Photograph by Joe Raedle, Getty Images Published February 1,
2010 The space agency's 2011 budget, released today, reveals
plans to scrap the Constellation program, including the rockets
and spacecraft that NASA has been developing over the past four
years to replace its aging space shuttle fleet. Constellation's
demise would mean that NASA will have no plans for manned space
flight beyond the final shuttle launch in fall 2010. Instead the
U.S. will have to rely on other governments, such as existing
Russian craft, to ferry people to the International Space
Station. The news has actually been expected since last
September, when an independent panel known as the Augustine
Committee determined that Constellation would require large
budget increases to land even a handful of astronauts back on
the moon before 2020. U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to
scrap the program is based on Constellation being "over budget,
behind schedule, and lacking in innovation due to a failure to
invest in critical new technolog