Down The Rathole

Dick Shelby wins, our space future loses:

Shelby’s argument has been that the exploration funding in the bill was intended solely for reducing the Shuttle-Constellation gap, a spokesman for the Alabama Republican told the paper (although there is no specific language dictating that in the bill). And certainly Constellation can use every bit of additional funding it can get. However, would that $100 million have a greater effect towards reducing the gap in US human space access if it’s spent on Constellation (where it might accelerate schedules by on the order of a month), or on commercial efforts that might (but are certainly not guaranteed to) be operational years before Ares 1 and Orion?

It can’t use it in any way that’s beneficial to either the taxpayer, or a space enthusiast. I almost weep when I think of the useful things we could do with a mere hundred million dollars. Shelby is quickly making himself public enemy number one of anyone who wants a sane and cost-effective space program. More over at the Sentinel.

[Update on Saturday]

A lot more comments over at NASA Watch.

12 thoughts on “Down The Rathole”

  1. Rand, why would you almost weep over a paltry $100 million when compared to the tens of billions wasted on misguided management of the space agency by our elected officials and those they appoint. The space future that most of us hope for will only occur once when we stop putting faith in individual elected leaders who lack any vision beyond their next re-election and put it more in the people who do have the vision, talent and fortune to be able to act on there personal desire to see mankind reach for the stars. The best the rest of us can do is to make sure our education system and society as a whole nurtures such dreams in individuals and that we ensure our government at the very least stays the hell out of their way.

  2. Rand, why would you almost weep over a paltry $100 million when compared to the tens of billions wasted on misguided management of the space agency by our elected officials and those they appoint.

    Because there was at least a little hope that that money could be saved from being sucked down the vortex, and even a little bit is a lot for what we want to do.

  3. I keep hoping Shelby is caught in bed with a mistress. Or a male mistress for added effectiveness.

  4. I can’t believe that everyone doesn’t support Nelson And Shelby Agency for glorious delivery of bright space future.

    With Nelson to tell us who our leaders are to be, and Shelby to tell us what our rockets are to be, we are assured of success and glory.

    All hail the new NASA!

  5. I rarely engaged in the “Internet prediction game,” but this time I will make an exception.

    I predict that Shuttle-C will quickly grow to greatly exceed the $7 billion estimated cost. Then it will be cancelled, sometime before its first flight.

    Sometime before it is cancelled, Dennis Wingo will say that he never supported Shuttle-C. In its place, he will call for another increase in the NASA budget to build an even bigger rocket.

    By that time, there will be thousands of people flying on suborbital rockets, but Dennis will still say “there is no market” for reusable rockets, which must stop flying until after NASA finishes building Selenopolis.

    And Tom Matula will continue to blame NASA’s failures on Virgin Galactic, Burt Rutan, the Easter Bunny and everyone else except the people who people who were actually involved. 🙂

  6. Given how insignificant $100 million in stimulus funding is in the context of the $34 billion Ares 1 project, Senator Shelby’s move to deprive commercial cargo & crew launch services is leverage to kill off a near-term alternative to Ares 1’s role to shuttle astronauts to ISS.

    As soon as a commercial crew transport flies to LEO, the Ares I is going to look as foolish as Samuel Langley’s Aerodrome was compared to the Wright Flyer.

  7. I was reading some of the comments. Doesn’t sound like a good idea to me, but imagine if a member of Congress got convicted of “opposing space colonization”. Boy, would that be a different world.

  8. Heheh, I laughed at that too. Is there any chance at all Shelby will be unseated by a Republican challenger? I’m assuming a Democrat wouldn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell. Is there anything we could do to help?

  9. Typical pork barrel politics. Good thing most of the money for COTS had already been granted. Still this is a step backwards. Ares needs less money, not more.

    FWIW I was (and am) in favor of the Constellation program and using ELVs for it. But Ares has been a mess. I was against using solids from the onset. To me it is pork barreling for ATK. In this program new engines could and should have been developed. Even if it was just upgrades to existing engines such as RS-68.

    Atlas V Heavy could have been funded to have a second source for manned flights to ISS. This could be done by making a capsule that would fit into either Heavy EELV.

    What happened to space tugs?

  10. “As soon as a commercial crew transport flies to LEO, the Ares I is going to look as foolish as Samuel Langley’s Aerodrome was compared to the Wright Flyer.”

    Exactly right!

  11. > .. I almost weep when I think of the useful things we could do with a mere hundred million dollars. …

    Yeah listening to the price tage for Aries I – IV – Orion getting projected to cross the $50 B mark I keep remember the MacDac projection of FAA certified DC-X shuttles off a assenbly line for a inflation adjusted cost less then a tenth that.

    A on orbit refuelable DC-Y would make a very nice Earth to Luna surface transport.

    8′(

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