Manned mission to near-Earth asteroid

摘要

Sir, Robert April's incisive article on the Obama budget proposal for 2011 and its impact upon NASA (Spaceflight, April 2010, p130) was very welcome.rnMr April pointed out that the budget proposals become effective only after approval by Congress later this year and could be greatly amended during the interim political process. Conceivably the Constellation project could be reinstated; but more likely bits of it will be salvaged to recoup something for the billions of dollars already committed.rnHowever, the shift in NASA's direction away from manned missions towards research and development creates new candidates for cost-saving measures in future budget debates.