Future of U.S. Spaceflight

On May 7, 2009, Dr. John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy called for a review of options for the future of human space flight.  The review panel was slated to conclude in late August, providing the Administration a list of options for the future of human space flight. The lead chair of the review was Mr. Norman Augustine, retired CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp.

On September 8, 2009, the Augustine panel released an executive summary outlining their list of recommendations.

On September 15, 2009, the Science and Technology Committee held a hearing to examine the summary report.  Augustine testified in his first appearance before Congress since finishing the review.

Augustine described the panel’s central findings saying that “In the opinion of this Committee, as well as that of most of the persons with whom the Committee has had contact, NASA has for too long sought to operate in an environment where means do not match ends.  In the unforgiving arena of human space flight this is a particularly hazardous policy to embrace.”

Augustine went on to say that “with the existing budget plan The Committee concludes that no rational exploratory program can be funded under the existing funding constraint and that plans for America’s space exploration program would de facto be halted and human operations limited to low earth orbit.”