"Jorge R. Frank" wrote in message
...
On 08/01/2010 09:35 PM, Alan Erskine wrote:
On 2/08/2010 11:44 AM, Matt Wiser wrote:


The proof is in flying- and not just the single Falcon 9 test flight.
They need to fly repeatedly to silence the skeptics, and I'm one of
them. There's some folks out there who think Musk is some sort of god,
but they need to realize that right now, there just isn't enough
support in either the House or Senate to get what they want. The
Senate bill is the best option that preserves a government launch
vehicle to LEO and BEO, along with Orion, JIC these commercial
providers fail to deliver on their promises-and that is the main
concern of Congress that I got from watching the hearings on C-Span.
They kept pressing Bolden and the Presidential Science Advisor about
what Plan B is in case the commercial side can't deliver, and weren't
getting any satisfactory answer. I've seen commercial advocates asking
why there's so much opposition, and it boils down to Tip O'Neil's
adage that "All Politics is Local." Meaning that Senators and
Congresscritters who have contractors in their districts doing
Constellation work want those companies and people still doing
business with NASA, even if it's a "Son of Constellation" program.
Promises of more jobs in 5-7 years if commercial works is fine, but it
doesn't put food on the table or pay the mortgage. They want to keep
working. Maybe if the economy was in better shape, there wouldn't be
as much opposition, or maybe not.

You obviously haven't heard that Constellation has been cancelled. It's
in NASA's budget proposal for 2011.

You obviously don't know how the US government works, or what a
"proposal" means.

The president's FY11 NASA budget *proposes* to cancel Constellation. But
Constellation is funded through the end of FY10, and Congress decides
what federal agencies are authorized to do and how much money is to be
appropriated for them to do it.

The House NASA Authorization bill continues Constellation in all but
name. The Senate bill also dumps the Constellation name but retains
Orion and authorizes a new shuttle-derived HLV to replace Ares.

The administration has endorsed the Senate bill. SpaceX has endorsed it
as well. The most likely outcome in the end is a compromise that
strongly resembles the Senate bill.

Quite true, Jorge. The Commercial advocates just don't have the votes to get
what they want. Alan forgot the old adage in D.C.: "The President proposes,
but Congress disposes." ObamaSpace is going to be disposed of. If need be,
buy an EELV like Atlas V, stick Orion on it, and fly to ISS until these
commercial providers live up to their promises. Have Pads 39-A and -B for
HLV and BEO. If the commercial provider has the booster, but NASA has the
capsule in the intirim, fine. Only when commercial providers prove they can
do the job should the ISS and other LEO trips be handed over to them. Even
then, NASA should have a very strong oversight program in place, so that
safety doesn't take a back seat to a company's bottom line.