NASA will rely on other countries, mainly Russia, to send its astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station, much like it did for over two years after Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas in 2003.

As reported by The Associated Press, U.S. Senator-Florida Bill Nelson said, “Who knows what the geopolitics is going to be like in 2015? Is Russia still going to be allied with us? Would they possibly be allied with China at that point?”

Currently, the only countries able to send humans into space are the United States, Russia, and China, although other countries/regions such as the European Union, Japan, and India have a large presence in space. In addition, several private companies are pursuing manned voyages into space in the next several years.

Possibly John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, says it best when he stated: “We will have an orbiting destination that we have spent multiple billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money to develop. To not be able to get there except for the good will of others is a little ironic.” [Associated Press]

Right now NASA has taken money reserved for the development of Orion (officially, Project Constellation) so that it could finish the construction of the space station. NASA's 2007 budget was also reduced by $500 million on what it could spend on developmental plans for Orion. (Does this sound familiar with how the federal government borrows money from one agency (social security, for instance) to fund other agencies?)

Several politicians suggested increasing NASA’s budget by $400 million in 2008 and $800 million in 2009 and 2010 in order to speed up the development of Orion. NASA’s budget request for 2008 is about $17.4 billion.

Therefore, if politicians have a concern about not being able to launch manned missions from 2010 to 2015, then more money to NASA could solve that problem.

However, in the past, NASA has estimated how much other projects would cost and how long it would take to develop them. These estimates have been sorely wrong. For instance, initial promises were for the space shuttle fleet to make 25 to 70 (say, an average of 50) launches per year, with a turnaround time of two weeks, all with a relatively low-cost of launches.

Even with more money, will NASA guarantee that Orion will be safely ready earlier than if it does not receive the extra money?

The shuttle transportation system (STS) cost about ten billion in 1981 dollars to develop for Columbia’s first flight, with the orbiter alone priced at one billion dollars. Before the Columbia disaster, NASA flew an average of five missions per year (one-tenth the promised number), with about $900 million in end-to-end costs per mission. Two-week turnarounds were abandoned as unrealistic when maintenance and prep-work between flights were actually done, rather than just proposed in theory.

The total cost of the Shuttle program has been estimated at $145 billion as of early 2005, and it is estimated to be $174 billion when the Shuttle retires in 2010. The NASA Space Shuttle program has been long criticized for failing to fulfill its promised cost and utility goals, as well as cost, design, management, and safety issues. On the other hand, the building and operating of the Space Shuttle fleet is a very difficult and complex project, one that has been unique (in the past) only to the United States.

There are no easy answers. But, like any project, either support it or abandon it. But, if you support it, make sure it lives up to its goals.

Like any project—big or small—accurate, frequent, and reliable inspections throughout the life of the project (from start to finish) is essential to make sure all goals are met and on time.

Giving a small ten-year-old boy $30 to buy supplies and paint your front door and then leaving to watch TV, may mean the boy does a good job, does a bad job, or anything in between including subcontracting out the work to two five-year-old boys with no experience in painting. However, buying quality materials yourself, making sure the terms are agreed upon before work starts, watching the boy paint, and making suggestions and comments throughout the job makes one feel much more comfortable that the job will be done correctly and as to the agreed-upon specifications.

Any government project should be based on just that: Citizens paying money for quality and dependable goods and services that are delivered on time and at reasonable costs.

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