I'm thirsty!

NASA logo for the Constellation Program

The Constellation Program has been proposed to be canceled today by President Obama due to it being "over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation."

The full text of the justification for termination is below the jump.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) initiated the Constellation Systems programin 2005 to develop rockets, capsules and other systems to return astronauts to the Moon and eventually send them to Mars and beyond. Initially, the first major elements of the program were planned to come online no later than 2012. By early 2009, however, the program was behind schedule, could not achieve its goals without multi-billion dollar budget increases, and was not clearly aimed at meeting today’s national priorities. Costs for the program had grown by billions of dollars and the first elements of the system were not projected to be available until 2015. In April, 2009, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that NASA’s budget would need to be increased by about $2.5 billion per year to maintain current schedules, and that even then the International Space Station -- scheduled for completion in 2010 -- would need to be abandoned in 2016 to free up funding for Constellation.

In May 2009, the Administration commissioned an independent blue-ribbon panel to review NASA’s human spaceflight programs and plans. The review found that the Constellation program would not be able to land astronauts on the Moon until well into the 2030s -- more than 10 years later than planned -- without large budget increases. The review also noted that investment in a well-designed and adequately funded space technology program is critical to enable progress in exploration, that increased international cooperation could lead to substantial benefits, and that commercial services to launch astronauts to space could potentially arrive sooner and be less expensive than Government-owned rockets.

In place of Constellation, the President’s Budget funds a redesigned and reinvigorated program that focuses on leveraging advanced technology, international partnerships, and commercial capabilities to set the stage for a revitalized human space flight program for the 21st Century. The President’s Budget will also increase NASA’s funding, accelerating work -- constrained for years due to the budget demands of Constellation -- on climate science, green aviation, science education, and other priorities.

From page 18 of the Terminations, Reductions, and Savings, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2011 released February 1, 2010.