In the letter they call the plan “devastating” and that by following this plan “…the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity.” I must agree with that statement. If this plan is approved by Congress and allowed to go forward, I shudder to think of what will happen to our manned spaceflight program.

The text of their open letter follows:

The United States entered into the challenge of space exploration under President Eisenhower’s first term, however, it was the Soviet Union who excelled in those early years. Under the bold vision of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, and with the overwhelming approval of the American people, we rapidly closed the gap in the final third; of the 20th century, and became the world leader in space exploration.

America’s space accomplishments earned the respect and admiration of the world. Science probes were unlocking the secrets of the cosmos; space technology was providing instantaneous world wide communication; orbital sentinels were helping man understand the vagaries of nature. Above all else, the people around the world were inspired by the human exploration of space and the expanding of man’s frontier. It suggested that what had been thought to be impossible was now within reach. Students were inspired to prepare themselves to be a part of this new age. No government program in modern history has been so effective in motivating the young to do ‘what has never been done before.’

World leadership in space was not achieved easily. In the first half century of the space age, our country made a significant financial investment, thousands of Americans dedicated themselves to the effort, and some gave their lives to achieve the dream of a nation. In the latter part of the first half century of the space age, Americans and their international partners focused primarily on exploiting the near frontiers of space with the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.

As a result of the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, it was concluded that our space policy required a new strategic vision. Extensive studies and analysis led to this new mandate: meet our existing commitments, return to our exploration roots, return to the moon, and prepare to venture further outward to the asteroids and to Mars. The program was named ‘Constellation’. In the ensuing years, this plan was endorsed by two Presidents of different parties and approved by both Democratic and Republican congresses.

The Columbia Accident Board had given NASA a number of recommendations fundamental to the Constellation architecture which were duly incorporated. The Ares rocket family was patterned after the Von Braun Modular concept so essential to the success of the Saturn 1B and the Saturn 5. A number of components in the Ares 1 rocket would become the foundation of the very large heavy lift Ares V, thus reducing the total development costs substantially. After the Ares 1 becomes operational, the only major new components necessary for the Ares V would be the larger propellant tanks to support the heavy lift requirements.

The design and the production of the flight components and infrastructure to implement this vision was well underway. Detailed planning of all the major sectors of the program had begun. Enthusiasm within NASA and throughout the country was very high.

When President Obama recently released his budget for NASA, he proposed a slight increase in total funding, substantial research and technology development, an extension of the International Space Station operation until 2020, long range planning for a new but undefined heavy lift rocket and significant funding for the development of commercial access to low earth orbit.

Although some of these proposals have merit, the accompanying decision to cancel the Constellation program, its Ares 1 and Ares V rockets, and the Orion spacecraft, is devastating.

America’s only path to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station will now be subject to an agreement with Russia to purchase space on their Soyuz (at a price of over 50 million dollars per seat with significant increases expected in the near future) until we have the capacity to provide transportation for ourselves. The availability of a commercial transport to orbit as envisioned in the President’s proposal cannot be predicted with any certainty, but is likely to take substantially longer and be more expensive than we would hope.

It appears that we will have wasted our current ten plus billion dollar investment in Constellation and, equally importantly., we will have lost the many years required to recreate the equivalent of what we will have discarded.

For The United States, the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second or even third rate stature. While the President’s plan envisages humans traveling away from Earth and perhaps toward Mars at some time in the future, the lack of developed rockets and spacecraft will assure that ability will not be available for many years.

Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space. If it does, we should institute a program which will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal.

Neil Armstrong
Commander, Apollo 11

James Lovell
Commander, Apollo 13

Eugene Cernan
Commander, Apollo 17

When I first heard news of this budget, I was devastated. How can the government just cancel the Constellation Program (which had a very successful first flight just a few months ago) and leave our country with no manned space flight capability after the retirement of the Space Shuttle? Yes, they are going to use commercial companies to get to the ISS (which I do support), but with nothing else really in the works, what do we do after that? How do we get back to the Moon? How do we get to Mars? Yes, the plan seems to be that NASA will research and slowly develop some new heavy lift rocket (though not Ares V as the Constellation Program envisioned), but why start over? What’s so wrong with Constellation? We’re just going to throw it all away and set everything back another decade? Ridiculous!

The space program gives us a national prowess, it gives us national pride. This is something that I don’t think we’ll get with just using commercial companies. Don’t get me wrong, I love SpaceX and other companies like them, and I encourage their use for getting cargo and crew to and from the ISS. But NASA still should be working on a new spacecraft in the mean time to take us beyond Low Earth Orbit – to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. They claim that this is still going to happen, but that is nowhere near certain in this budget. I just don’t see the need to completely cancel Constellation and start over. I think this is bad policy and will only serve to set back the US space program for decades. We will be sitting on the sidelines while China, Russia, and others spread out into the cosmos without us.

I may be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. But the current future of NASA and our US space program that I can see is a bleak one. And this leaves me very, very depressed.

The next time somebody complains about the cost of human spaceflight and the ISS, just remind them of things like this.

The sad thing is that no other person has walked on the moon since Eugene Cernan stepped back onto the LEM at the conclusion of Apollo 17′s moon walks. The moon has been there the whole time, but we haven’t gone back. I wish that we would. The US is beginning to lag behind the rest of the civilized world in our scientific prowess, and this must be righted. I believe that if we were to embark on a new moon “race”, the benefits could be enormous. It would get young people interested in science again. It would invest money in science and engineering and produce untold new “spinoffs” that would be of benefit to all mankind. It would once again inspire the world and show that we can do great things when we put our minds to it.

So this is my challenge to our leaders both political and scientific (with deference to President Kennedy for the wording):

I believe this nation should commit itself, before the year 2025, to returning man to the moon, to establishing a permanent lunar outpost, and to use that lunar outpost as a staging ground for the first manned mission to the planet Mars.

Do we have the ability as a nation to do this? We most certainly do. Do we have the will? I hope so. Happy 40th Anniversary Apollo 11!

Updated (9:56 pm): “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

A picture from the lecture. It’s a cellphone picture so I apologize for the quality.