Constellation Program....CANCELLED!

 I'm heartbroken and angry today because my husband's project that he's been working on for over three years is over.  Obama cancelled it.  Hours and hours of time away from our family, wasted.  Billions of dollars, wasted.  7000 people....out of work. 

I'm sick to my stomach because I have no idea what we will do now.

EDITED: I've talked to Calvin and he says that there is still budget money for 2010, so the layoff's won't be immediate.  We have to wait and see what happens which as you know is not my strong suit.  Also, Congress has to approve his plan. 

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Statement from Charlie Bolden....NASA Administrator.

Now let’s discuss the Constellation Program. The Program was planning to use an approach similar to Apollo to return astronauts to the Moon some 50 years after that program’s triumphs. The Augustine Committee observed that this path was not sustainable, and the President agrees. They found that Constellation key milestones were slipping, and that the program would not get us back to the moon in any reasonable time or within any affordable cost. Far more funding was needed to make our current approach work.    The Augustine Committee estimated that the heavy lift rocket for getting to the moon would not be available until 2028 or 2030, and even then they found “there are insufficient funds to develop the lunar lander and lunar surface systems until well into the 2030s, if ever." So as much as we would not like it to be the case, and taking nothing away from the hard work and dedication of our team, the truth is that we were not on a path to get back to the moon's surface. And as we focused so much of our effort and funding on just getting to the Moon, we were neglecting investments in the key technologies that would be required to go beyond.

So this budget cancels the Constellation Program, including the Ares I and V rockets and the Orion crew exploration vehicle. NASA intends to work with the Congress to make this transition smooth and effective, working responsibly on behalf of the Taxpayers.

With my deepest gratitude, I commend the hard work and dedication that thousands of NASA and contractor workers have given to Constellation over the last few years. Their commitment has brought great value to the agency, and they will have a pivotal role to play in our future path. Many of the things we've learned will be critical as we move forward. Norm Augustine and his blue ribbon panel of experts, whose advice the President wisely sought, gave us some options for a different path. From those, we have built the path that we are taking.