Obama and Glenn Meet To Talk Space

"The U.S. for the first time since the beginning of the Space Age will have no way to launch anyone into space - starting next January."

I wonder if Glenn supports paying commercial crew providers whatever it takes to close the gap as quickly as possible.

There has been a lot of gap rhetoric, but will they put money where their mouths are?

This will be interesting. I still think it is strange to have GRC instead of LeRC.

whatever

This looks like a way for the WH to come out and support the Senate compromise. Saying that Glenn, Space Hero and former Democratic Senator from Ohio, convinced him that the SLS and MCTV, a.k.a Orion, was needed as an alternative backup to commercial crew would not be seen as a retreat for the WH.

I guess advice from the right hero trumps truth from mere mortals.

By the way the hero got it wrong....the Apollo/STS "gap" comes to mind.

The Space Shuttle is only a $3 billion a year program. We could still use it for ISS missions and also to deploy, assemble, and test the validity of Bigelow types of space stations with real people which NASA could use as a way station for future beyond LEO missions and private industry could use for space tourism.

Terminating the Shuttle program before any successors are ready is simply foolish!

Marcel F. Williams

Bigelow does not need the shuttle to do anything for it. They are made to be ELV launched and commercial capsule supported.

Where were you when CAB (Colombia Accident Board) published their recommendations to terminate the un-safe of human astronauts and money sinking black hole that is LEO Shuttles? Get your information straight.

The decision to terminate the shuttles was made more than two years ago. I also believe John Glenn was a senator at the time and I don't remember him saying anything about the gap. Where was Congressional oversight then? I believe the future of human spaceflight is in the hand of commercial providers. NASA should get out of the business of flying astronauts on government-funded (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, ATK) way overpriced launchers. NASA should be operated like a national lab producing breakthrough technologies and pass them on the rest of us. Governments will never get the rest of us to the stars. Too much bureaucracy. Too many Shelbies in the government.

My two cents.

Whatever new direction Congress and the President have for NASA's space exploration, let's hope its budget is both planned AND implemented for the new program.

Otherwise, taxpayers will just have another canned program like Constellation, or Space Station Freedom. After all, how can we accurately benchmark- and thus learn from and make comparisons against- a program if the planned resources necessary for its execution were not available?

Go get 'em John. Ruff!

The public use of the word "gap" by politicians, media, spinners, pundits, TV clowns, i.e., people who believe they are being fair and impartial, is going to change soon even though the gap will not. I eagerly await to find out the new term and how they are going to wiggle out of this one. Ironically, how can it be possible that a simple three letter word is going to turn out to be so detrimental to NASA? Don't ask me to explain. I am the one asking the question. I guess we just sit back, wait, and see for ourselves.

Commerical Space providers are a nice solution for many LEO activities. But that is where the buck stops. They have ZERO incentive to perform the research and science necessary to extend human presence beyond LEO, because there is no profit or immediate payback. All they are going to do is launch space tourists, and lift satellites to LEO, payed for by government or private agencies. They have zero motivation for fundamental science and exploration.

If we want a robust space program, and want to do the big things, then we will always need a Federally funded agency (NASA) to perform the research, develop the technology, and build the assests necessary for us to get beyond LEO.

Bigelow needs as many clients for its space stations as possible. And the sooner they can test them with human occupants, the better. Being NASA tested would be excellent advertising for the safety of their space stations.

Sorry, but there are no private commercial manned spaceflight companies delivering humans into orbit right now-- unless you want to use the services of Energia.

Marcel F. Williams

Sorry, but there are no private commercial manned spaceflight companies delivering humans into orbit right now-- unless you want to use the services of Energia.

And you don't think this is a golden opportunity for synergy??? NASA needs a replacement manned spacecraft and Bigelow needs a manned spacecraft too.

Mike, Maybe you are to young to remember the Apollo/STS gap. Yes is was too long. But there was a difference. A winged reusable space ship was being actually built. They were developing reusable rocket engines, figuring out how to glue tiles to survive space flight and fly super sonic thru the air. They were flying Approach and Landing tests with crews flying.They were developing software for launching, on orbit and landing. Thew were building the 3 mile long runway at KSC as well as making improvments to other runways around the world for emergency. There were crews being trained to fly, there were people being trained at KSC to launch it and in Houston control it. The crawler transports were being modified as was launch pads 39A & B. Yes the gap was long but progress was being made. Now compare that to the plan of lets wait for 5 years and decide what kind of HLV to build, then some time in the future after it is built lets decide what to put on top of it. That gap is caused by not having an actual plan. That is what John Glen was
talking about.

Where were you when CAB (Colombia Accident Board) published their recommendations to terminate the un-safe of human astronauts and money sinking black hole that is LEO Shuttles? Get your information straight

Hmm, well first of all it was the CAIB and second John Glenn announced his retirement from the Senate in Feb of 1997.

I'm glad that you are so close to the former Senator that you know exactly what he meant. The point is there was a gap and it is improper and wrong to contend that it wasn't. The one we have here is different and could have been prevented had Mr. Glenn stood up for NASA and proper funding so long ago. Since I remember exactly where I was on the day that Mr. Glenn (as well as Sputnik, Laika, Shepard, and Grisssom) launched into space, there is no need to lecture me on just what was going on during the Apollo/STS gap any more than I need to remind you that metal is being cut, things are being built, a launch pad is being modified, along with development of chutes, launch escape system, while rockets are being modified, even before this gap arrives. Can't say that about the last gap but work was going on then, work is going on now. The only difference is the budget to do it. Pretty much the same otherwise eh "Sonny"?

Hey commercial space your doing a backyard version of project gemini get over yourselfs.
Tourist have access to space already your not doing anything new. NASA already has tried faster cheaper and better it didn't work out to well for them. Does history repeat itself? I hope not.

Marcel, get a clue. Bigelow does not want to deal with the shuttle. It would increase his costs too high to be commercially viable. That is why he is waiting for a commercial capsule.

Also, NASA has no use for a separate Bigelow station for many years. That is a fact.

Joe, you hit the nail on the head. It's just amazing to me that folks sat down and said nothing for _years_ after the decision was made to shut down Shuttle without a guarantee of a successor flying beforehand. In fact, the gap was a known entity under Constellation and there was simply "hope" to minimize it. That didn't happen (surprise, surprise!) I'm with you in waiting to see how this gap is going to get "rebadged" by the media, the pols and the pundits. My money says it's going to get pinned on the cancellation of Constellation even though Constellation was at least 5 years from closing the gap.

> Hey commercial space your doing a backyard version of project gemini get over yourselfs. Tourist have access to space already your not doing anything new. NASA already has tried faster cheaper and better it didn't work out to well for them.

Giving up and paying Russia isn't a good national policy..

In the end, and we are currently witnessing the end or rather the inevitability of having to make a spending choice, NASA chose faster, cheaper, and better, i.e., the Russians to access the ISS because, in a way, it is addressing the true definition of the gap. The true definition of the gap is the one the President and Congress believe it is, based on their willingness to spend money. Spending money on this way or that way to get to the ISS makes it the truth. They are quickly abandoning the Constellation because it does not address the gap because we are all finding out it is not faster, cheaper, and better.

The gap will soon be redefined by the following quick and simple quote from the President or the NASA Administrator, --You asked about the gap? My answer is there is no gap as far as I can tell. We are still getting our astronauts to the ISS, aren't we? Well, there is no gap in our access to our assets in space.--

Ironic,eh?

Actually, Bigelow would make money since NASA could purchase and assemble the cheap Bigelow space stations for its own purposes:

1. To test the validity of inflatable space stations

2. To serve as a way station for future beyond LEO missions in an orbit easier to access from American soil than the ISS

3. To serve as a test docking station for private commercial manned space craft, avoiding the danger of damaging our investment in the ISS by companies testing their new manned and unmanned vehicles.

So Bigelow would make money by selling a few space station modules to NASA while also having their product NASA tested--- for free-- long before they could be tested by humans in orbit through private commercial means!

Marcel F. Williams