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It is interesting that Congress is still debating Shuttle extension and reviving the Ares launch vehicles. The Shuttle is a great vehicle that has served us well, I think it's time is over and we need to move on. We can't expect to keep flying Shuttle forever and Congress/The President aren't willing to give NASA the money to continue to fly it and adequately fund a new program to replace it. Not to mention, it has been the plan to retire Shuttle in 2010 since 2004, and trying to save it now is a bit too late. Contractors supplying parts for the Shuttle are no longer doing so, manufacturing facilities have been shut down, and employees have already transitioned to other things. Realistically, the train has left the station long ago on extending Shuttle program with more flights beyond the current manifest.
As for saving the Ares launch vehicle, that is a big mistake. One of the main problems the entire Constellation program had was the Ares launch vehicle. It did not achieve the required performance levels in its flight test last year and it was running into a bunch of unforeseen technical issues. Launch vehicles is something NASA can and should get from the commercial sector. There are already several options available from Boeing and Lockheed-Martin. Yes those vehicles will have to be modified to fly humans, but purchasing those vehicles will help drive the cost to down since the contractors can produce more to cover their overhead costs. In my opinion, purchasing commercial launch services to send Astronauts to LEO and the ISS is the way to go. Funneling money into an unproven start-up industry (Obama's current NASA plan) is not the way to go. As I said in a previous post, whether you support NASA or not, Americans should have a big problem with their tax dollars going to subsidize a private industry that has not yet proven itself capable of providing the services the government requires.
I think Congress needs to let Shuttle retire and Ares to die a peaceful death. They need to make sure that commercial sector will not squander tax payer money and hold them accountable for failures. Congress also needs to make sure the funding is distributed to ensure the development of a heavy lift vehicle to take astronauts beyond LEO is the number 1 priority to get manned spaceflight back on track. Finally, Congress should ensure that NASA continues to develop the Orion spacecraft using commercial launch assets so it at least has a viable back up in the event that commercial cargo and crew launch providers like SpaceX and Orbital Sciences are not successful.
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