Wed, Feb 03, 2010
Politicians On Both Sides Of The Aisle Will Try To Save Jobs In
Their States
Members of Congress from states
with a large stake in the manned space program are lining up to
oppose President Obama's move to scrap the Constellation and Ares
programs that it was hoped would have eventually boosted people
beyond low earth orbit to the moon and beyond. Congress has already
poured $9 billion into the programs to develop a new heavy-lift
booster and the Orion crew capsule for continued manned
spaceflight.
And this battle is not forming along the normal partisan
lines.
Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, a former
astronaut, said the President is going to have a fight on his
hands when congress gets the budget. "We need a plan that provides
America with uninterrupted access to space while also funding
exploration to expand the boundaries of our knowledge,"
Nelson said in a video on his website. Florida
stands to lose 7,000 high-tech jobs when the shuttle program ends
after 5 more flights.
Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Texas Republican Congressman Pete Olson told the Washington
Post, "This is a crippling blow to America's human spaceflight
program."
The NASA budget calls for commercial development of the
technology that will continue to make and American manned space
program viable. SpaceX founder Elon Musk told the paper that the
President was simply being pragmatic about the Constellation
program. He said the nation doesn't have the appetite for an
Apollo-type program, or the government spending needed to make that
happen. SpaceX is one of the companies expected to bid on contracts
to develop human space flight in the future.
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