Al's Blog – Advice You Can't Refuse

The fight to keep the Constellation program alive ended this week, as most of us knew was inevitable. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 is essentially a cancellation of the ‘return to the moon’ program.  It is the beginning of investment in commercial companies to manufacture rockets for low Earth orbit and it also speeds up the development of heavy-lift rockets for farther missions. This accelerated schedule should help Florida and space manufacturers a little even though the bill dictates NASA must use as many shuttle and Constellation parts as possible (we all need to do our part recycling). It also budgets more than $11 billion to keep the development of the Orion crew capsule going, as well as the design of a new rocket.  The new rocket is hoped to carry Orion to the International Space Station before 2016. Much sooner than Obama’s plan for a rocket that would fly to an asteroid by 2025.

So while the news isn’t good for the Constellation program, some good news did come out of this. We’ll have one more (last?) shuttle launch next year and 2,500 Central Floridians will keep their jobs for 4 – 6 more months. Other jobs will be created by the new rocket’s development (most likely won’t replace the estimated 9,000 job losses expected next year, but…). Commercial companies can continue their programs for the next 3 years with the $1.6 billion already allocated for them; surely Florida will benefit some from these commercial flights. And who knows, maybe one of those missions will end up sending Americans back to the moon.

Although this bill is not guaranteed to become law, it shows us how the funding for NASA is headed and that the shuttle program is nearing an end. Be sure to mark your calendars for the launches targeted for November 1, 2010 and February 26, 2011. Without knowing what the future holds, we can at least experience our Nation’s greatness through these remaining launches.

On a personal note of opinion: I hope the State of Florida can rise to the occasion of this new technology-based future instead of pouting over the past. We need to get back into “competition” mode and do whatever we can to encourage local technologies and business. It doesn’t matter if we’re reaching for the moon or an asteroid, if we’re not doing everything possible to extend our own arm.