Astronaut Cernan Blasts Government on Scrubbed NASA Moon Mission

Cernan part of video starts at 2:00 minutes.
Cernan: "I'm argry, I'm argry and it is very short sighted on the part of this administration...."

Cernan: Pres. Unwilling to Invest in U.S. Future
Updated: Tuesday, 02 Feb 2010, 2:56 PM CST
Published : Tuesday, 02 Feb 2010, 2:56 PM CST
ANDREA WATKINS

Gene Cernan, the last man on the moon, says it is critical to go back to the moon for America's future. He is speaking out against President Obama's decision to eliminate the NASA program that would take the U.S. astronauts back to the moon.

What has been cut out of NASA's budget by the White House is the Constellation program that would first give the U.S. transportation to and from the International Space Station, then take astronauts to the moon, and then to Mars. The program has already cost $9 billion, and NASA had requested an additional $3 billion each year for the next five years to continue it.

But the White House says that is old technology and the U.S. has already been to the moon.

Instead, the President's budget proposes using the $4 billion currently spent on human space exploration, to be used for research and development on new technologies, and development of space technology in the private sector.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says he understands President Obama's decision.

"When you have a program that's going to cost a fortune to resurrect, and schedules are getting harder to make without much more money, you pick a new course," said Bolden at a National Press Club gathering in Washington, DC on Tuesday morning.

But former astronaut Cernan says cutting the Constellation program will relegate the U.S. to being second in the world of space exploration. With the retirement of the space shuttle in 2010, the U.S. would have to rely on Russia to take American astronauts to and from "our own space station," said Cernan.

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