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supersix2 · 03-14-2011, 01:25 PM

I think I've posted on another thread on space by genuinegirly in the past. I am a current employee of a NASA contractor involved with the day to day operations of the International Space Station, I've also worked on Space Shuttle operations for the past 3 years recently moving over to the ISS. My time at work was also spent on developing operations concepts for the Orion spacecraft which was part of the Constellation program that was cancelled early last year.

In the past year I've been growing more and more disappointed in the way Congress and the Administration has been handling NASA and it's budget. Last year the Obama Administration called for cancelling the Constellation program (a program that would have provided crew and cargo transportation to and from the ISS as well as eventually returning astronauts to the moon) in favor of future technology development but without any real end goal in sight. I have mixed feelings about cancelling Constellation because since I worked on part of that program I am well aware of the many problems it was having and budget shortfalls due to the fact that it was never funded appropriately in the first place from the Bush administration. The real problem I had was the squishy language to just do technology development but without any end goal. Engineers need a goal to work towards so we can bound the problem and NASA was getting no direction from the top. Once Congress got a hold of the budget request all hell broke loose because Senators and Congressmen who have NASA centers in their states were immediately concerned with people losing their jobs. As a result NASA (as well as the rest of the government) has been functioning without a budget since October 1st of last year. Instead NASA is left spinning its wheels working at the 2010 budget which includes working on parts of the cancelled Constellation program. NASA is now essentially wasting money on a program that will never fly due to Congressional inaction. This has been the story of NASA since the end of the Apollo program. The public's perception of NASA I believe has been tarnished because all they see is NASA spending billions of dollars with no real results to speak of. Sure in the last 30 years we've flown 133 space shuttle missions and built an massive space station in orbit working with countries all over the globe but the Space Station has taken 10 years to develop and over 10 years to build at a $100 billion price tag. Most of this is due to the numerous budget changes passed by Congress and approved by various administrations over the 20 year lifetime of the Space Station Program. That being said...

I am encouraged by the prospect of commercial companies getting involved in space transportation. I believe it will allow us to have greater access to space at a lower development and possibly lower operational cost. I attribute much of the cost NASA has to Congress and Administrations tinkering with its long term plans which forces development phases to be drawn out or to make design trades that are more expensive in the long run. I see this now as I am involved in Space Station operations. I believe that commercial companies who are removed from direct Congressional control will be able to more freely implement design changes and development processes that will be more cost effective and possibly even safer. In short, we will finally be getting spacecraft designed by engineers and not designed by lawyers in Congress.

To answer the questions posed at the beginning of this post:

Do you think that the private sector should be governed by existing government-run space programs?
Yes and they are. Right now NASA and the FAA are negotiating who will be the organization to certify commercial spacecraft. NASA released a requirements document on what a spacecraft needs to be "human rated" NASA and its contractors are in talks with all of the commercial companies on who will operate the spacecraft, train the ground controllers, train the crew members, and where these things will be done. Some commercial companies want little NASA involvement (oversight only) while others want more help from NASA.

What do you think a government's role should be in space exploration and development?
The government should continue to fund the International Space Station for as long as it can safely operate in space to provide a destination for these commercial companies to fly to. NASA should retain levels of funding to appropriately operate the ISS, develop new technologies in space and aviation. NASA should also been given a long term goal to either return to the moon, go to Mars, or go to an asteroid on a manned mission. I believe we should set up a space station on the Moon or Mars to sustain a human presence off of Earth. This goal should be realistic but not too long term (10 years out, maximum) and more importantly it should not be messed with once the plan is laid out.

What kinds of controls do you think should be in place for private space endeavors?
Similar controls to how the FAA rates and certifies aircraft. Nothing more or nothing less.

Should anything off of our globe be considered free for a claim?
Space exploration is in benefit of all mankind whatever destination is reached and whatever resources are used should be for the benefit of all nations.

Do you expect private companies to exploit the resources of any heavenly body they encounter? I expect this will be a long term goal but right now private companies are focused on building cheap and reliable launch vehicles to reduce the cost of launching payloads into low earth orbit (LEO). They are also working on ways to launch humans into LEO as well as delivering supplies and crew to the ISS. I believe NASA should be focused on the science of how to use these resources and then allow the commercial companies to use the research to implement it. This is similar to how aeronautics research was handled in the first half of the 20th century.

03-14-2011, 01:25 PM	#8 (permalink)
supersix2 Insane Location: Houston	I think I've posted on another thread on space by genuinegirly in the past. I am a current employee of a NASA contractor involved with the day to day operations of the International Space Station, I've also worked on Space Shuttle operations for the past 3 years recently moving over to the ISS. My time at work was also spent on developing operations concepts for the Orion spacecraft which was part of the Constellation program that was cancelled early last year. In the past year I've been growing more and more disappointed in the way Congress and the Administration has been handling NASA and it's budget. Last year the Obama Administration called for cancelling the Constellation program (a program that would have provided crew and cargo transportation to and from the ISS as well as eventually returning astronauts to the moon) in favor of future technology development but without any real end goal in sight. I have mixed feelings about cancelling Constellation because since I worked on part of that program I am well aware of the many problems it was having and budget shortfalls due to the fact that it was never funded appropriately in the first place from the Bush administration. The real problem I had was the squishy language to just do technology development but without any end goal. Engineers need a goal to work towards so we can bound the problem and NASA was getting no direction from the top. Once Congress got a hold of the budget request all hell broke loose because Senators and Congressmen who have NASA centers in their states were immediately concerned with people losing their jobs. As a result NASA (as well as the rest of the government) has been functioning without a budget since October 1st of last year. Instead NASA is left spinning its wheels working at the 2010 budget which includes working on parts of the cancelled Constellation program. NASA is now essentially wasting money on a program that will never fly due to Congressional inaction. This has been the story of NASA since the end of the Apollo program. The public's perception of NASA I believe has been tarnished because all they see is NASA spending billions of dollars with no real results to speak of. Sure in the last 30 years we've flown 133 space shuttle missions and built an massive space station in orbit working with countries all over the globe but the Space Station has taken 10 years to develop and over 10 years to build at a $100 billion price tag. Most of this is due to the numerous budget changes passed by Congress and approved by various administrations over the 20 year lifetime of the Space Station Program. That being said... I am encouraged by the prospect of commercial companies getting involved in space transportation. I believe it will allow us to have greater access to space at a lower development and possibly lower operational cost. I attribute much of the cost NASA has to Congress and Administrations tinkering with its long term plans which forces development phases to be drawn out or to make design trades that are more expensive in the long run. I see this now as I am involved in Space Station operations. I believe that commercial companies who are removed from direct Congressional control will be able to more freely implement design changes and development processes that will be more cost effective and possibly even safer. In short, we will finally be getting spacecraft designed by engineers and not designed by lawyers in Congress. To answer the questions posed at the beginning of this post: Do you think that the private sector should be governed by existing government-run space programs? Yes and they are. Right now NASA and the FAA are negotiating who will be the organization to certify commercial spacecraft. NASA released a requirements document on what a spacecraft needs to be "human rated" NASA and its contractors are in talks with all of the commercial companies on who will operate the spacecraft, train the ground controllers, train the crew members, and where these things will be done. Some commercial companies want little NASA involvement (oversight only) while others want more help from NASA. What do you think a government's role should be in space exploration and development? The government should continue to fund the International Space Station for as long as it can safely operate in space to provide a destination for these commercial companies to fly to. NASA should retain levels of funding to appropriately operate the ISS, develop new technologies in space and aviation. NASA should also been given a long term goal to either return to the moon, go to Mars, or go to an asteroid on a manned mission. I believe we should set up a space station on the Moon or Mars to sustain a human presence off of Earth. This goal should be realistic but not too long term (10 years out, maximum) and more importantly it should not be messed with once the plan is laid out. What kinds of controls do you think should be in place for private space endeavors? Similar controls to how the FAA rates and certifies aircraft. Nothing more or nothing less. Should anything off of our globe be considered free for a claim? Space exploration is in benefit of all mankind whatever destination is reached and whatever resources are used should be for the benefit of all nations. Do you expect private companies to exploit the resources of any heavenly body they encounter? I expect this will be a long term goal but right now private companies are focused on building cheap and reliable launch vehicles to reduce the cost of launching payloads into low earth orbit (LEO). They are also working on ways to launch humans into LEO as well as delivering supplies and crew to the ISS. I believe NASA should be focused on the science of how to use these resources and then allow the commercial companies to use the research to implement it. This is similar to how aeronautics research was handled in the first half of the 20th century.