So this is how the story was told today, at least on French television: USA has no more money to fund NASA, and will cut the project to go back to the Moon, and later Mars.
Having seen the ARES launchpad being built, and the mockup of the Orion capsule this summer at KSC:
...but also (and foremost) having lived and dreamed trough the apollo 8-9-10-11 saga when I was 8, I was at first very, very sad.
How can the US let the Chinese go outside of our planet "first" (indeed they will be second, but to many younger people they will be "first") ?
How can the US kill our dream to be young again, and watch a big rocket take off, destination Moon ?
Because to me it is very clear, China will land on the moon, sometime in the next 10 years or so.
They have to, they have to show the world who the new leader is.
But then one have to think again.
If you look at the Constellation project, it is very clear even from the outside that that was basically "Apollo, 40 years later".
Looking at the rendering of the Orion docking with the Altair one is struck by how much this is the very same project as the Apollo docking with the LEM.
And Apollo itself (the giant Saturn V rocket) was the brainchild of dr. Von Brown, which means that the basic ideas were those drawn during the nazi era.
So--It was probably time to think again at how to explore the outside worlds.
And today's decision can be seen this way.
Is this wat Obama had in mind ?
Or did he really just wanted to cut costs, for something (the exploration) that many feel it is totally worthless, "when we have so many problems here on earth" ?
I hope the first answer is the correct one.
And here are some "facts" from todays NASA press conference, that we shall read and think about...:
(...)
NASA's Constellation program -- relying largely on existing technologies - sought to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020. However, the program was over budget and behind schedule and lacked innovation and pioneering approaches due to a longstanding failure to invest in critical new technologies.
even if fully funded, NASA's program to repeat many of the achievements of the Apollo era some 50 years later was a less attractive approach to space exploration relative to several potential alternatives
NASA will cancel the Constellation Program in favor of a bold new approach that invests in the building blocks of a more capable alternative to space exploration
(...) Develops and Deploys Flagship Exploration Technologies That Will Lead to a New Era in Human Space Flight. A new initiative, investing $7.8 billion over five years, will target technologies that could be transformational in their ability to improve the capability, reduce the cost, and expand the reach of future human and robotic missions. NASA will implement and manage a broad test program of next-generation technologies in multiple flight demonstrations over the next decade. Flagship demonstrations may involve both international and commercial partners and will include efforts such as the demonstration of in-orbit propellant storage and transfer, automated and autonomous rendezvous and docking, and advanced closed-loop life support. NASA will also advance the state of the art on a range of technologies critical to enabling future human space exploration, like power generation and storage and tele-robotic operations.
NASA will support space science research grants and dozens of operating missions and telescopes currently studying the planets and stars as well as many more in development - including a telescope to succeed the Hubble
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