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NASA Officials Predict Major Cuts With Next Week's Budget

by Warren Riddle on February 1, 2010 at 08:32 AM

President Obama has attracted a devoted geek following because of his focus on science and technology. If early reports are accurate, though, his dork devotion will likely take a significant hit next week when a 2011 budget report is released. According to CBC News, a White House official has confirmed that money appropriated to NASA will be insufficient to maintain one significant, six-year-old project.

In 2004, President George W. Bush announced a government-supported plan to return U.S. astronauts to the moon by the year 2020. NASA has already spent roughly $10 billion on the Constellation project, but the Obama administration is claiming that underfunding has delayed the target date by almost 10 years.

Because of the languishing moon plan, the government has decided to allocate $5.9 billion to NASA over five years, but the money will instead go to extending the life of the International Space Station. John Logsdon, a space policy adviser, said, "We can't afford using the station for five more years and going to the moon."

That's little consolation to NASA officials, though. Administrator Michael Griffin stated that the decision basically renders "NASA and the nation with no program, no plan and no commitment to any human spaceflight program beyond that of today." And, even worse, NASA will probably have to put that new pimped-out moon rover up on blocks -- likely in the Space and Rocket Center's front yard. [From: CBC News]

Tags: budget, government, international space station, InternationalSpaceStation, moon landing, MoonLanding, NASA, Obama Administration, ObamaAdministration, space, top

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