NASA moon capsule running late
WASHINGTON (AP) - July 16, 2008 The agency should still be able to meet its public commitment to
test launch astronauts in the first Orion capsule by March 2015,
the official said, unless national budget stalemates continue.
But the agency's own hurry-up plan to get the job done even
earlier - with a first crew launch by 2013 - will "very likely"
be changed during meetings this week in Houston, said Doug Cooke,
NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration.
"We're probably going to have to move our target date," Cooke
said in a phone interview. An actual astronaut moon landing is
still set for 2020. Orion initially will just orbit Earth before
attempting a more complicated moon launch that also will involve
unmanned rockets.
Cooke acknowledged the slipped launch target date during an
interview about an internal NASA report leaked to the Web site,
Nasa Watch. The document shows that the space agency's overall moon
plan has encountered financial and technical problems, which NASA
says it can overcome.
The leaked report reflects typical problems of a program this
early in the running, Cooke said.
"What you're seeing is sausage-making," he said. "I'm really
satisfied with the work that's getting done."
The 117-page report, posted Wednesday at nasawatch.com, shows an
$80 million cost overrun this year for just one motor and a dozen
different technical problems that the space agency put in the top
risk zone, meaning the problems are considered severe. The report
put the program's financial performance in that category.
Technical problems included software that may not be developed
on time, the heat shield, a dangerous level of shaking during
launch, and a hard-to-open hatch door. The report also said NASA's
plans would shortchange astronauts' daily water needs, giving them
only two liters a day when medical experts say they need at least
2.5 liters.
The report showed technical problems in operations for Orion
nearly doubling from May to July, with 24 items now on the most
worrisome list.
Outside experts say it's too early to be too worried, but they
have some concerns.
"It doesn't surprise me that there are these kinds of pains
given the early stage (of development) and the long time since we
did anything like this," said John Logsdon, director of space
policy at George Washington University. "NASA is trying to do this
with inadequate and uncertain funding."
The problem is mostly the political system for not coming up
with budgets that are passed and signed by the president so that
NASA can go ahead with its financial plans, said W. Henry
Lambright, a technology and public policy professor at Syracuse
University. The budget for next year still has not been passed.
"We have a government that is dysfunctional," Lambright said.
"I'm not blaming NASA. I think NASA is a victim of a political
situation we have in this country."
But Nasawatch's Keith Cowing, a former engineer for the agency,
said the problem is poor design and planning, repeating some of the
problems of Apollo without learning the lessons of such disasters
as the Apollo 1 fire.
A group of NASA engineers, working on their own time, and other
experts have come up with an alternate moon rocket design that they
contend is cheaper and could be ready earlier. NASA has rejected
their proposal.
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On the Net:
NASA's moon program:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission-pages/exploration/main/index.html
Nasawatch: www.nasawatch.com