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Science & Technology
NASA says it can't afford new rocket, spacecraft
2011-01-14
(AFP) NASA this week told Congress it cannot afford to build a new heavy-lift rocket and spacecraft to replace the retiring space shuttle programme within the current budget approved by Congress.
Somehow I suspected that...
Lawmakers from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation shot back that the plan is not optional and that the US space agency must find a way to devise a workable plan.
"Well, take up a collection or something! Hold a bake sale!"
"The production of a heavy-lift rocket and capsule is not optional. It's the law," said a joint statement issued late yesterday by Senators John Rockefeller, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Bill Nelson and David Vitter.
"... whether we give you the money to do it or not!"
"NASA must use its decades of space know-how and billions of dollars in previous investments to come up with a concept that works. We believe it can be done affordably and efficiently -- and, it must be a priority.
Posted by:Fred

#14  NASA has overplayed its hand. It has more proportional fat than does Manuel Uribe, and strictly obeys Bureaucrat Rule #1, "When threatened with budget cuts, cut the meat and leave the fat."

For example, while NASA has only 18,000 employees, if you add all the pricey subcontractors it uses, that number is about 300,000. This is because they are limited in the number of actual employees they have, but subcontractors are paid from its operational budget.

So it has an immense janitorial maintenance subcontract staff, all of whom are SEIU, btw. Every single union in the US gets full pay from NASA, even in Right to Work States.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2011-01-14 20:21  

#13  "Can't have a Bake Sale" > D ****, I knew it!
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2011-01-14 19:31  

#12  Payload to LEO:
Shuttle: 24,400kg

Delta IV: 23,000kg
Atlas V: 29,400kg
Falcon 9 Heavy: 32,000kg (in development)

If NASA can't hack it, the DoD and SpaceX can.
Posted by: George Hupaviger4591   2011-01-14 17:13  

#11  Why not buy one from spaceX or United Launch?
The idiots have already spent 40 billion on a capsule with no mock up or launcher to show....
Posted by: Water Modem   2011-01-14 14:48  

#10  I remember reading that the first lift to 100yards consumed the most fuel.
AND i remember reading about using helium Balloons to lift rockets into the stratosphere before firimg.
SEEMS to me That combining these ideas will allow heavy lifters and light(er) Weight at the same time.
Yup I read Science fiction,(Hard science) not the crap today where vampires and horror is labeled SF.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2011-01-14 12:54  

#9  How about pandering money from the Sods, then each country could have a long distance heavy lift delivery system...what could go wrong?
Posted by: swksvolFF   2011-01-14 11:36  

#8  they probably have some old O-rings laying around they can use.....
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2011-01-14 11:26  

#7  This is my memory. Back when the Shuttle program was in budget problems in the 70s, they took the overrun money from DoD above what had already been allocated from Defense to cover recon and communication satellite launches [how did that work out?]. This is while my married troops were qualified for food stamps and living in ghetto quality government housing. Kept the engineers, scientists, administrators, and contractors in a manner they wanted to be accustom to. Post me the smallest violin in the world.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2011-01-14 09:14  

#6  The obvious solution is to outsource it to China.

I'll take my bonus now.
Posted by: Javins3089   2011-01-14 09:06  

#5  Privitization sometimes works. Just say'n.
Posted by: Besoeker   2011-01-14 07:55  

#4  Can't have a Bake Sale. The Safety in Foods Act prohibits people who do not have the required Licenses and Permits from selling or giving away food.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2011-01-14 07:53  

#3  I guess that joke about expecting them to do the impossible with nothing isn't a joke in this case.

Have they tried beatings until morale improves?
Posted by: gorb   2011-01-14 03:07  

#2  Who needs spaceships? I thought NASA was supposed to appeal to Moslems and crap.
Posted by: newc   2011-01-14 00:52  

#1  "The production of a heavy-lift rocket and capsule is not optional. It's the law," said a joint statement issued late yesterday by Senators John Rockefeller, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Bill Nelson and David Vitter.

And once again the US government does a fine impression of Book I of Atlas Shrugged.
Posted by: AzCat   2011-01-14 00:48  

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