More reaction to cancellation of moon program

Most of the emerging private space companies are thrilled that the new NASA moon and beyond program—called Constellation—is probably going to be killed. I’m not sure why this is—there’s plenty of room for private companies to send astronauts into earth orbit. And private companies are a long way from sending people to the moon and beyond.

Nonetheless, that’s the way it is. Now that the private space companies will be the primary source of launching NASA astronauts, they get the spotlight. And possibly the heat…if things go wrong.

Regarding astronaut reactions:

Buzz Aldrin is thrilled that America has chosen “to redirect our nation’s space policy away from the foolish and underfunded Moon race that has consumed NASA for more than six years, aiming instead at boosting the agency’s budget by more than $1 billion more per year over the next five years, topping off at $100 billion for NASA between now and 2015.”

Walt Cunningham, who flew the first manned Apollo mission is not happy. He says canceling Constellation will “accelerate America’s downward spiral toward mediocrity in space exploration.”

Retired shuttle astronaut Tom Jones doesn’t like it, and says that the cancellation indicates “human spaceflight is unimportant to U.S. national interests.”