Constellation

NASA 2011 budget is out, and with it the new 5 year plan. It is drastic, bit more so than I expected. Short version: Constellation is dead, Dead, DEAD! Ares I, Ares V and Orion are shut down. ~ $10 billion thrown away, again, with nothing to show for it, again. More money, I'll backfill the details and provide links later: basically NASA will fund a serious launcher technology development program for future heavy launch, but for now they are taking the Space Cadets up on their offer - human and cargo LEO launch services will be bid out, with first bids already out - so if the technology…
We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time. -T.S. Eliot Yesterday, President Obama delivered his first State of the Union Address, and talked about a number of things that ranged from inspiring to disappointing. But one thing that didn't make it into the address was the rumor that NASA's Constellation program (including the Ares Rocket designed to launch crews) will lose their government funding. (Please note: what follows is my opinion, and I take responsibility for it.) If this actually…