January 28, 2010

Space Frontier Foundation Praises Death Sentence for Ares

"Take Back Your Space Program!" Will Fight For Reforms on Capitol Hill

The Space Frontier Foundation today praised the White House’s decision to cancel NASA’s failed Ares rocket programs and instead invest in private enterprisesystems "inspirational" and "a giant leap in the right direction.""The reforms announced yesterday fix some of the worst errors of the Bush Visionof Space Exploration," said Foundation chairman Bob Werb. "More than that, theymake NASA exciting and relevant again. Canceling the expensive, ill-fated Ares 1rocket opens the door for private enterprise to create a safe, reliable and low-costcommercial spaceflight industry, with government as a customer and partner instead of a competitor."The Space Frontier Foundation has been fighting to kill Ares I for years.We predicted this disaster in 2006, put out press releases, op-eds and worked with our many friends inside NASA, Congress, and both large and small NewSpacecompanies.“Our Mind the Space Gapcampaign emphasized that Ares was a boondoggle thatguaranteed sending more taxpayer money to Russia to pay for Astronaut visits tothe space station we mostly paid for,” continued Werb. “Now the NewSpaceindustry must step up and fill the Gap, creating jobs and innovation here inAmerica.”“Finally, America’s space agency is starting to behave like it belongs in a capitalistcountry,” Werb added. “Charlie Bolden and Lori Garver are showing faith in freeenterprise and we will not disappoint them.”The Space Frontier Foundation recently announced "Take Back Your SpaceProgram!," a year-long campaign in which citizens will visit their representativesin Congress to advocate for policies that help open the space frontier."Since Congress recently attempted to tie President Obama’s hands and preventhim from changing Bush’s Moon program in any way, it’s essential that theAmerican people urge legislators to support these reforms and stop any further waste of money on Ares ASAP," said project manager Mike Heney. "This turkeyis never going to fly and we should stop throwing good money after bad."

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