14 DAY TRIAL // When US President Barack Obama forwarded his 2011 budget proposal to Congress, he made a lot of people very angry with the provisions regarding NASA's future. Under the new plans, the agency is to give up on Project Constellation, its multi-billion dollar, five-year effort to construct new spacecrafts and rockets for putting American astronauts back on the Moon. Instead, NASA is to focus on supporting the private sector in developing low-Earth orbit (LEO) capabilities, and on developing technologies for going to asteroids and Mars. Several Apollo astronaut have spoken out on the issue, but they do not walk the same line, as some agree with Obama, and other do no, Space reports.
For example, on May 12, Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong (the first man to walk on the Moon) and Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan (the last man to step on Earth's natural satellite), testified in front of a congressional committee, saying that they strongly disagreed with the new direction Obama set for space exploration. On the other hand, Apollo 9 astronaut Russell Schweickart said that he had taken issue with the other two's statements. He has been an avid supporter of asteroid-oriented missions for many years, and says that the new policy for space exploration is precisely what the country needs.
Armstrong and Cernan echo many in Congress, who believe that the new proposals are without any clear direction. They told the congressional panel that a proper review of the plans is in order, and argued that Obama was poorly-advised in making this decision. They also took issue with the fact that details on how NASA is to reach asteroids by 2025 are scarce in the new proposal. But Schweickart has another opinion. “I write this letter, as an Apollo astronaut, to state my strong support for the proposed NASA space program as modified by President Obama,” he wrote in a statement addressed to the chair of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, Sen. John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-West Virginia). This is the committee that heard Armstrong and Cernan on May 12.
“With what I believe to be the coming loss of US leadership in human space exploration in mind, the question of how best to regain that leadership breaks into two fundamental elements; our current situation and our direction going forward. In terms of relative importance I weigh these at 80 percent and 20 percent respectively,” he added. “Our current situation is akin to being on a dead end road. Instead of being on a path toward the goal we all seek, i.e. to regain our leadership position in human space exploration, we must recognize that we are (and have been) on a path to nowhere. We are confronted with arguments to ignore the clear signs of this sad situation and even encouraged to accelerate along this futile path,” the former Apollo astronaut explained.
“NASA should, as proposed by the new space program, continue to encourage and assist U.S. enterprise in meeting the performance and safety requirements inherent in flying both cargo and people to low Earth orbit without absorbing all of the cost. This cooperative effort would both minimize the existing gap and bring into being an exciting, new US industrial capability, replete with industrial innovation and job creation,” Schweickart concluded.