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Election 2016

Potholes Trump Space In Trump Space Policy

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
May 4, 2016
Filed under ,
Potholes Trump Space In Trump Space Policy

Trump Praises NASA, But Dodges Funding Questions in Aerospace America Q&A, Space Policy Online
“In brief, Trump said that NASA “has been one of the most important agencies in the United States government for most of my lifetime” and he wants it to remain that way. But in response to a question about whether the United States is spending the proper amount of money on NASA, he demurred: “I am not sure that is the right question. What we spend on NASA should be appropriate for what we are asking them to do. … Our first priority is to restore a strong economic base to this country. Then, we can have a discussion about spending.” He similarly deflected a question about whether sending humans to Mars should continue to be a goal. He strongly supported government-private sector partnerships in space. His answers to Aerospace America’s questions align with comments he made during a campaign stop in Manchester, NH in November. There he offered what has become perhaps his most memorable remark about space exploration, that it is important, “but we have to fix our potholes.”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

20 responses to “Potholes Trump Space In Trump Space Policy”

  1. Alan Ladwig says:
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    i don’t care if he promises to gold-plate capsules capable of sending humans to Mars. Trump Never!

  2. ThomasLMatula says:
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    Like many he sees NASA for what it once was, not what it has become.

    • Michael Spencer says:
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      In the case of Mr. Trump that is probably true, as he has shown no real breadth of understanding in public affairs.

      To be fair, often [not always] the issues we discuss here are truly ‘down in the weeds’.

  3. JadedObs says:
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    I can hardly wait to see the heads of the Hillary haters who blame the Democrats for Constellation’s cancellation explode when they realize THIS is their standard bearer!

  4. fcrary says:
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    Honestly, that’s an extremely mainstream statement for Mr. Trump. Basically, NASA has done great things, NASA’s budget should be appropriate for the goals expected of it, we should solve our economic problems before deciding what that budget should be, and we need to deal with domestic infrastructure problems. Almost any politician or candidate for office might have said that.

  5. Littrow says:
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    I agree with Robert Reich, that Trump is completely malleable. The real key here is for NASA to put together a story that tells about ROI, benefits, importance for the future, for jobs, for education, for inspiration.

    Existing programs, like Orion and SLS have no plan and plenty of cheaper competitors. High level officials have said ISS is on the cusp of failure as a research lab. There are other reasons for ISS, but while putting almost no money into research programs that might have made use of ISS, NASA has oversold its mission almost solely as a research lab.

    Besides, NASA human space programs have generally done better under Republicans.

    Under the current NASA leadership, NASA hardly has a chance to advance its agenda since they don’t have an agenda.

    • Daniel Woodard says:
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      The Obama Administration had a clear policy for NASA in 2009, but th Republicans had other ideas. NASA’s agenda and even its policy have been dictated by Congress.

      • Ticked Parent says:
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        Really? The democrats had complete control of the house and senate in 2008-2009 and what did they do, nothing. Didn’t even produce a budget in those years. So your assertion is wrong and under Obama the manned space program was ground to a halt with no clear direction unless you think changing directions constantly is some sort of leadership. Obama also tried to destroy the planetary program, how quickly amnesia sets in. NASA has been harmed by the fecklessness of this administration and is slightly better off then it would be because of the leadership in the Senate of a few on both sides of the aisle. Obama was never a friend of NASA period.

        • Michael Spencer says:
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          At the risk of a food fight I would point out that the US Congress had its hands full in 2008-09 dealing with a certain economic issue, and that the House wasā€“well, the term feckless can be applied to so many things the House does that I’d leave it there.

      • mdocur01 says:
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        “Clear Policy” and “NASA”? – those terms have become antithetical since 2009 and the cancellation of Constellation by Obama.

        • Daniel Woodard says:
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          If we base our positions on politics we will never be able to reach a consensus.

          • Michael Spencer says:
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            I’ve been thinking about this, wondering: if not politics, then what? Politics provides an admittedly imperfect method of reaching the consensus you describe, does it not?

            Perhaps you mean that politics should set direction but stay out of the weeds?

          • Daniel Woodard says:
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            No, I think that it’s necessary for technical experts from all sides to reach a consensus. Congress should set the overall spending levels. Congress long ago established the overall goals of NASA, to advance aeronautics, space technology, and Earth and space science. For Congress to say NASA should send Americans to Mars with Shuttle SRBs made by ATK and Shuttle main engines made by Aerojet Rockedyne, assembled into a booster with a payload of 130 tons, that is absurd. Nay, it is beyond absurd.

  6. Anonymous says:
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    I doubt there would be any money left for space research if Trump becomes the president and does what his fans want him to do. Remember this country lives on credit, and if Trump starts the trade war he promised to wage, the disruption to the market will be so bad the credit can effectively freeze, and even worse the feds no longer have any bullet left to help, and the rest would not be hard to imagine.

  7. ThomasLMatula says:
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    Except Elon Musk stated he would not vote for Donald Trump. He hasn’t learned the lesson from Old Space to stay silent during elections.

  8. ThomasLMatula says:
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    I guess I will look into the crystal ball and make a prediction based on the past behavior of Mr. Trump.

    First, both Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos made it clear they donā€™t support him. Jeff Bezos even got into a twitter war and offered to send Mr. Trump into space. As both are poster children for space commerce at NASA I expect COTS/CCP will be cut as a result. I know Jeff Bezos isnā€™t involved in CCP, but minor details like that donā€™t matter if you get on his bad side.

    But in the long run it wonā€™t matter since we need to remember that a major theme of Donald Trump is to stop foreigners free loading on the United States. Recall he has discussed pulling out of NATO if the European countries donā€™t start paying their fair share for defense.

    Given this I see a big bulls eye on the ISS, especially when he sees how much of the budget the U.S. is paying for it, including payments to
    Russia. I expect he will decide to execute the ā€œescape clauseā€ in the ISS Agreements and will give the one year notice that the U.S. is leaving the ISS. If the other partners want to keeping paying it fine, but the ā€œfreeloadingā€ will stop. (His perspective, not mineā€¦).

    And of course without the ISS there is no reason to give Elon Musk money for COTS/CCP. Add to it that the ISS program is based at JSC
    and he gets the bonus of giving Senator Cruz some payback. Yes, getting rid of the ISS, COTS/CCP looks assured.

    Hopefully any science missions with international involvement in will have the good sense to stay under the radar. However, if I was involved in the Insight Mission I would be very worried that he uses Franceā€™s problems with its instrument to pull the plug on it.

    Where will be put NASAā€™s money? It should be noted that wisely Senator Shelby was very careful to stay out of the Alabama Presidential Primary and never took part with the other Republicans in trying to stop him. This I expect will pay dividends as Donald Trump rewards friends and will likely take his advice and increase spending on the SLS/Orion.

    Given its first flight will send the Orion around the Moon (unmanned) will make it all the more attractive. Mr. Trump will be able to point out how he stopped foreign nations free loading on NASA (again what I see
    as his view) and instead restored American Greatness in space. If NASA is able to move up the first crew flight with the all the additional money and send it around the Moon during his term, so much better. It would make him a NASA booster for sure. Yes, America will show China, and the world, how its done by returning to the Moon and then going on to Mars!

    Again, this is my analysis of what Mr. Trump is likely to do with NASA, not my recommendations or suggestion. But you will admit it fits his statements and past behavior.