The US Space Agency Has Become A Political Football

We're not sure what to make of all of this... especially for those of us who grew up with a belief in the fundamental abilities of this country's space program... an agency peopled by folks who (once upon a time) could do the seemingly impossible and pushed our frontiers, literally, to other worlds... until Washington stepped in and took over.

Over the past week the US Senate passed a bill favored by lawmakers from states which benefit from NASA spending, defying the Obama administration's plans to shift some space travel to the private sector.

As might be expected from folks who lack the background to understand what they're buying, the new bill orders NASA to build a heavy lift rocket and capsule capable of reaching the International Space Station by 2016, using contractors from the cancelled Constellation program, but not enough money is provided to actually succeed.

Success, of course, doesn't matter if your goal is simply to bring home pork.

One Upon A Time...

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas commented in a statement last week, "Senate passage of this comprehensive legislation is a critical milestone that will boost America’s human spaceflight program."

Really? By diverting money that would otherwise be spent on developing propulsion technology to create a vehicle which will be redundant to what the private sector will have, at 20 or 100 times the cost?

FMI: www.nasa.gov