William Atkins
Saturday, 30 August 2008 21:16
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 3
According to the
Sentinel, Coggeshall states in the email,
"(We) don't necessarily need all 3 orbiters either…. We have been encouraged not to focus on a certain set of assumptions or costs.”
On the other hand, it will take a huge amount of extra money to continue operating the two shuttles for an additional five years. Some estimates tag it at upwards of $4 billion per year.
NASA’s annual budget is about $17 billion.
If several billion dollars are diverted to shuttle (without additional funds from Congress), then less money will be allocated to the new Constellation program. Unless, of course, the U.S. Congress provides additional funds to NASA to assure that the International Space Station can be manned from 2010 and 2015.
According to
The Orlando Sentinel, Wayne Hale, NASA deputy assistant administrator, has stated that fall 2008 is the critical time in which a final decision needs to be made.
Already, contracts have been terminated within the STS program and NASA facilities are beginning to convert their systems over to the new Constellation program.
In fact, fall 2008 is the time that the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana, will remove its welding equipment for the shuttle external tank (ET).
The Orlando article states,
“In a blog posted Thursday, Hale said that flying shuttle and building Constellation would strain NASA's budgets and overextend its workforce. ‘Hey, I am the biggest shuttle hugger there is. I think it is the best spacecraft ever built. But I also deal in the real world,’ he wrote.”
Hale added,
“’Where does the money come from? Where do the people -- who should be working on the moon rocket -- where do they come from? We started shutting down the shuttle four years ago. That horse has left the barn,’ he wrote.”
According to the
Associated Press article “
NASA studies extending shuttle to 2015,
“NASA officials confirmed the e-mail's authenticity, but said it was too soon to say what the study's reach would be.”
AP added,
“’The e-mail did go out," spokesman John Yembrick told The Associated Press. ‘The e-mail is premature. The parameters of the study have not yet been defined.’”
Read my viewpoint on the NASA consideration, on page three.
