Report Summary on Human Space Exploration Released by Obama Administration. (September 11, 2009)

The select committee chaired by former Lockheed-Martin executive, Norman Augustine delivered its report to US President Barack Obama at the beginning of the month. The White House earlier this week made a twelve-page summary publicly available.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science reports:

White House Releases Summary of Human Spaceflight Report. On September 8 the White House released a 12-page executive summary of the report of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, an ad hoc independent panel of space experts chaired by Norman Augustine and charged by the White House with assessing options for NASA's human spaceflight program. In its opening sentences, the panel's summary says that U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be "on an unsustainable trajectory...perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources." Its many findings address, among other things, the future of the space shuttle fleet, the International Space Station, and the Constellation Program, including prospective launch vehicles and the Orion capsule, designed to carry astronauts to low-Earth orbit and beyond. The panel's full report, to be delivered to John Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), is expected to be released later this month. In a statement released the same day, House Science and Technology Committee Chair Bart Gordon (D-TN) announced a hearing scheduled for September 15, featuring Augustine and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden as witnesses, "to examine the panel's findings and to better understand the Administration's next steps."

Toward the end of the summary the panel makes the observations:

The Committee has found two executable options that comply with the FY 2010 budget. However, neither allows for a viable exploration program. In fact, the Committee finds that no plan compatible with the FY 2010 budget profile permits human exploration to continue in any meaningful way.

The Committee further finds that it is possible to conduct a viable exploration program with a budget rising to about $3 billion annually above the FY 2010 budget profile. At this budget level, both the Moon First strategy and the Flexible Path strategies begin human exploration on a reasonable, though hardly aggressive, timetable. The Committee believes an exploration program that will be a source of pride for the nation requires resources at such a level.

And the summary of the key finds?