NASA Cutbacks Will Delay Moon Missions

The New York Times is reporting that recent cutbacks to NASA’s budgets will probably push back the human return to the Moon. Instead of retiring the Space Shuttle and sending the first spacecraft back to the Moon in 2014, the first missions won’t be until 2015 instead, according to NASA administrator Michael Griffin.

Griffin announced the delays during a recent US Senate hearing. He said that the budget cuts will require the agency to redirect its efforts away from the new Orion crew vehicle and the Ares I launch vehicle.

Although the Bush administration had proposed $17.5 billion for NASA funding, providing adequate resources to keep the project on schedule, congress froze any funding increases, keeping it at the previous year’s levels. This will have the effect of reducing the Orion/Ares development budget by $577 million.

Once the shuttle is retired in 2010, there will be 4-5 years where the US won’t be sending any humans into space. Griffin sees this as a shame, since other groups – China, Russia, and ESA – will be capable of launching manned missions.

Original Source: New York Times Story

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Here's a link to my Mastodon account.

Recent Posts

We Understand Rotating Black Holes Even Less Than We Thought

The theory of black holes has several mathematical oddities. Recent research shows our understanding of…

1 hour ago

Habitable Worlds are Found in Safe Places

When we think of exoplanets that may be able to support life, we hone in…

2 hours ago

New Glenn Booster Moves to Launch Complex 36

Nine years ago, Blue Origin revealed the plans for their New Glenn rocket, a heavy-lift…

2 hours ago

How Many Additional Exoplanets are in Known Systems?

NASA's TESS mission has turned up thousands of exoplanet candidates in almost as many different…

6 hours ago

Hubble and Webb are the Dream Team. Don't Break Them Up

Many people think of the James Webb Space Telescope as a sort of Hubble 2.…

13 hours ago

Scientists Have Figured out why Martian Soil is so Crusty

On November 26th, 2018, NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport (InSight)…

21 hours ago