Three Space Disasters, NASA, and the Continued Legacy Of Obama: Incompetence

Even before President Obama came into office, his space exploration transition team, headed by an inexperienced person by the name of Lori Garver, told NASA that there were going to be deep cuts to that Agency in the coming year and that the shuttle replacement program would be scrapped.  Further, Obama's transition team told NASA to explore using old technologies to shuttle us to the Space Station.  So, today, we have no shuttles because they were all decommissioned in 2010.  We have no replacement program because Obama scrapped it.  Instead, we now depend on two private entities, Orbital Sciences and Space-X, and the Russians to get us or any supplies to the International Space Station.

Now, because of the President's use of sanctions placed on Russia over the Ukraine, Russia has announced that we can no longer use them for access to the space station starting in 2020.  So, that brings into question the wisdom of being dependent on an on-again-off-again adversary such as Russia for a space shuttle replacement.

Last August, a Space-X launch vehicle was intentionally blown up because of a detected malfunction; setting back that company's program. On top of that, after the recent explosion of the Orbital Sciences' rocket that uses a 40-year old rocket engine purchased from Russia, and then the explosion of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space plane, one has to seriously question Obama's decision to scrap the space shuttle in lieu of small, private, start-up space companies like Orbital Sciences and Space-X.  So, right now, we have Russia at odds with us.  At the same time, both of the space programs of our only two private contractors are unavailable as each of them sorts out what went wrong with their vehicles.  Orbital Science, didn't just lose their rocket, their entire launch pad was lost at the very same time.

This is another example of incompetence by this President and another reason that he has such a low approval rating.  From a stimulus that didn't stimulate; to an ObamaCare law that was supposed to lower costs and allow you to  keep your insurance and your doctor; to the mishandling of Syria, ISIS, and our pulling out of Iraq; to the missteps on Ebola and the unaccompanied youths from Central America; Obama has proven that he is not up to the job and absolutely cannot pick the right people to appropriately keep him advised.

References:

December 2008: Obama Planning to Scrap Shuttle Replacement, Says NASA: http://www.dailytech.com/Obama+Planning+to+Scrap+Shuttle+Replacement+Says+NASA/article13750.htm

Russia to ban US from using Space Station over Ukraine:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10828964/Russia-to-ban-US-from-using-Space-Station-over-Ukraine-sanctions.html

August 22, 2014: SpaceX rocket explosion caught on video: http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2014/08/22/spacex-test-rocket-explodes-in-texas/14472939/

October 14,2014: 40-Year-Old Russian Engine at Heart of Rocket Investigation: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/14/141029-rocket-explosion-russian-nasa-science/

October 31, 2014: Virgin Galactic Crash: Enough With the Amateurs: http://time.com/3551643/virgin-crash-branson-amateur/

Russia's Foolish Attempts To Foil Our Space Program

On May 13, Dmitry Rogozin, the bureaucrat who leads Russia's defense industry, announced two retaliatory actions against the U.S. in response to the sanctions being placed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.  First, Russia will no longer allow Americans to ride on their rockets in order to gain access to the International Space Station (ISS) after 2020.  Secondly, effective immediately, Russia will stop selling their RD-180 and NK-33 rocket engines to American companies which are currently being used to launch commercial and military satellites.

Certainly, this announcement seems to spell the end of our involvement in the International Space Station after 2020 because, since the ending of our Space Shuttle program in 2011, the U.S. has had no manned space capability.  This is a result of Obama killing Shuttle replacement as a budget cutting effort in 2010.  In actuality, America is scheduled to return to manned low-earth orbit missions in 2017 in a NASA program called Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

Unlike the original replacement program, which would have been fully NASA funded and controlled, the CCP is intended to be more of a civilian based system.   The program has two crew vehicles: a CST-100 capsule and the Dream Chaser space plane.  In terms of launch vehicles, both crew vehicles are capable of being launched by either the Atlas V, Delta IV, or the Falcon 9 rockets.  Of those, only the Atlas V rocket uses the embargoed Russian engines. Even so, the makers of Atlas V still have enough stockpiled Russian engines to keep that vehicle operating for another two years.  Beyond that, I am quite sure that the Atlas V will be retrofitted with U.S. made engines; once the Russian supplies are depleted.

In essence, Russia's attempts at retaliation are quite foolish.  My guess is that Putin cooked this whole thing up for public consumption in mother Russia.  This way, he is seen as a strong leader,  capable of taking strong actions against Obama and his sanctions.

References:

Russia casts doubt on US' future with the ISS over Ukraine sanctions: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/05/13/russia-casts-doubt-on-us-future-with-iss-over-ukraine-sanctions/

NASA's Commercial Crew Program: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Crew_Development

CST-100: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CST-100

Dream Chaser: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Chaser

ATLAS V Rocket: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Crew_Development