Moon Shot’s a Longshot
Not sure if this is a 50-1 longshot, but President Obama will be reviewing the new lunar mission, via Florida Today:
President Barack Obama will order a comprehensive review of NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon when the agency’s proposed 2010 budget is released Thursday.
Expected to last 60 to 90 days, the independent review will examine designs for the launch and exploration vehicles proposed for use by the Constellation program and the timeframe for flying lunar missions, according to sources familiar with the budget planning but not authorized to speak publicly about it.
Norman Augustine, a retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp. and former president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, is the likely candidate to lead the study, the sources said.
Augustine could speak publicly about the review as early as Friday.
Current NASA plans call for missions to the moon by 2020, a target set by the space exploration vision established in 2004 by former President George W. Bush.
But the agency last month put on hold contract awards for preliminary designs of the Ares V heavy-lift rocket and Altair lunar lander, pending release of the budget.
We shouldn’t abandon plans to visit the Moon again. It’s good for NASA and the USA.
