Science
NASA, Orion And Great Leaps Backwards
Yesterday NASA announced that Lockheed-Martin had won the competition for the shuttle 'replacement' vehicle and future moon/Mars orbiter/lander with an estimated cost of $7.5 billion through 2019 for eight ships. Prior to this the GAO estimated NASA had spent close to $5 billion since the Challenger disaster to find a suitable replacement for the aging shuttle fleet. At this point it seems reasonable to question the judgement and expertise of both NASA and their chosen contractor. One of the never built replacements was the recent Lockheed-Martin X-33 space plane concept for which NASA paid $900 million and got a failure "for technical reasons". Lockheed claims they are much more confident about the Orion vehicle, a second design after NASA rejected a prior submission which was too similar to the failed X-33. "We're not shooting as far... I'd say it (Orion) is within reach" according to Lockheed Martin Vice President John Karas. Hmmmm... what is wrong with this picture folks? Could it be that the estimated first test flight date is September 2014 with a possible trip back to the moon in 2019 ? That the vehicle is to be build by a company the taxpayer has already sunk nearly $1 billion in for a ship whose design was scrapped?On September 12, 1962 John. F. Kennedy spoke at Rice Stadium in what is now called "The Moon Speech": -more-
