I thought I'd start a thread that would see what people's opinions are for what the NASA direction may be from the next President, both Republican and Democrat.Thoughts?
I sort of wonder if Orion and SLS will make sense to the next President. SLS is supposed to fly in 2017 and the next President will be sworn in in January 2017. So it would probably be to late to cancel it. However, that isn't true of Orion. I wonder if it wouldn't make more sense to cancel Orion and replace it with commercial BLEO capsules. If we can't afford any payload for SLS, it will eventually be cancelled too. It might suffer the same fate as Energia. If a Republican wins, I would expect the Moon to become the main emphasis again.
SLS is now scheduled for 2018 actually...
...otherwise...I agree regarding canceling Orion and replacing it with something commercial and more flexible. Whether or not a President (and Congress) agrees to that is another matter.
The Republicans have favored returning to the Moon...
I haven't seen the Democrats favor a destination, all though Clinton spearheaded the partnership with Russia in ISS...with good and bad repercussions we're feeling today; if anything they seem to favor whatever expands technology, international relations, and creates jobs (government or otherwise).
I've seen no evidence that the Republican party, much less a plank on their platform, wants to push for doing anything in space, including returning to the Moon. Gingrich brought up the topic during the 2012 cycle and was pummeled from within his own party.I've known of people that harbor high hopes for a Hillary Clinton presidency, specifically for space. I have no idea if that would be true.
Quote from: Coastal Ron on 10/14/2014 08:45 pmI've seen no evidence that the Republican party, much less a plank on their platform, wants to push for doing anything in space, including returning to the Moon. Gingrich brought up the topic during the 2012 cycle and was pummeled from within his own party.I've known of people that harbor high hopes for a Hillary Clinton presidency, specifically for space. I have no idea if that would be true.The lesson learn form Gingrich's fall is to avoid being too specific about NASA during presidential debates. Discussions about going back to the Moon or to Mars is to be avoided during the campaign. As far as Clinton goes, many said that Bill Clinton didn't care much for space. I don't know if that's also true for Hillary. But Florida is still a swing state. So I would expect both parties to be pro-space in order to get some of the votes in Florida.
Thoughts?I think this thread is likely to lead to a lot of wild speculation and is likely to give the mods a headache. Let's see if I'm right (hope not)