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Bush Lauds 50 Precent Cost Cut Per Shuttle Seat With RTF-3 Program
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 1, 2006 US President George W. Bush said Saturday he was augmenting the space vision by retrospectively redeploying space shuttle resources, as NASA had already spent the entire estimated budget for developing the Crew Exploration Vehicle on the Shuttle Return To Flight 2 and Return To Flight 3 programs. "We are hoping that the Shuttle RTF-3 program will see the average cost of shuttle passenger slots fall from $3 billion a head to $1.5 billion a head. This is an unprecedented 50% reduction in per passenger launch costs, and clearly shows that the space shuttle program costs are on the right trajectory." "With this level of program savings, and the outcome the same for astronauts no matter what vehicle they launch on as you either end up in orbit or you remain grounded, then it makes sense to husband our space resources more sensibly that we have to now" "And quite frankly I want to see Americans and our international friends in orbit sooner rather than later. And more importantly I want to see them in an all America rig and not some spam can from Russia that any tourist with a spare $20 million dollars can hitch a ride in. "The Shuttle is operational - or at least it will be by the time of RTF-3 - and it makes no sense to spend another $20 billion dollars developing a rocket based on re engineered shuttle parts. And besides we've already spent the money we could have used to develop the CEV on the Space Shuttle return to flight programs - and in view of the results that was obviously the right decision." "I know some members of the public will be disappointed, but it's important to understand that it doesn't matter if China beats us back to the moon, as it was always going to be Chinese money paying for the CEV and all these other discretionary programs we are now deficit funding. "I don't want China to think it can just take over the American Space Program by lending us another trillion dollars, no they will have to do it themselves. But I'm sure our aerospace firms will be happy to sell them the technology - if they haven't already bought it from the Russians. The president has since denied reports that he was planning on retiring in December, to concentrate on his own Texas space project that would be located just outside Wako. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
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