David Mindell, the Frances and David Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing and director of MITs Program in Science, Technology, and Society, said that Boldens defense of Obamas proposal wasnt surprising, given that its his job to do so. But the proposal does recommend a fresh approach that, though risky, could reinvigorate human spaceflight in the U.S. and restart research at MIT and many other places that had been sacrificed for the Constellation program, he said.
NASA chief defends Obama
That is the plan of Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis the aerospace company more commonly known as ATK, which manufacturers the solid rocket motors for NASAs space shuttles and Astrium, a European company that builds Ariane 5 rockets, which are used to launch satellites. The two will announce on Tuesday what is essentially a commercial version of the Ares I, the expensive NASA rocket that Congress and the Obama administration canceled last year.
The Ares I, part of a bloated NASA program to send astronauts back to the moon, could become a success story in the Obama administrations effort to shape a more affordable space program with the help of the private sector. NASAs so-called commercial crew program is seeking companies to build and operate space taxis to take astronauts to the International Space Station.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/business/global/08rocket.html?src=busln
Buzz Aldrin: Steps Taken Following Obama's Direction "Will Best Position NASA And Other Space Agencies To Send Humans To Mars." From astronaut Buzz Aldrin's statement on Obama's NASA plan:
Krauthammer Falsely Claims Obama "Killed NASA's Manned Space Program" | Media Matters for America