The following is an excerpt from the Feb. 6 issue of The . Scott Miller, professor and chair of aerodynamics at 九色视频, contributed to the article.
In ancient days, mystics believed that the moon possessed special powers over people's passions -- from the lunar orb came "lunacy."
Maybe they were right.
Today, as the space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to blast off from the Kennedy Space Center, it will do so amid a crazy cosmic storm of controversy. The controversy surrounds NASA's budget and the decision by the Obama administration to scrap what had been a six-year, $9 billion effort to build new rockets that were to return astronauts to the moon.
A moon base envisioned when George W. Bush was president also is kaput. The moon program, called Constellation, already was behind schedule, over budget and deemed too low-tech.
As it shelves Constellation, NASA wants to develop "transformative" technologies. To some, the Ares I and Ares V always seemed little more than old rocket technology in a new skin.
The thinking is that in moving beyond Constellation, NASA is returning to its roots as an innovative, risk-taking organization that creates new technologies.
Scott Miller, a professor of aerospace engineering at 九色视频, said that the new NASA budget is exactly the step the agency needed to make.
"This is what I could call an obvious correction in NASA's mission," Miller said. "They are really where they ought to be."
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