Story Continues BelowBudget documents released by the White House and the Office of Management and Budget make it very clear that the Constellation program is to be terminated completely, rather than restructured or terminating only parts of it, such as the much-maligned Ares I launch vehicle.

"The Administration proposes to cancel the Constellation Systems program intended to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020 and replaces it with a bold new approach that embraces the commercial space industry, forges international partnerships, and develops the game-changing technologies needed to set the stage for a revitalized human space flight program and embark on a 21st Century program of space exploration," according to a listing of proposed terminations in the FY 2011 budget request.

NASA's budget request details some of the reasons for the about-face which essentially does away with much of NASA's $9 billion investment in Constellation over the past half-decade.

"NASA's Constellation program - based largely on existing technologies - was based on a vision of returning astronauts back to the Moon by 2020," states the budget request. "However, the program was over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation due to a failure to invest in critical new technologies. Using a broad range of criteria an independent review panel determined that even if fully funded, NASA's program to repeat many of the achievements of the Apollo era, 50 years later, was the least attractive approach to space exploration as compared to potential alternatives. Furthermore, NASA's attempts to pursue its moon goals, while inadequate to that task, had drawn funding away from other NASA programs, including robotic space exploration, science, and Earth observations."

Instead, the budget would cancel Constellation and replace it with a new approach that invests in the building blocks of a more capable approach to space exploration that includes:

• Research and development to support future heavy-lift rocket systems that will increase the capability of future exploration architectures with significantly lower operations costs than current systems - potentially taking us farther and faster into space.
• A vigorous new technology development and test program that aims to increase the capabilities and reduce the cost of future exploration activities. NASA, working with industry, will build, fly, and test in orbit key technologies such as automated, autonomous rendezvous and docking, closed-loop life support systems, in-orbit propellant transfer, and advanced in-space propulsion so that our future human and robotic exploration missions are both highly capable and affordable.
• A steady stream of precursor robotic exploration missions to scout locations and demonstrate technologies to increase the safety and capability of future human missions and provide scientific dividends.

In prepared statements released today, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden defended the proposed overhaul of NASA.

"President Obama today has given us a bold challenge -- to become an engine of innovation, and the catalyst for an ambitious new space program that includes and inspires people around the world," said Bolden.

"With this budget and the steps it lays out, the United States and its partners in other nations, in industry, and in academia will pursue a more sustainable and affordable approach to spaceflight through the development of transformative technologies and systems."

Additionally, NASA will invest in advanced propulsion and power technology development as an enabler of future exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

"Next, the president has laid out a dynamic plan for NASA to invest in critical and transformative technologies," according to Mr. Bolden. "These will enable our path beyond low Earth orbit through development of new launch and space transportation technologies, nimble construction capabilities on orbit, and new operations capabilities."

Perhaps the biggest change for NASA will be turning to the private sector for human space transportation services to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station. To this end, the budget proposes to invest $6 billion over the next several years to help mature the nascent commercial manned space launch industry.

Charlie Bolden also made mention of this today when he said, "NASA will accelerate and enhance its support for the commercial spaceflight industry to make travel to low Earth orbit and beyond more accessible and more affordable. Imagine enabling hundreds, even thousands of people to visit or live in low Earth orbit, while NASA firmly focuses its gaze on the cosmic horizon beyond Earth."

Predictably, NASA's contractors as well as political leaders representing districts that include NASA centers pounced on the new budget, claiming NASA is ceding its leadership in space exploration in exchange for reliance on unproven, as-yet undeveloped commercial systems.

Alabama's Republican representative in the Senate, Richard Shelby, immediately decried the proposal as being a proposal to end America's leadership in space in a statement released to the press shortly after today's budget announcement.

"The President's proposed NASA budget begins the death march for the future of US human space flight," Shelby said. The cancelation of the Constellation program and the end of human space flight does represent change - but it is certainly not the change I believe in. Congress cannot and will not sit back and watch the reckless abandonment of sound principles, a proven track record, a steady path to success, and the destruction of our human space flight program."

Shelby represents Alabama, home to NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville and home to many of the agency propulsion research and development programs.

It's becoming clear that NASA will have a fight on its hands to convince Congress and the public that the seemingly sudden, drastic change in mission will be beneficial to the country and will not, as some fear, represent a ceding of human spaceflight leadership to other countries.

Part of the problem is that details of the change seems to have hit like a bolt out of the blue, without pre-emptive consultation with Congress or public statements. While it has been generally accepted that changes to the Constellation architecture were inevitable, in particular as relates to Ares I, almost nobody expected the program to be cancelled in its entirety. In fact, it seems to take to extremes the "Flexible Path" option as presented by the Augustine Committee by doing away with both launch vehicles, the Orion crew exploration vehicle and Altair lunar lander.

Perhaps the most distressing aspect of the plans as they are now being formulated is the fact that there are no new programs specified yet. The budget request makes clear the intent to cancel Constellation and institute new initiatives, but no concrete proposals have been made yet, leaving many people wondering if NASA is giving up a major effort to accomplish something well-defined in exchange for vauge promises of doing "stuff" in the future.

However, those fears may be somewhate overblown. the budget request merely lays out funding requirements, not programmatic requirements. NASA has had in place tiger teams of experts laying the foundation for NASA's future endeavours, including destinations, how to get there and research and development priorities. NASA officials made clear to day that the results of those studies will become clear in the coming weeks and months as the agency continues its reorganization efforts and the budget request makes the slow and winding journey through the halls of Congress.

Nevertheless, it's beyond dispute that the budget request released today represents as dramatic of a shift for the agency as the initial announcement of the Vision for Space Exploration six years ago or Kennedy's speech that created Apollo 49 years ago. What remains to be seen is whether or not today will be remembered as fondly as those history-making turning points of the past. (The Spacearium / Spaceflightnews.net)