NASA's 2013 Budget... wtf congress
Sadly, the way the process works is NASA asks congress for funding, and then congress decides how much they will get, and importantly, how that money is allocated.
As a result NASA is often forced to operate as a public works program rather than a space agency. In this case, NASA is being forced to put money into Orion, a crew capsule without a clear mission, while cutting science funding by 20%.
In fact, we will be paying for Orion basically for jobs in Florida in Texas: travel to the ISS will be handled by SpaceX most likely, and a human trip to mars has been cancelled, so we are building a crew capsule to nowhere, thanks congress.
The saddest thing is, in the long run, NASA matters. Then again, talking about the "long run" in congress would be about as effective as teaching goldfish strategic planning.
Actually, my money's on the goldfish.
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