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NASA At 50: Houston, They Have A Problem

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 5, 2008

WASHINGTON - With half a century of amazing accomplishments behind it, NASA is entering a second space age beset by uncertainty and searching for renewal.

Though its agenda is ambitious - a return to the moon and an eventual flight to Mars - the agency is hobbled by a lack of resources and a public that is only mildly interested.

"Space is always about the connotation of the future," said Joan Johnson-Freese, a security expert at the U.S. Naval War College. "And in my mind, we are ceding that leadership simply because we cannot get our act together."

The National Aeronautic and Space Administration, created after the Soviet Union surprised the world with the launch of the Sputnik sphere in 1957, marked its 50th anniversary last week. It has been 36 years since an astronaut last walked on the moon. And since 1981, America's human-spaceflight program literally has been going in circles - in low Earth orbit aboard the shuttle and the International Space Station.

Now what happens in the next space age?

FACING SPACE RIVALS

•Other nations - China, Russia, even the European Union - are advancing their programs and threatening U.S. pre-eminence in space.

•China widely is considered the rival to watch.

•Last week, Beijing sent three "taikonauts" into orbit for their first spacewalk, a step toward an expected Chinese space station and possible moon landing.

REPLACING THE SHUTTLE

•NASA is eager to retire the space shuttle but is struggling to build the Ares rocket and Orion capsule to replace it.

•NASA has not successfully built a new rocket in more than a generation.

•Last month, a NASA review panel approved a preliminary design review a rough draft for engineers - aimed at checking whether blueprints for the Ares 1 rocket were technically sound and within budget constraints.

•The Ares 1 evokes memories of the Apollo rockets, but uses a derivative of the space shuttle's solid-rocket booster to power its the first stage. A liquid fuel engine powers the second stage, where the crew exploration capsule is located.

•A test flight for the Ares I rocket will be no earlier than April 15, 2009.

•NASA hopes this rocket will replace the space shuttle by 2015.

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

•During the Apollo era, as much as 4 percent of the federal budget went to NASA. That percentage would be $110 billion today, but NASA's budget is $17 billion.

•NASA does not have a culture of containing costs. "In the 1960s, NASA was racing to beat a date. Today, it needs to race to beat a dollar," said Howard McCurdy, space historian at American University. "Engineers are used to beating deadlines, but their financial skills are not as deep."

•Multiple bureaucracies reduce the desire to propose ideas. "In my day if you failed, people would say, 'Nice try. What do you need to make it right?'" recalls Bob Sieck, a NASA adviser who worked during the Apollo missions. "Nowadays, they convene commissions to investigate."

REKINDLING THE MISSION

•NASA's mission has been to build the International Space Station and learn how to live in space.

•President Bush's administration has mandated that the shuttles retire by 2010, a policy publicly endorsed by NASA administrator Michael Griffin.

•But Griffin has expressed frustration about ending the missions five years before a new rocket for human exploration is ready.

•Presidential candidates Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, who have similar space policies, support the idea of going back to the moon.

•But whoever wins the election will probably re-examine the current plans.

Orlando Sentinel,

The Associated Press

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