Election may impact NASA's future
CAPE CANAVERAL -- Amid an election year that will put new leaders into the White House, many are questioning the direction of the nation's space program.
The discovery of a serious vibration problem with NASA's Ares 1 moon rocket is causing consternation among some in the aerospace industry.
Some are campaigning for a switch to an alternative derived from the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets developed under the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.
Others are re-examining the moon-bound course President Bush and Congress put NASA on after the 2003 Columbia accident.
The timing of these issues is not coincidental.
"My own opinion is the time is right for this kind of questioning to happen before the new administration takes office," said Scott Hubbard, former director of NASA's robotic Mars exploration program and a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. "I started thinking last year, 'Gee, I wonder what will happen when the administration changes,' " Hubbard said. "Many of us want to make sure we take a critical look at where we're going."
The U.S. space program was put on its current path after Columbia accident investigators raised concerns about a lack of a national mandate for the future of NASA's exploration program.
"The U.S. civilian space effort has moved forward for more than 30 years without a guiding vision, and none seems imminent," the investigators said in their August 2003 report.
Four months later, Bush laid one out. He told NASA to finish the International Space Station and retire the aging shuttle fleet by 2010.
He called for a new spaceship that could ferry astronauts to the station, but its main job would be flying missions beyond Earth's orbit.
And he directed NASA to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 — "the launching point for missions beyond," a proving ground for voyages to the asteroids, Mars or other celestial destinations.
Lawmakers' take
Congress staged a lengthy debate, discussing the "Vision For Space Exploration" and its own ideas about the path NASA should follow.
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