Issues

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA):

In February, 2010 President Obama put forth a new progressive path for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), reemphasizing its world leadership role in aerospace Research and Development as the basis for enabling ambitious future human space exploration beyond Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). Despite the controversy it created, including false accusations that the President was cancelling Constellation, and the many twists and turns that have occurred on Capitol Hill, IFPTE continues to support the Obama Administration's vision for NASA.

As was the case with just about everything else, the Obama administration inherited a very bad situation at NASA. Under the previous administration, NASA was operating under a management culture that, according to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), contributed to the loss of Columbia.

Under the previous Administration, NASA also failed to properly plan for and execute the development of a follow-on space vehicle for the Shuttle in time to avoid a gap in U.S. access to space. This irreversible decision to cancel the Shuttle (not a decision made by President Obama) coupled with the stubborn refusal to properly fund NASA, even after the Columbia disaster, has resulted in America being completely reliant on foreign capabilities to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) for years to come.

Nothing can be done at this point to change that sad, stark reality. Fortunately however, and far from abandoning Human Spaceflight, President Obama's NASA budget outlines a new pragmatic way forward. Through the appropriations and authorization processes, respectively, IFPTE will continue to work with the President and the Congress in properly recognizing the critical need to maintain NASA's in-house core technical capabilities, not only to serve the nation, but also to inspire and recruit the next generation of American aerospace scientists and engineers.

IFPTE Press Statement in response to President Obama's FY12 NASA Budget proposal