"I wasn't born here at JSC, but I got here as soon as I could"

This is such a fitting and perfect comment.

"If you turn right instead, you'd find a building full of mission operations people who a week ago had no question that their contributions were valued by the country."

That is the same for every space center right now. We all feel incredibly hurt, and have taken this new direction very personally. All the politics, bantering, and differing opinions aside... at the end of the day we all just sit at our desks with our head in our hands and wonder "What did we do wrong?"

This is so much more than a job to everyone who works at NASA, its the culmination of a life long dream and years of hard work and dedication. I'm just so afraid this move and lack of direction will kill off the few remaining folks in this country that still dare to dream big.

We're hurt... and the tears being shed on a daily basis should tell you that... no matter which side of the fence you sit on with this issue, please respect those that have dedicated their lives to pursuit of this lofty dream... tell them "job well done". They are going to need the comfort of the community in the coming months in order to move on with their lives if the new path doesn't change.

Put in KSC instead of JSC and LCC instead of MCC and I'll tell you, I've had the same conversation with a lot of people over the years. Yes, I got here as soon as I could. It's the only place I ever could be, but it took 20 years to get here. As for "where it all happens", I just don't know. Maybe someday I will, maybe we all will. Today though, who knows. But the world, the duture, is completely open and will be whatever we decide it will be. Today is sad, tomorrow is optimistic if you can see through the tears. It's difficult, but not impossible.

If BHO gets his way, NASA will cease to exist as we have known it, in favor of funding more human maintenance and social programs at the expense of science and exploration. I wonder, if in addition to 'Rules for Radicals' if his other favorite book is 'To Serve Man'.

If you look at BHO's early speeches, the ones he made before he got the nomination, one of his main goals was to cut NASA and spend the money on education. It looks like he may make good on his early promises. I only hope the commercial space guys are as good as the say they are, otherwise our space program Kaput.

"NASA will cease to exist as we have known it"

I'd contend, only as you've known it for about the last 15 years.

Over the last 15-20 years, NASA human space flight people kept saying they were the 'space ops' organization. This was because NASA gave up developing and building just about anything and instead a bunch of ops managers took over thge major programs and made the mistake of thinking that was all there was. Now you have programs like Constellation, which can't seem to figure out how to design of build anything, or ISS in which its all about ops but little else.

Its time we go back to R&D. If NASA can no longer do the job, then we need to open it to the R&D community. Maybe its not too late for the NASA people to learn how.

Actually, he offerred that point in exactly ONE policy statement. 1, not multiple, but one. And if you look further, you'll see that it changed, well before he won the nomination, and didn't talk about cutting funding for NASA to go to Education. And then there was the final policy statement, which has been discussed.

And our space program has been kaput for a while.

It's the usual denial, then anger (current state), then bargaining, then depression, then acceptance, then rebuilding. Let's just give it time to run its course.

These are all people who have invested much of their lives in something that appears to be collapsing around them. It will be a while before they can see the flowers popping up between the big pieces of rubble.

Let me offer my thoughts.

The problem has been that most of the people at NASA, they all get space, and see its potential. The problem is, the rest of society, doesn't - they've moved on from the 60s, where they were all going to the moon. At this point, it's sunk in that they aren't, and they don't quite know why, and they aren't willing to spend like a drunken sailor on something that they don't get benefits from.

NASA has support for places like Huntsville Al, but try places like Detroit, or Maine, or Massachusetts, or North Dakota - there isn't great overwhelming support or love for NASA. They don't hate it, but they don't see it as vital.

And thats the problem. We need something to sell to those people, and endless promises, and threats that don't exists, wont' work. And inspiration is such a weak argument that we've had to deal with a decreasing budget for years.

"If BHO gets his way"

Bush and our legislature has had multiple years of Griffin saying, in no uncertain terms, "we need more money", followed by el Presidente's own Augustine commission saying "these guys need more money".

Obama thinks that we can't for "budgetary" reasons. The legislature controls the money. Is he right?

It is hard for someone not at a Center to know how the new NASA plan feels to those who are. But those at NASA Centers who felt pushed aside when Constellation ate their lunch found a way to move forward. You will, too. In the mean time, it is not accurate to say that we are seeing cuts at NASA or that "social programs" are getting funding instead of science and exploration. NASA's budget is going up! There will now be more science! There will now be more robotic missions into the solar system! And when budgets go up it means there will be more jobs! I understand that this will be a tough transition -- NASA will be doing things differntly than it used to do. But it can still be a vibrant and excting place -- doing cutting edge science, exploring the solar system, and actually innovating on a big scale in technical areas relevant to human spaceflight for the first time since the idea of a reusable shuttle was proposed.

@ akear

Yes, I think the same thing exact thing.

Obama has started a civil war with a surprise attack on HSF at NASA. We expected changes yes, but not all out frontal assault on NASA to destroy it's heart.

If he had left Orion, designated it for BEO only, we would be talking a totally different situation right now.

Congress isn't going to roll for this guy, and I sure will not, and a LOT of people are going to make damn sure our voices are heard by congress!

http://www.supportconstellation.com

I'm not just going to sit and take it.
I'm fighting! I'm pushing right back!

www.supportconstellation.com

"Nasa's Budget is Going Up"

True, but look at the details. In the next 4 years the budget for exploration was going to be $24B (2010 budget) and in the 2011 budget it is $18B. That is going down by $6B over 4 years and that includes Commercial Crew. What did get additional funding was ISS, 21st century launch complex, and Space Technology.

So, if you take out the $5.8B that is being put towards an undefined commercial crew line, "Exploration" is down by about $12B over the next 4 years.

So, there is still no clear US crew access to space in this budget and no clear definition of what all those other exploration lines mean. So if you want all the things you mention, you better start pushing NASA to get some RFP's out if your going to see it anytime soon.

So, the "when budgets go up it means more jobs" statement may be true, but it doesn't help those who wanted to keep humans in space.

Well, I'll be fighting to implement this 21st century vision for what NASA ought to be. As long as NASA spends all its money on developing and operating outrageously expensive, massively inefficient space systems, this country and the human race will never go beyond the Moon. Constellation wasn't going to get us there before 2030. If the pro-CxP crowd is successful in getting the program reinstated, human space flight will be over. I work that program and it was on a path to utter failure.

A couple of quotes from one of humankind's greatest minds, Albert Einstein, reminds me of where we are:

"The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."

I suggest a commission similar to the Augustine commmission examine the Obama plan and give us the specifics of EXACTLY where, when, who and how it will place America in space. Since Obama clearly doesn't know himself, Perhaps congress would like to know before voting on it.

Of course, Obama will never allow that kind of scrutiny that he put VSE and Constellation through.

Tell me I'm wrong on that.

I, too, want my government job in perpetuity, regardless of the value it provides back to the taxpayer. How dare that Democrat president scuttle my jobs program!

Right on CessnaDriver!!!

But this time without Sally and Leroy who with their ties to the "Commercial" HSF business pretty much sold us down the river.

For 53hondo:

I would say 90% of us who actually DO work in the HSF business could make more money doing something else I know I could. We do it because we strongly believe in keeping the lead that we and our past co-workers spent 50 years building and maintaining a space program is second to none.

Once upon a time he who controlled the ocean controlled the earth. Now it he who controls space.

Wake up people this is much more than just about Ares, Orion etc..

Didn't Einstein also spend the rest of this life trying to find a unified field theory? Funny how his blind distaste for Quantum Physics drove him away from his goal. I would say its very similar to the blind distaste some have for Ares and Griffin.

We do control space. It's just that NASA has little to do with it.

I was born on a Tuesday -- but it wasn't last Tuesday. Trying to make a $6 billion increase over 5 years as some sort of cut to NASA's budget simply isn't true and even us non math majors can see that.

NASA must add value to the lives of American Citizens to deserve it's support. Innovation in technology, management or operations that can be transferred to the American landscape. It has worked to become more irrelevant in it's mainstream programs over the years...

However the "backwaters" at many centers hold reservoirs of untapped talent and ideas. I have often said that there is no question that cannot be answered, and answered correctly, within a day at a NASA Center. The amount of raw intellect, test capability and numerical modeling amassed is phenomenal to those who have seen it in action.

However it is "hidden" under layers and layers of neglect, mismanagement, and most of all bureaucracy. It needs to be set free and made available to American interests. There is a way to do this, but is there the will? This is the change that is needed.