Obama Budget Cuts Space Exploration

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clipped from motorcitytimes.com “The race to the Moon is one the United States has already won,” says John M. Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute, professor at George Washington University, and a key NASA advisor. “The stated target for Russia to send people to the Moon is 2025 and for China there is no formal target, but 2030 is a reasonable estimate. The United States can, and probably will, be back to the moon before then. Much more likely is a global cooperative effort to explore space beyond low-Earth orbit.” “The Russians are the leaders in low-Earth-orbit space today,” says Manber, explaining that the former Soviet Union continued to provide crew and cargo to the space station after the Challenger disaster. According to Manber, the Russians also have the best transportation infrastructure. However, Manber applauds the Obama’s lack of a clear plan. Because, you know, we should privatize spaceflight: The Mojave Spaceport is the hotbed for private space flight R&D in the United States.

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