This is not a NASA Website. You might learn something. It's YOUR space agency. Get involved. Take it back. Make it work - for YOU.
Artemis

Scientists Push Back On H.R. 5666

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
January 31, 2020
Scientists Push Back On H.R. 5666

Letter From Concerned Scientists Regarding H.R. 5666
“We are writing in response to the draft bill, HR 5666. We strongly agree that bipartisan support for our Nation’s space program is absolutely critical for its ongoing success. We also support the provisions for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. We additionally strongly assert that commercial sector involvement is a critical investment in the future of our country. However, we have grave concerns about the text of the draft bill that was released on 24 January 2020.”

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

6 responses to “Scientists Push Back On H.R. 5666”

  1. fcrary says:
    0
    0

    While I agree, I think they could have done it better. What has more impact? Eighteen prominent scientists signing the letter, or hundreds of scientists from the entire planetary science community? I complained about this bill being very top-down and authoritarian. Now we see an objection which, although quite reasonable, suffers from the same problem.

  2. DJE51 says:
    0
    0

    I think that the Trump administration will completely ignore HR 5666, and instruct the Senate to craft a bill to continue with their lunar landing plans by 2024. Then under reconciliation between the House and Senate, the plan will emerge to land the first woman and next man on surface of the moon by 2024.

    • Bill Housley says:
      0
      0

      THIS House of Representatives leadership will NOT fund a Moon landing to put on the calendar during Trump’s term in office…no matter what it costs or where it comes from. Trump derangement syndrome will win. They will cut Artimus out, vote it down, whatever.

      The next House leadership, if it is a Trump-friendly one (or at least not a Trump hostile one) might.

      That means that, at least while Trump is in office, both houses will need to be Republican in order to put money into the “Moon landing in 2024” bucket. So anyone who wants Artimus funded by the government for 2024 needs to either support a different President (Republican or Democrat) or a Republican majority legislature.

      This is not a political statement. Trump is the biggest issue in play and, like him or hate him, is the only issue that guides House of Representatives emphasis right now…not money, not science, not jobs, and certainly not the long-term health of the U.S. Space Program.

      • chuckc192000 says:
        0
        0

        The only derangement is Trump thinking it was feasible (or safe) to attempt a moon landing by 2024.

        • fcrary says:
          0
          0

          I don’t see why that’s deranged. NASA’s human spaceflight program went from literally nothing to a lunar landing in just eight years. It isn’t deranged to expect that, fifty years later, they could get back within five years. It might be unrealistic and uninformed, but I wouldn’t call it deranged. And it’s conceivable that someone other than NASA could do so by 2024.

          • Zed_WEASEL says:
            0
            0

            The NASA of fifty years ago have a blank cheque book of unlimited credit for a few years. NASA of today just don’t have that previous level of resources.

            The folks from Hawthorne seems the most likely to get crew down to the surface of the Moon around 2024. IMO