Obama's Space Budget ...

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama will announce his administration's vision for America's space program during a visit to Florida on Thursday, according to documents provided to CNN by a White House official.
"The Administration is committed to a bold, new approach to human spaceflight, and is increasing the NASA budget by $6 billion over the next five years in order to embark on this ambitious strategy that will foster the development of path-breaking technologies, increase the reach and reduce the cost of human spaceflight, and help create thousands of new jobs," the documents say.

The future of the space agency as outlined in the White House documents would include a multi-billion-dollar moderization of Kennedy Space Center, expansion of private-sector and commercial space industries, creation of thousands of jobs and eventually human travel to Mars.

The president's announcement will come during what have been uncertain times surrounding the agency. The space shuttle is scheduled for retirement at year's end, with just three scheduled launches remaining. Obama has cancelled the Bush administration's Constellation moon program. The space agency had already spent about $9.5 billion on that project to develop a next-generation rocket and the crew capsule.

Allard Beutel, news chief at the Kennedy Space Center, told CNN that layoffs at the center will likely reach "the 7,000 range" with the end of the shuttle and the cancellation of the Constellation program.
Obama's plans would shift some funding away from NASA's costly human spaceflight program to NASA's scientific programs, including robotic missions to other planets.

The president's budget would also provide funding to private launch companies to develop spacecraft to ferry astronauts.
Once the space shuttle is retired, U.S. astronauts will need to ride Russian Soyuz rockets to reach and return from the International Space Station. It's expected to take several years or more before commercial launch companies are capable of carrying astronauts into orbit.


This new strategy means more money for NASA, more jobs for the country, more astronaut time in space, and more investments in innovation," the documents from the Obama administration say.
"It will result in a longer operating lifetime for the International Space Station, new launch capabilities becoming available sooner, and a fundamentally more ambitious space strategy to take us to an increased number of destinations and to new frontiers in space.

"By undertaking this strategy, we will no longer rely on our past achievements, and instead embrace a new and bold course of innovation and discovery."
During a briefing in early April, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden praised the new future being charted for the agency.

"This budget provides an increase to NASA at a time when funding is scarce," Bolden said. "It will enable us to accomplish inspiring exploration, science and (research and development), the kinds of things the agency has been known for throughout its history."

The budget "enables NASA to set its sights on destinations beyond Earth orbit and develop the technologies that will be required to get us there, both with humans and robots," Bolden said.
"We're talking about technologies that the field has long wished we had but for which we did not have the resources," he said.
"These are things that don't exist today but we'll make real in the coming years. This budget enables us to plan for a real future in exploration with capabilities that will make amazing things not only possible, but affordable and sustainable."


Related: Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration's vision for the future of manned space flight will bump the United States to "second or even third-rate" status as a space-faring nation, the commanders of three U.S. moon missions warned Thursday.

The letter was signed by the first and last men to walk on the moon -- Neil Armstrong from Apollo 11 and Eugene Cernan from Apollo 17 -- and James Lovell, who commanded the heroic Apollo 13 flight.

"Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity," the letter said. "America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space. If it does, we should institute a program which will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal."
President Obama is scheduled to announce his space plans Thursday during a visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the White House announced. The White House said the five-year strategy involves a $6 billion increase in NASA's budget and additional support for new space technologies.

Armstrong, Lovell and Cernan praised Obama's increase in total funding for space exploration, which includes money for research, the international space station and a heavy-lift rocket. But the astronauts said the decision to cancel the Constellation program for manned space flight "is devastating."

"America's only path to low Earth orbit and the international space station will now be subject to an agreement with Russia to purchase space on their Soyuz (at a price of over 50 million dollars per seat with significant increases expected in the near future) until we have the capacity to provide transportation for ourselves," they wrote.

NASA's space shuttle fleet will be retired at the end of this year, leaving the Russian Soyuz capsules as the only avenue into space until commercial ventures are ready to do the job, expected to be years away. Obama's proposal to use commercial transport to reach orbit "cannot be predicted with any certainty, but is likely to take substantially longer and be more expensive than we would hope," the astronauts said.

Cernan, Lovell and Armstrong said the more than $10 billion spent so far on Constellation -- including the Orion space capsule and the Ares rockets to boost it into space will be wasted by the cancellation "and, equally importantly, we will have lost the many years required to recreate the equivalent of what we will have discarded."

NASA's future, as outlined in the White House documents, would include a multibillion-dollar modernization of Kennedy Space Center, expansion of private-sector and commercial space industries, creation of thousands of jobs and eventually human travel to Mars.

But Allard Beutel, news chief at the Kennedy Space Center, told CNN that layoffs at the center will likely reach the 7,000 range with the end of the shuttle and the cancellation of the Constellation program.

The president's plans would shift some funding away from NASA's costly human space flight program to NASA's scientific programs, including robotic missions to other planets.

During a briefing in early April, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden praised the new future being charted for the agency.

"This budget provides an increase to NASA at a time when funding is scarce," Bolden said. "It will enable us to accomplish inspiring exploration, science and (research and development), the kinds of things the agency has been known for throughout its history."

AR-623

Photo (C) Steve Douglass

Cannon AFB Open House Next Weekend!

by Greg Allen
27th Special Operations Public Affairs

4/9/2010 - CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- The 27th Special Operations Wing will open its main gate to the public April 17, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., for its first-ever open house. The event is free and visitors will have the chance to see numerous aircraft on the flightline as well as meet the Air Commandos who operate, maintain and fly them.

Aircraft on display will include the AC-130H Gunship, MC-130W Combat Spear, MC-130H Combat Talon II, CV-22 Osprey, MQ-1 Predator, HH-60 Pave Hawk and more. The Navy SEALs, military recruiters and booths with various services will also be part of the event.
Food and drinks will also be available,

"We will have several aircraft on display such as our light tactical airlift aircraft, the remotely piloted MQ-1 Predator and the venerable AC 130 Gunship, as well as many other combat vehicles and equipment used in operations around the world," said Col. Stephen Clark, 27 SOW commander in a public service announcement.

Colonel Clark added that everyone on base was looking forward to introducing the
AFSOC command mission to everyone who attends.

In 2005 Cannon was recommended for closing by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission by 2009, but a groundswell of local community support was rewarded when the Air Force Special Operations Command stepped forward with a plan to establish a second AFSOC wing. On Oct. 1, 2007, the 27 SOW was formally activated.

As of April 9, there are nearly 3,500 active duty Airmen, 600 civilians and 4,500 family members here, according to Manny Brooks, 27th Special Operation Force Services Support Squadron. This compares to fewer than 1,900 military personnel shortly after 27 SOW assumed control of the base.

Parking for the event will be at Doc Stewart Park in Chavez West housing, across from Allsup's. Guests will pass through security and will be transported to the open house by bus. The following items will not be allowed on base during the open house: alcohol, coolers, backpacks/duffle bags, large camera bags, chairs or glass (except for baby items).

Visit Cannon AFB's Web site at http://www.cannon.af.mil, and then click on the open house tab for more information, updates and a schedule of events. For questions not addressed on the Web site, contact the 27 SOW Public Affairs office at (575) 784-4131.

Cannon Exercise Warning

Clovis, NM--Cannon Air Force Base will be hosting simulated wartime training soon.

Starting Saturday and ending on April 15 residents on or near the base may notice increased activity.

Residents may hear sirens and or simulated explosions near the base.

Base officials are asking not to be alarmed at the activity as it is only training to help keep the pilots at the best of their abilities.

Osprey crashes in Afganistan

UPDATE:

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG

KABUL—A U.S. Air Force aircraft crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing three American soldiers and a civilian employee. The U.S.-led coalition said it's trying to determine what brought down the CV-22 Osprey.

The crash took place late Thursday night in an arid and remote stretch of territory where the Taliban are active west of the city of Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, which borders Pakistan, the coalition said.

The Taliban quickly claimed that insurgent fighters downed the Osprey, a tilt-rotor aircraft that can take off and land as a helicopter, and that flies as a fixed-wing plane once its engines roll forward.

A Taliban spokesman said that the Osprey was shot down around 1 a.m. Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, the spokesman, claimed that around 30 people were killed in the crash. The U.S.-led coalition said that, in addition to the four fatalities, "numerous" other coalition service members were injured.

Mr. Ahmadi warned that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should expect to lose more helicopters in Afghanistan, saying the Taliban have mastered the ability to shoot down allied aircraft.

Downing an Osprey would be a victory of sorts for the insurgents. The sophisticated aircraft, which travels at much higher speeds than conventional helicopters, is primarily used to transport troops on long-range infiltration missions and for resupply purposes.

The Taliban usually take credit whenever coalition aircraft experience problems. NATO and Afghan officials say most of these crashes and hard landings have been caused by technical problems rather than insurgent activity.

Three coalition helicopters crashed in Afghanistan last month. Only one of these incidents, involving a civilian chopper contracted by U.S. forces in the northern province of Kunduz, was caused by insurgent fire, say NATO and Afghan officials. No one died in that incident.

NATO said it was investigating what caused Osprey's crash. Afghan officials in Zabul blamed it on mechanical problems.

Original post:

A U.S. Air Force tilt-rotor aircraft crashed in south-eastern Afghanistan, killing three service members and one government contractor, NATO said on Friday.

Other personnel aboard were injured and were taken to a military base for treatment, NATO said.

The CV—22 Osprey went down about 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, NATO said. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

The Osprey takes off and lands as a helicopter, but its engines roll forward in flight, allowing it to fly faster than a standard helicopter.

A Zabul government spokesman, Mohhamed Jahn Rasuliyar, confirmed the crash and the number of casualties.

A Taliban spokesman had earlier claimed militants shot down the aircraft, part of a pattern of the insurgents making such claims to promote their cause of driving foreign forces from the country.

Choppers are used extensively by both NATO and the Afghan government forces to transport and supply troops spread across a mountainous country with few roads. Losses have been relatively light, despite insurgent fire and difficult conditions, and most crashes have been accidents caused by maintenance problems or factors such as dust.

Lacking shoulder-fired missiles and other anti-aircraft weapons, the Taliban rely mainly on machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades to target helicopters at their most vulnerable during landings and takeoffs.

One of the heaviest single-day losses of life for allied forces occurred on June 28, 2005, when 16 U.S. troops died aboard a Special Forces MH—47 Chinook helicopter that was shot down by insurgents.

The incident was the first known deadly crash of an Osprey since it entered active service in 2006, although numerous lives were lost in accidents while the aircraft was under development.

The Osprey is the U.S. military’s latest generation transport aircraft, able to travel twice as fast and three times farther than its predecessor, the Vietnam War—era CH—46 Sea Knight. With room for up to 24 passengers, it comes equipped with sophisticated guidance and missile defence systems.

The original programme, a $40 billion joint venture of Boeing Co. and Textron Inc.’s Bell Helicopter unit, was beset by delays and plagued by design flaws and other problems.

It was nearly cancelled several times due to cost overruns - which pushed the bill to over $100 million per aircraft - and a series of fatal crashes and other incidents. In 2000, a crash in Arizona killed all 19 Marines aboard and a separate crash killed four Marines in Florida.

Critics say the aircraft is particularly vulnerable to ground small-arms fire while its engines are shifting from vertical to horizontal flight. They say that, unlike fixed-wing aircraft, the Osprey can’t glide down to an emergency landing in case of a loss of power and its propellers lack the ability to keep rotating on their own even after the engines fail.