John Glenn was critical of the new plan for space. He contends we are not spending enough on the ISS:
Former astronaut John Glenn on Thursday told a presidential commission on space exploration it would be a mistake to cut funding for international space station research.Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth and a former Ohio senator, said U.S. experiments in the low gravity of space have produced "some of the most unique, cutting-edge research in the history of the whole world."The Bush administration has said future U.S. research projects on the station would focus on helping achieve its proposed moon and Mars missions.
Space station research has produced tangible results, including better medicines and more productive rice harvests, Glenn said. Eliminating that kind of research would enable other nations to fill the void and benefit from new technologies, the Democrat said.
"I just don't think that's right," he said, adding that space exploration and research go hand in hand. "I think you should do both. I don't think you cut out one to do the other."
Hmm. But, let's look at the budget plan, below.
As you can see the ISS research budget doesn't really go down for twelve more years. The bulk of the savings in this plan purely comes from retiring the shuttle. Senator Glenn's argument is a straw man.
Finally got time to post my opinion. I am one of those people who think that retiring the shuttle is not the way to the moon and mars. One of the few things I liked about the Bush administration until now was its space policy. The Bush administration revived research into nuclear power in space, which is the key to traveling around the solar system. It also increased funding for unmanned missions.
Where the Bush administration goes wrong is in the idea that retiring the shuttle equals such huge savings that we can afford to go to the moon and mars. It also goes wrong in the idea that all research on board the station be directed at the human problems of traveling to the moon or mars or be discontinued. First of all a huge percentage of the research that goes on onboard the station is already directed at the problem of traveling in space. Canceling out the other research would probably do little to save money and would alienate the supporters that NASA needs to justify the station. The station itself is a test bed of the kinds of technology needed for long voyages and it is doubtful that once could find enough research of that kind to completely fill the time of the astronauts on board. That idea is like a large university deciding to cancel out all other research program expect those in just one field. Not a smart move.
What keeps us from the moon and mars isn't lack of vehicle to get to the moon (i.e. the famed "Crew Exploration Vehicle") but lack of rocket able to do it. With the retirement of the Titan rocket, the shuttle is now the most powerful rocket the Untied States has and at 60,000 pound to low earth orbit, it is well bellow the power of the famed Saturn V or the Russian Energia. Both of which could lift 100,000.
The shuttle might not be the cheapest way to simply transfer people to and from the station but it is an excellent tool for building things in orbit. It has a cargo bay that can hold more than most expendable rockets. It has the ability to bring 20,000 pounds back to earth and the ability to lift 60,000 into low earth orbit. It can support a crew of eight. Things the planned crew exploration vehicle can not do. Nor are there any plans to build a heavy lift rocket able to send this crew exploration vehicle to the moon. Developing a heavy lift rocket could take a decade and would likely be far more expensive than simply developing a small capsule and retiring the shuttle in less than ten years.
By retiring the shuttle in favor of a crew exploration vehicle the Untied States looses quite a lot of capability it has now with only a weak promise to do more. It also saddles the new proposed vehicle with requirements that might not lead to the cheapest or safest solution to ferrying people to and from orbit.
Posted by: Jason | March 21, 2004 at 04:55 AM