NASA's new Constellation program has been canceled - The future is unknown

[mashamorgan]

Private Enterprise as has been said is only going to invest to make profit, therefore space sight seeing will be the order of the day. To think where we could have been now if we had only stuck with Apollo. A shuttle matched with Saturn V always seemed to me to be ideal, We could have flew to the moon and placed 2 LEMS in the cargo bay and completed 2 missions in one leaving the shuttle in Lunar orbit. We can but dream !

[Neanderthalcouzin]

Just amazing to see it shooting off straight up into the night like that.

Where is Neil DeGrasse Tyson when you need him :(

[tom4705]

Obama, burn in hell....

[meteor4163]

The cancellation of constellation in a nutshell:

One small word for man, one giant leap back for mankind.

[nccflorin23]

Obama's Cancellation program :(

[Jimbob8971]

@nccflorin23 no well not really he has only cancelled the mission to land on the moon by 2019 however he still wants us to go to mars and beyond which is understandible since we have already visited the moon.

[bestplugins]

Why is money a problem to science? money is a manmade thing, its abstract, we are slowing down ourselves.

[starsolace]

"THERE IS A CHOICE IN LIFE- EITHER ONE GROWS OR DECAYS. GROW OR DIE. I THINK WE SHOULD GROW. WE EITHER MUSTER THE COURAGE TO GO DO SUCH THINGS OR WE RISK THE POSSIBILITY OF STAGNATION AND DECAY. That is all I have to say.

[THATW3IRDKID]

I live 7 miles from NASA in Cape Canaveral and central Florida depends on NASA for work. Because Obama canceled the program, he is putting millions of people out of work and using the same amount of money to pay the Russians to take our men into space.

If there are private companies doing this then everyone will be screwed as a result. I'm 17 and I may not have a future because of this.... >:[

[CAPFANCADET]

I would really like to nuke Obama. CONSTELLATION IS THE FUTURE! FACE IT!

[indippl123]

well since obama cancelled this.....all hail china and the communists!

[LUCA7FOLD]

youtube youtube youtube......  this error thing is truly pissing me off.

[jf3rd2007]

There are 3 nations that currently have the technical capability to launch humans into Earth orbit and return them safely - the United States, Russia and China.

The United States will be out of the business when the space shuttle is retired at the end of this year. The U.S. will pay Russia $51,000,000 per seat every time a U.S. astronaut is taken to the International Space Station. Not good!

[datzfast]

i did it. see i may only have one vote but words are more powerful than votes. thank god nasa is going away for good, now this country can move foward again.

[AXESMI]

In one year Obama has put American Science & Technology into the Dark Ages.

Canceled NASA programs.

Cut funding for Hydrogen Cars & other Green technology.

For mankind to survive, we need to work towards colonizing other worlds as the resources deplete on this one along with sustainability issues due to over population. Unless of course you believe in mass murder of 90% of the population like some scientists do. Genocide in the name of science.

[aldushuxley]

And so it goes, America's decline switches into high gear. Now, the only thing the US will lead in is making fast food and obese citizens.

When there are no more hi-tech jobs in the US, the hi-tech people will move to countries where the jobs and opportunities are.

[jim6584]

I don't want to be sitting around in 2040 (if I am still alive) and we're still only capable of doing what we did in 1969. Let's start with an aggressive technology pushing agenda. NASA we want to go to Mars! Let's develop hardware that is capable of long human duration deep space and Mars capable landings. We can stop by our moon to test everything out but let's focus on Mars not 1969. Give the public something to get excited about!

[6americanflagsonmoon]

space x falcon 9 rocket dragon capsule will take 7 astronauts up to space station in 2011...

[pumpinboner]

Well, for the next decade, it is going to be Russia as the only country capable of manned space-flight! All other nations (including the US) will go beg for tickets. America, get a load of this! Constellation? A cheap copy of German built Apollo Program... Space shuttles were not exactly a waste of time, since without it, ISS would not have been possible - but what is coming next?? Disappointing!!

[ScienceSaveHuman]

The biggest question in my head now, Is nasa really fake the moon landing during appollo mission ? Why after 40 years they never return to the moon which they said to have a precious things such Helium-3 ? Is it soo hard for the American who mastering sophisticated technology to return to the moon after their first mission in 1969 ? If the problems is about funding, did America enjoys a great economic development since 1960 - 2002 which bring them to have a lot of money?

[ScienceSaveHuman]

The biggest question in my head now, Is nasa really fake the moon landing during appollo mission ? Why after 40 years they never return to the moon which they said to have a precious things such Helium-3 ? Is it soo hard for the American who mastering sophisticated technology to return to the moon after their first mission in 1969 ? If the problems is about funding, i thinks since 1960 - 2002 USA enjoys a great economic development which bring them to have a lot of money.

[monimstarfox]

we were supposed to be on mars in 85 but because of these goddam burecrats we havent gone anywhere since the moon landings.

-earth is humanity's cradle but you cant live in a cradle forever-

[VanKlaunch]

What-What's that sound? Oh, it's my dreams, crashing and being crushed into a heap of twisted metal.

[Jmcmonw]

.....5 years and 10 billion dollars down the pipes...

but, in obama's defence: the orion program was going to use out of date technology, but we at least know that it would of worked, it was SOMETHING at least

[TheAvidThinker]

2:02 , erm, what did he just do? anyways, this makes me sad. i was all excited for this program to go. i like obama, but this has probably turned my view around on him... there goes 9 billion dollars and many jobs...

[TheFutureIsRightHere]

I think that president Obama is actually trying to save NASA's budget by forwarding the launching vehicles to private companies such as SpaceX. So don't worry, in 5 years they'll have cheaper, safer, and better launch vehicles. It turns out to be way more expensive for NASA to develop and construct all of these on its own and on the gov't taxes, but private companies will afford it.

[skywarp1]

@TheFutureIsRightHere No he's not! He just spend money on small stupid shit for science like how colony of ants are living and other dumb shit. And, he had his administration do some more shit. Most of the NASA people are pissed at what Obama's doing.

[icx88888]

@TheFutureIsRightHere except for the fact that for the next 5 years we have to rely solely on the Russians to get us up to space, and they are charging over 50 million dollars per person. and what if things go south with russia? not saying they will, but our astronauts on the space station can effectively be held hostage by the russians. the Orion capsule from constellation is being used as an escape pod, but if we leave the station, we turn it over to the russians cuz we cant get back up to it.

[calosity]

@TheFutureIsRightHere

NASA receives a fraction of 1% of the US tax dollar. Sounds to me like gov't needs to get its priorities on spending reestablished.

NASA is basically the only efficient gov't run program that actually shows results, and is worth the money spent. They have decades, upon decades, of experience. Normally, I would agree that the private sector would be better... but in this case, I would rather NASA remain behind the wheel.

[THATW3IRDKID]

@TheFutureIsRightHere I live 7 miles from NASA in Cape Canaveral and central Florida depends on NASA for work. Because Obama canceled the program, he is putting millions of people out of work and using the same amount of money to pay the Russians to take our men into space.

If there are private companies doing this then everyone will be screwed as a result. I'm 17 and I may not have a future because of this.... >:[

[137153163192]

@TheFutureIsRightHere & everyone.Hope on this line it gets out.

Orbital flights are all we will ever be allowed to do.

There was no economic crisis as such.A former president made a mistake by launching the constalation programme.The greys as they are known were going to bombarde the planet,but for the fact of some other savior of the world leader who told them only the americans were told to keep off the moon.

There was a price to be paid.A lot of Platinum & Gold. We are not allowed on the moon

[Jimbob8971]

@TheFutureIsRightHere ur right in my view i think obama is going to skip the moon and head straight for mars and beyond which is understandble since we have already been there.

[Utenhauzen]

@TheFutureIsRightHere for the sake of Florida's economy, I hope you're right.

[Neanderthalcouzin]

@TheFutureIsRightHere dont you think private companies is worse because their MO is profit, hence they are less about raw science and more about projects to attain that profit, including the more dangerous negative aspects we are all aware of like corner cutting, taking risks, and so on, which is not remotely in the dynamic with something like NASA? I don't know how such a proposal would be a good thing but I am very open to having these things explained, thx for posting the video.

[Lazybum450]

He hasn't canceled it he's proposing to cancel it. He wants NASA to focus on climate change (wtf), and also to send regular people to space, but there are other companies doing this already. Pretty much saying that we should give up the moon and the other opportunities ahead of us. Oh, and although there are many government officials trying to keep it (thank god, I would be so pissed if they all agreed with him), Obama intends to oppose any attempt to conserve it, can't believe I voted for him

[ISinisterI]

screw obama... there goes 9 billion dollars in R&D .... DOWN THE DRAIN

[TromboneUSAlabama]

Why don't we just rebuild the Saturn V it would save a lot of time.

[TheFutureIsRightHere]

That's exactly what the Constellation program was doing, taking concepts from the Saturn V and the Space Shuttle, but it seems to be too expensive which is why it has been canceled.

[jim6584]

In hindsight, just think if we didn't do the Shuttle and stuck with Apollo technology.

Can you imagine what Apollo would of evolved into with 40 years and the same $170 billion. Can you say, the reusable Saturn X? I can only dream of the capability we would have right now.

I am sure we would have a moon base.

With real heavy lift capability we would have tank sized probes on Mars.

The sad fact is, Constellation only gets us back to 1969. The shuttle cost us about 50 years.

[yogonu]

I hate this, what a terrible terrible shame. I really wanted this to happen, I don't know if this screwed up nation will ever do anything extraordinary again. I hear they are going to send a bunch of rich morons up into LEO now, damn, thats just terrible.

[JustAnAdjunct]

Constellation was canceled to save the USAs' manned space flight program, not cripple it. The new vehicles will most likely be the Jupiter Direct rockets which are far from revolutionary, but FAR more shuttle derived than Ares I and V and thus won't be nearly as expensive, unsafe and time consuming to develop. Jupiter Direct is basically a shuttle without an orbiter, rocket engines on the bottom of the ET and payload on top of it.

[JustAnAdjunct]

And the beaming fuel up in space is probably something to do with launching laser propelled fuel carriers (google laser propulsion) to refuel ships in orbit. It's the first time I've heard of it though and I'm just speculating, but it's an interesting idea.

[TheFutureIsRightHere]

The Jupiter family of rockets is intended to re-use as much hardware and facilities from the Space Shuttle program as possible, therefore NASA is seeking towards new types of vehicles. That is one of the main reasons of which NASA cancelled both the space shuttle program and the Constellation program, because they tend to be too expansive.

[TheFutureIsRightHere]

So that is to say, The Jupiter family of rockets is not going to replace nor the space shuttle program nor the Constellation program.

[JustAnAdjunct]

I'm not exactly fond of it either because it is like I said - just a slightly modified shuttle (old tech). But the reason I say it's most likely is because this program has been hiped for months by the engineers at NASA and people in the space comunity who were opposed to Constellation (Ares I in particular). Their motto is "Simpler, safer, sooner". It's true that it hasn't been decided what NASA will develop, but odds are it won't be a radically new vehicle with innovative technologies.

[TheFutureIsRightHere]

Actually after going through DIRECT's website, I found out that the Jupiter family of rockets which runs by "Direct Launcher", will indeed replace NASA's Constellation program and the space shuttle.

[TheFutureIsRightHere]

And by doing so, NASA will achieve the following (those are from the "Direct Launcher" website:

*Shorter "gap" after the Shuttle retires (3 years vs. 5)

*Earlier return to the Moon (2017 vs. 2019)

*Delete all risks associated with a second new launch vehicle

*Delete all costs associated with a second new launch vehicle

*Optimum use of the existing NASA & contractor experience

*Enable multiple upgrade paths

*Greater range of safety alternatives for Crews

[JustAnAdjunct]

On paper Direct is a pretty decent idea, but only time will tell. When I saw Constellation for the first time I said to my self "Finally! The future is here". And now it has been shot down. For all we know the next administration might decide to do some remodeling in NASA too. Only time will tell.

[TheFutureIsRightHere]

That is true.

[TheFutureIsRightHere]

As the matter of fact, that is the main reason of which I have named my YouTube channel as "The future is right here", that's exactly what I had in mind as well when I heard about the Constellation program.

[JustAnAdjunct]

I have my whole life ahead of me, yet I feel like I won't live to see any notable advancement in manned space exploration. It seems every time a bit of hope comes along it all implodes in a few years. I don't really care what it is - Constellation, Direct a giant sling shot, w.e. as long as it works, because it's about time.

[TheFutureIsRightHere]

Same as me.

[JustAnAdjunct]

Btw seems the Direct rockets aren't being considered for shuttle replacement. NASA plans to develop a heavy lift vehicle, but at some undefined point in the future. If the Constellation program isn't restarted by the end of this month, NASA probably won't even have a plan for developing a man rated vehicle after the shuttle is retired. Congress has yet to make the final decision, but as things stand it looks very uncertain after the shuttle program ends.

[Snowwie88]

@JustAnAdjunct

Well, you can live it, I am 34 years old, so I could probably wait another 50 years, but many people don't become the age of 84. Besides, getting people to the moon is not the only thing I personally wish to see, I also hope the TSSM will continue, and we finally can see how the surface of the moon Titan look likes.

[JustAnAdjunct]

@Snowwie88

Robotic exploration is nice and likely has a bright future, but notice I specifically mentioned human missions. Those are turning out to be too problematic. Kinda makes you wonder if it will work out in the end.

[Snowwie88]

@JustAnAdjunct

Sure it will. They only need to perfect the ion drive, actually it is already near as perfect as it is gonna be, and astronauts can get to Mars within 3 months, instead of 2 years. If they go to Mars its better to plan big. So, not only visiting Mars, but also settling there. Consider it as an IMS, short for "International Mars Station". NASA, and other countries can launch multiple ships for maximum payload of buildingmaterials and other stuff needed to build a colony on Mars.

[JustAnAdjunct]

I really doubt the 3 month figure. Doesn't seem doable with electric propulsion. However, NASA did consider an Artificial Gravity NEP vehicle back in 2003-2004. It's advantages are that it can use conventional ion drives, has mission abort capability, has artificial gravity, as the name implies, which makes 3 -year- trips doable and the spacecraft can be reused. Why is no one considering it again? Because HSF policy is a total clusterfuck. What you mention isn't even on the horizon sadly.

[Jimbob8971]

@JustAnAdjunct well the truth is even if they did land on the moon by 2019 it would not really be something special to be around for however depending on how old u are obama still wants a mars mission by 2030 now if u are around to see that well lets just say it will be something to cry about ( with happiness ) :D

[Baseshocks]

@JustAnAdjunct thats what they might be doing, with todays tech and the spacestation up and running why would you build a rocket that goes from earth to the moon, it makes more sence to build a dedicated ferry spaceship, launch up the parts put together at the space station and use it to go back and forth from the moon. that would save soo much money for multiple trips.