Scuttle
the Shuttle!
Space Shuttle is a Dangerous Waste of Taxpayer Funds
Space Frontier Foundation
Los Angeles, July 11, 2005 - In anticipation of this week's planned return to
flight of NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery, the Space Frontier Foundation renewed
its call for the orbiters to be retired. The Foundation, which for over 15 years
has criticized the Shuttle system as too costly, urged NASA and the Congress
to announce a firm date when the last orbiter will fly.
“If it were up to us the shuttle would never have flown in the first place,”
said the Foundation's Rick Tumlinson. “Far from opening space to the American
people, it has weighed down our space program with its bloated budgets, massive
support network and tragic cost in terms of human life. It's time is passed.
We should kill it as soon as possible, before more money gets wasted and, heaven
forbid, anyone else gets hurt.”
The Foundation understands that the space agency is trapped by its need to complete
assembly of the International Space Station with our partners in Europe, Russia,
Japan, and Canada, and this means flying the shuttles perhaps a dozen or more
times. (Many station components were designed to fly on the shuttle alone.)
But the citizen's group wants NASA to name a date certain when the last orbiter
will fly so that a transition can be planned to other methods of reaching orbit,
preferably based on private sector firms flying people and payloads as part
of a new free-enterprise space transportation marketplace.
Said Tumlinson: “The US government got itself into a huge mess with the space
station and shuttle system, and now it is digging its way out. But those who
are insisting the orbiters keep flying right up until new systems are in place
will in fact be burying our hopes of advancing to anything new - no matter what
those are. Pouring billions into the space shuttles rips off the taxpayers -
and betrays NASA's hardworking employees -- by feeding a dying beast, while
simultaneously starving a newborn industry and NASA's future exploration efforts.”
The Foundation points out that a fraction of the money going into the current
system would launch a whole new space transportation marketplace, that could
serve both the government and new space industries. They believe there are private
firms who could take over the job now being done by the orbiters, if some certainty
can be created as to the timing and type of hand-off. They also endorse recent
moves by new NASA administrator Mike Griffin to use commercial-type contracting
methods to buy delivery services for ISS re-supply, and explore innovative partnerships
to enable lower-cost human access to ISS or commercial space stations.
Tumlinson concluded: “The space station can be re-supplied by commercial firms,
and given the proper encouragement and new ways of contracting, they will also
be able to carry crews to and from the facility. It's going to take a few years
to get these new systems and companies “off the ground” but we have to set the
deadline now, so money can be raised, business plans funded, and rocketships
flown. Frankly, even NASA's own workforce needs to be able to plan for a firm
deadline, so they can transition to new projects at NASA, or to these new commercial
companies.”
“The bottom line is that we agree with the courageous new leaders at NASA: When
it comes to flying people or cargo into space on the outdated, costly, and risky
Shuttle system - let it end by 2010 - or even sooner.”
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