Wed, Jan 04, 2017
President-Elect Has Said More Emphasis Will Go To Deep Space Exploration
President-elect Donald Trump said during his campaign that his plans for NASA would include more deep space exploration and less emphasis on Earth science, and that has employees at Alabama's Marshall Space Flight Center feeling encouraged.
One of the things President Obama did early in his first term was to cut the Constellation program being developed in Huntsville, AL, according to a report on www.al.com. The program accounted for about 500 NASA employees and 2000 contractors, and was to support then-President George W. Bush's plans for a lunar base and exploration of Mars. Only the NASA employees kept their jobs when the program was cancelled.
Obama cut the program because it was found to be behind schedule and over budget, and he prefered a more Earth-science mission for the space agency focused on climate change. He also spent billions on the commercial space flight programs with SpaceX, Orbital ATK, and others.
The Constellation program was scaled back and re-dubbed the Space Launch System (SLS). The fight to fund SLS was led by Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), and some analysts believe that Shelby's re-election will have more on an impact on Huntsville's contributions to NASA than will the election of Trump.
But Trump has said, albeit through surrogates, that he wants to refocus NASA on deep space exploration and not climate science. There is talk of a return to the Moon as a jumping-off place for manned Mars expeditions.
For his part, space is not yet a priority for Trump, though he did say in a Tweet during the campaign that he was "sad to see what @BarackObama has done with NASA. He has gutted the program and made us dependent on the Russians."
Trump has not yet selected a new Administrator for NASA to replace Charles Bolden.
More News
From 2023 (YouTube Version): Legacy of a Titan Robert (Bob) Anderson Hoover was a fighter pilot, test pilot, flight instructor, and air show superstar. More so, Bob Hoover was an i>[...]
Get The Latest in Aviation News NOW on Instagram Are you on Instagram yet? It's been around for a few years, quietly picking up traction mostly thanks to everybody's new obsession >[...]
Aero Linx: B-52H Stratofortress The B-52H Stratofortress is a long-range, heavy bomber that can perform a variety of missions. The bomber is capable of flying at high subsonic spee>[...]
Altimeter Setting The barometric pressure reading used to adjust a pressure altimeter for variations in existing atmospheric pressure or to the standard altimeter setting (29.92).>[...]
"Knowing that we play an active part in bettering people's lives is extremely rewarding. My team and I are very thankful for the opportunity to be here and to help in any way we ca>[...]