NASA’s program to return humans to the moon by 2020 has been sliced by the budget knife, including the crew vehicle being designed by Colorado-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems.
In a budget released today, the Obama administration canceled the Constellation program that includes the Orion crew exploration vehicle and Ares launch vehicles.
Lockheed, with headquarters in Waterton Canyon in south Jefferson County, in 2006 won a $3.9 billion contract to design and build Orion. About 450 people in Colorado have been working on the project.
Lockheed officials could not be immediately reached for comment this morning.
Orion was to replace the aging space shuttles that are due to be retired after this year. The vehicle was designed to transport four crew members on moon missions and up to six crew members to the International Space Station.
The Constellation program was described by Obama administration as being “over budget, behind schedule and lacking in innovation.”
NASA will receive $2.5 billion over two years to close out the program. To date, NASA has spent about $9 billion on the Constellation program.
The administration’s plan calls for NASA to contract with private companies to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and on other space missions.
Nearly $6 billion is allotted in the budget to encourage private companies to launch their own spacecraft.
The White House issued a statement that says a strengthened commercial space launch industry “will bring needed competition, act as a catalyst for the development of other new businesses capitalizing on affordable access to space, help create thousands of new jobs and help reduce the cost of human access to space.”
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
