It's a decent statement. It doesn't seem to point to a continution of the Bush Administration's Vison for Space Exploration but at least it's aimed at the heavens, so I will retract some of the nasty thoughts I've expressed about Obama's lack of interest in manned space.

Of course the proof is the pudding, but until the pudding arrives, I'll eat some of my words, and think more positively of an Obama presidency. Crunch crunch -- more salt please.

-ms

I'm still not hearing a simple declarative sentence about real support for both the human & robotic exploration programs. I'll believe it when I hear his sparkling oratory in support of funding Altair and Ares V development and production. If the only part of Constellation we get out of an Obama Administration is Ares I or some other variant, we are still just going around in circles.

I'm with Diogenes here - a simple statement in support of the particular programs would be most clarifying. There aren't any real specifics there at all, except re-establishing the NASC and one more shuttle flight (probably for the physics folks?), which may not help at all. What has been needed has been more $$$ for funding the future development (Ares V and Altair) to get the hardware designed and built and to keep the important skilled technical people on the job and not in the bread line for four years. Not to quibble on points with the candidate, but wasn't it the post-Columbia commission report that stated that there should be no more shuttle flights after 2010 WITHOUT vehicle re-certification? That was a commission decision, not a decision attributable to a politician (the President). It seems like this whole statement is more political rhetoric aimed at garnering votes.

I agree with the above 2 comments (Diogenes and Shupp). But my hope is that the "Alternate VSE" folks (Huntress, Hinners, et al) will be able to weigh in and morph the current "Vision" in a rational way in an Obama Administration. The current VSE has the potential to get us stuck on the moon for another generation as we have been in Earth orbit for the last one. I think the earlier (and depressing) Obama statements may have been a result of lack of research and development of the right "contacts" in this subject area. Now that he is talking with folks like Bill Nelson and maybe John Glenn, I knew that the earlier stance was not going to remain standing for long. But as the aforementioned posts say, the proof will not be obtained until the pudding is served...and that would also be true for any other candidate.

His comments should be welcome to all space advocates. For one thing, he said the word "Mars", which most politicians avoid like the plague. More generally, it is refreshing to hear a politician admit that they were mistaken about something. Coming from a presidential candidate, it's even better.

With all due respect to Jeff in the previous comment..."it is refreshing to hear a politician admit that they were mistaken about something.".

If you believe that this was just a case of admitting you're wrong, I'd like to have whatever you're smoking. Considering that he was in Titusville today, home of KSC and a good amount of KSC workers (especially union), and he's rapidly losing ground in the polls to McCain, do you think he's going to be so stupid as come out to a major voting source in pivotal central Florida and say "No, I really don't support manned spaceflight, and I'm not really concerned that that's going to kill the entire Space Coast economy and lifestyle"

He's got a lot of ground to make up. The local KSC IAM union had a SCATHING attack on Obama when they gave their endorsement to Hillary during the primaries(which from going through the older posts seems to be deleted).

From the Feb. 21 2008 posting on the KSC IAM's website (iam2061update.blogspot.com)
"I guess we could say he is not flip-flopping, since he says he supports NASA, but he never steps away from a five year delay for Constellation. We all know if Constellation is stopped for 5 years, the entire program will be finished. A delay that large would all but end Human Space Exploration, and force us to buy seats from other countries to access the ISS.......... which the US Taxpayers footed the bill to construct.
It is nice to know his plan will lead to better educated students. I am sure Fast Food and Department store chains in our area, will appreciate the well educated population.............."

There's a difference between admitting you were wrong, and whitewashing your stance to all of a sudden appear that you were ALWAYS in favor of it.

Considering that anytime in the primaries he was asked about the space program, he immediately would say that climate change should be our new Apollo program, and
how we should focus more on non-manned missions, and then all of a sudden delete a often quote statement from his site?

If he's changed this much, imagine how much more he'll change when (if) he gets elected, and doesn't need to suck up to Central Florida anymore. THEN we'll see how much he supports Orion/Constellation.

My kids went to the Titusville appearance this morning. Here's a youtube of the NASA part of the speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdvAVSNRni4

He was introduced by Senator Nelson, from our district and of course a space flight supporter. Don't suppose that the fact the Democratic National party has targeted Rep Feeney (this is his district) has anything to do with this? Either way I'm glad as a NASA contractor on the Constellation Program to see this policy clearly stated, even if it is a change from before.

that's pretty funny. new politician, all new, change is in the air, we are the people we've been waiting for, oops, whoa, hey i'm in front of shuttle workers, who may be in unions no less.... hey i'm in favor of one more shuttle flight and forget what i said about whacking nasa's budget to pay for education welfare. now all you space fairing democrats and astro biology mission to planet earth al gore and jim hanson are geniuses guys can safely vote for your democrat and in a couple years you can sit around and wonder why nasa can't do anything for 10 millionth time

It is nice to hear that he is becoming more educated about the space program, but why is it that every administration comes in, and spends a bunch of time studying NASA and re-prioritizing. We even saw that happen twice in the Bush Administration. Once for O'Keefe and once for Griffin.

Kennedy came out and said lets go to the moon. He was gone, and the next administration kept it rolling.

I say the reason NASA keeps losing people's attention and lacks inspiration is because every 3-4 years, we change our minds.

The most brilliant thing the next administration could do is read the studies already done and respect the smart people who contributed to them by continuing forward.

Let's finish what we started.

Obama has no interest in space other than what it does for him politically. The Moon landing went on because Kennedy was a martyred and beloved President and because the Texas space booster LBJ was elected. What incentive does Obama have to continue and advocate a program started by the unpopular Bush, (other than to buy Florida and Texas votes)? Of course, Obama may be clever enough to put his own stamp on it. Nevertheless, space adventures are a risky business for politicians, since they carry so much symbolism. Bush used space to try to salvage his image, but Obama may not tolerate any early failures should they occur.

Typical politician - tell the people what they want to hear...
The problem is one he gets in office do you think the Titusville speech this weekend will mean anything? I think not and bet my career on it. I left KSC mostly because it looks like this guy will be president (and the obvious budget problems - come on Bush, if you propose a major NASA initiative then fund it). I thought maybe NASA had a chance after this speech but after reading what he actually said seeing what he says and does about other things I am convinced he is a untrustworthy politician - he'll turn on anyone that gets in the way of his plan for power, NASA included...

Well, I'll just say this - quite a few of us space and aerospace folks have been e-mailing the Obama campaign with regards to Obama's position on space in recent months. Obama now has more knowledgeable advisors to inform him on space and aeronautics though probably not the kind that can give in-depth technical perspective on "the gap" and the challenges NASA faces in dealing shuttle retirement while rushing to get Ares I aloft.

The overall intent of his new platform for space is given the many technological challenges facing our nation, particularly in the energy sector and climate change, the belief is in supporting NASA to continue to push the state of the art in space exploration and research, NASA can in turn provide innovations and information to deal with our energy crisis, environmental concerns and other pressing issues here on earth.

Clearly he's going to need the advice of the proposed National Aeronautics and Space Council in order to formulate an in-depth plan, one that explicitly relates to NASA programs and projects as we know them today. But this is a start in the right direction.

So how would you fund the much larger education budget now?
Obama: I would delay the tanker program.

Then,
Campaigning in St. Louis, Tanker Program is important...Bah. Bah. Bah...