Monday, February 1, 2010

Barack Obama to drop Nasa moon mission in budget cutbacks

from The Guardian. The end of an era when we looked beyond this planet for adventures, salvation, exploitation, etc?
The government will instead call for $6bn to be spent over five years to develop a commercial craft to transport astronauts into orbit. Such a move would mark a sea change in how Nasa works, forcing it to rely on a private company to design and manufacture a spacecraft.
Michael Griffin, a former Nasa administrator who championed the Constellation programme, told the Post the budget would prevent the US from being "a significant player in human space flight for the foreseeable future".