So, has Orion been cancelled or not?

I know Mr Obama has said this-and-that, but what's actually happening? If
it is cancelled, is the STS going to be kept in service?

Alan Erskine wrote:
I know Mr Obama has said this-and-that, but what's actually happening?

The president's budget for FY11 proposes to cancel all of Constellation,
including Orion. However, Congress must authorize this and appropriate
funds. Until the end of FY10, Constellation is still authorized and
funded and work is continuing.

If it is cancelled, is the STS going to be kept in service?

No.

On Fri, 02 Apr 2010 08:36:32 GMT, "Alan Erskine"
wrote:

I know Mr Obama has said this-and-that, but what's actually happening? If
it is cancelled, is the STS going to be kept in service?

President Obama's budget proposal cancels Constellation in favor of
technology development and commercial transport. But this proposal
went over like a lead balloon in Congress, which has to approve it. So
exactly what is currently happening is anybody's guess.

It seems pretty certain that Constellation is dead. What is less
certain is what, if anything will replace it. The President didn't
say, and NASA Administrator Bolden seemed to have been taken
completely by surprise, offering almost no details about the new NASA
direction. This has led to criticism that NASA will be left hugely
vulnerable to slashed budgets in coming years, since it will have no
goal to justify the technology development investment. And many space
supporters clearly remember then-Senator Obama announcing his plan to
cancel Constellation in order to fund education initiatives. The
President did not cut NASA's budget this year, but his ill-defined
plan for NASA makes it incredibly easy to do so next year and for the
rest of his Administration.

The President will visit Kennedy Space Center in mid-April, evidently
attempting to mend fences. Fairly or not, the headline message from
the President's budget proposal was "Obama kills manned spaceflight"
and while he didn't win the KSC area in 2008, he's now
persona-non-grata in Central Florida. So what will the President
announce at KSC? A major change? Some sort of compromise plan seems
likely. Would the President go to KSC during an active shuttle mission
to simply say "This is what we're doing. The unemployment office is on
5th Street?" Rumor is that he'll extend Shuttle through STS-135, but
they're still just rumors.

Some alliances in Congress are pushing for Shuttle-derived vehicles to
continue in some form, perhaps Ares, perhaps DIRECT, perhaps something
else. From where the funding will come and what will be launched on
this vehicle are equally vague.

The Orion spacecraft has been cancelled as a NASA project (pending
Congressional approval) but there is reason to believe Lockheed-Martin
will continue to program as a commercial vehicle launched on Atlas, to
compete with SpaceX, DreamChaser, and Boeing's commercial proposal.
Given SpaceX's history of exploding rockets, it is certainly possible
that Commercial Orion could beat Manned Dragon into space.

Brian

Brian Thorn wrote:
Given SpaceX's history of exploding rockets, it is certainly
possible that Commercial Orion could beat Manned Dragon into space.

Now, perhaps you are giving SpaceX too much credit - they only managed
to get one rocket (first Falcon 1) to actually explode right?-) And
IIRC even that was only upon impact with the Earth - I don't think
they've managed to get any to actually explode in mid-flight.

rick jones
--
I don't interest myself in "why." I think more often in terms of
"when," sometimes "where;" always "how much." - Joubert
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

On Fri, 2 Apr 2010 23:10:34 +0000 (UTC), Rick Jones
wrote:


Now, perhaps you are giving SpaceX too much credit - they only managed
to get one rocket (first Falcon 1) to actually explode right?-) And
IIRC even that was only upon impact with the Earth - I don't think
they've managed to get any to actually explode in mid-flight.

Details, details!

Brian