Killing the Shuttle Softly

Maybe it's just me, but does Bush's soon to be proposed
space initiative seem to really be about killing the Shuttle
(and manned space in general), without Bush having to go down
as The Man Who Killed The Shuttle?

If current info is correct, the initiative has two main
aspects. One: it will do things that the Shuttle is wholly
unsuited for (Moon and Mars). Two: it will not increase
NASA funding. It already explicitly says that the Shuttle
will be retired as part of this effort.

It seems to me that this means ending the Shuttle well before
the new program can get anywhere near started, and that the funds
available will never cover the development cost of a Saturn
class booster (can you even get to Mars without a super-heavy
booster?), not to mention the cost of the spacecraft themselves.

The inevitable result is a retired shuttle, several years of
half-assed attempts to pursue the program, followed by
cancellations that leaves the NASA budget, now conveniently all
in one place, a howling wasteland.

And best of all, no one will need to take responsibility for the
end of the Shuttle(1). Kind of reminds me of how Nixon killed
Apollo(2). If true, this is definitely a sneaky-******* way of
doing it(3).

....or maybe my foil hat just needs to be recalibrated :-)

Mark.

(1) not that the end of the Shuttle is a bad thing.
(2) or just signed the death certificate. depends on your POV
(3) not that sneaky-*******ism is a bad thing.