: "disappointing." This week, more than two dozen former astronauts
: and NASA officials ranging from Mercury spaceman Scott Carpenter
: to Mike Griffin, Bolden's predecessor at the space agency's helm
: issued an open letter to Obama saying the cancellation was "wrong
: for our country for many reasons."

: The fact that Armstrong, arguably the world's most famous living
: astronaut, has now spoken out against NASA's change of plans is
: likely to focus additional attention on the debate over America's
: future in space.

: On the other side of the debate, the most outspoken Apollo-era
: advocate of NASA's new policy is the man who was Armstrong's
: co-pilot for the first moon landing: Buzz Aldrin.

: "Many said the president's decision was misguided, short-sighted
: and disappointing," Aldrin wrote in an op-ed piece for The Wall
: Street Journal. "Having the experience of walking on the moon's
: surface on the Apollo 11 mission, I think he made the right call.
: If we follow the president's plan, our next destination in space,
: Mars, will be within our reach."

FYI,

Not that most people need more credible sources than Neil Armstrong regarding whether or not we should go back to the Moon or not, but here are a few other notable authorities backing him up.

"Griffin, NASA Luminaries Urge Obama to Change Space Policy"
Orlando Sentinel Blog
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2010/04/griffin-nasa-luminaries-urge-obama-to-change-space-policy.html

: Dear President Obama;

: America is faced with the near-simultaneous ending of the Shuttle
: program and your recent budget proposal to cancel the Constellation
: program. This is wrong for our country for many reasons. We are
: very concerned about America ceding its hard earned global
: leadership in space technology to other nations. We are stunned
: that, in a time of economic crisis, this move will force as many as
: 30,000 irreplaceable engineers and managers out of the space
: industry. We see our human exploration program, one of the most
: inspirational tools to promote science, technology, engineering and
: math to our young people, being reduced to mediocrity. NASA's human
: space program has inspired awe and wonder in all ages by pursuing
: the American tradition of exploring the unknown. We strongly urge
: you to drop this misguided proposal that forces NASA out of human
: space operations for the foreseeable future.

: For those of us who have accepted the risk and dedicated a portion
: of our lives to the exploration of outer space, this is a terrible
: decision. Our experiences were made possible by the efforts of
: thousands who were similarly dedicated to the exploration of the
: last frontier. Success in this great national adventure was
: predicated on well defined programs, an unwavering national
: commitment, and an ambitious challenge. We understand there are
: risks involved in human space flight, but they are calculated risks
: for worthy goals, whose benefits greatly exceed those risks.

: America's greatness lies in her people: she will always have men
: and women willing to ride rockets into the heavens. America's
: challenge is to match their bravery and acceptance of risk with
: specific plans and goals worthy of their commitment. NASA must
: continue at the frontiers of human space exploration in order to
: develop the technology and set the standards of excellence that
: will enable commercial space ventures to eventually succeed.
: Canceling NASA's human space operations, after 50 years of
: unparalleled achievement, makes that objective impossible.

: One of the greatest fears of any generation is not leaving things
: better for the young people of the next. In the area of human
: space flight, we are about to realize that fear; your NASA budget
: proposal raises more questions about our future in space than it
: answers.

: Too many men and women have worked too hard and sacrificed too much
: to achieve America's preeminence in space, only to see that effort
: needlessly thrown away. We urge you to demonstrate the vision and
: determination necessary to keep our nation at the forefront of
: human space exploration with ambitious goals and the proper
: resources to see them through. This is not the time to abandon the
: promise of the space frontier for a lack of will or an
: unwillingness to pay the price.

: Sincerely, in hopes of continued American leadership in human space
: exploration.

: Walter Cunningham
: Apollo 7

: Chris Kraft
: Past Director JSC

: Jack Lousma
: Skylab 3, STS 3

: Vance Brand
: Apollo-Soyuz, STS-5, STS-41B, STS-35

: Bob Crippen
: STS-1, STS-7, STS-41C, STS-41G
: Past Director KSC

: Michael D. Griffin
: Past NASA Administrator

: Ed Gibson
: Skylab 4

: Jim Kennedy
: Past Director KSC

: Alan Bean
: Apollo 12, Skylab 3

: Alfred M. Worden
: Apollo 15

: Scott Carpenter
: Mercury Astronaut

: Glynn Lunney
: Gemini-Apollo Flight Director

: Jim McDivitt
: Gemini 4, Apollo 9
: Apollo Spacecraft Program Manager

: Gene Kranz
: Gemini-Apollo Flight Director
: Past Director NASA Mission Ops.

: Joe Kerwin
: Skylab 2

: Fred Haise
: Apollo 13, Shuttle Landing Tests

: Gerald Carr
: Skylab 4

: Jim Lovell
: Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8, Apollo 13

: Jake Garn
: STS-51D,
: U.S. Senator

: Charlie Duke
: Apollo 16

: Bruce McCandless
: STS-41B, STS-31

: Frank Borman
: Gemini 7, Apollo 8

: Paul Weitz
: Skylab 2, STS-6

: George Mueller
: Past Associate Administrator For Manned Space Flight

: Harrison Schmitt
: Apollo 17,
: U.S. Senator

: Gene Cernan
: Gemini 9, Apollo 10, Apollo 17

: Dick Gordon
: Gemini 11, Apollo 12

Mark Reiff