US budget:Funding for Manned Lunar Missions Absent in FY2011

The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is deviating from President Bush’s plans to put American back on the Moon, nixing funding which was essential to any future manned lunar missions. The numbers are so difficult for NASA that is could end the Constellation program, which would have put Americans back on the Moon by 2020.

Even though there is a slight increase over NASA’s current budget of $18.7 billion proposed in FY2011, it is not enough to fund the systems, research, and development required to sustain a manned lunar mission. NASA will also be unable to develop the Ares I rocket, the replacement for the Space Shuttle, on schedule. As President Obama’s budget makes it’s way to Congress however, changes are sure to be made; the question for NASA now is whether it can muster enough support for manned and lunar space exploration to warrant an increase over the proposed budget.

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