spacetoday.net: Augustine committee report released

Posted: Thu, Oct 22, 2009, 10:01 PM ET (0201 GMT)
Ares 1 launch illustration (NASA)

A White House-chartered panel to study the future of NASA's human spaceflight program released its final report Thursday, largely supporting the options it released in a summary last month. The committee, officially known as the Review of US Human Space Flight Plans Committee, was created by the Obama Administration to review various options for the future of human spaceflight, from continuing the current Constellation program to various alternatives. The committee stated that any plan to fly humans beyond low Earth orbit required additional funding of at least $3 billion a year. The committee said that the Ares 1 rocket and Orion spacecraft were fundamentally solid from a technical standpoint, but a lack of funding would likely delay their development by several years. The White House will now consider the options in the report, although officials gave no timeline on any decision about a path forward.