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4.1 KiB
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43 lines
4.1 KiB
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---
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title: "Constellation program"
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chunk: 6/6
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source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation_program"
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category: "reference"
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tags: "science, encyclopedia"
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date_saved: "2026-05-05T12:41:43.933180+00:00"
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instance: "kb-cron"
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---
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=== Obama administration ===
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Upon taking office, President Obama declared Constellation to be "over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation." A review concluded that it would cost on the order of $150 billion for Constellation to reach its objective if adhering to the original schedule. Another review in 2009, ordered by President Obama, indicated that neither a return to the Moon nor a crewed flight to Mars was within NASA's current budget. The Augustine panel proposed various options, that included two primary destination points (the Moon and deep space), three different types of Super Heavy Launch vehicles, and a robust research and development program that would include work on propellant depots.
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After reviewing the report, and following congressional testimony, the Obama administration decided to exclude Constellation from the 2011 United States federal budget. On February 1, 2010, the President's proposed budget was released, which included no funding for the project, and it became law on April 15, 2011.
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President Obama hosted a Space Conference on April 15, 2010, in Florida. This came at a time when the president's administration was being criticized considerably for leaving the Constellation Program out of the 2011 budget. At the conference, President Obama and top officials, as well as leaders in the field of spaceflight, discussed the future of U.S. efforts in human spaceflight and unveiled a plan for NASA that followed the Augustine Panel's "Flexible Path to Mars" option, modifying President Obama's prior proposal to include the continuing development of the Orion capsule as an auxiliary system to the ISS and setting the year 2015 as the deadline for the design of a new Super Heavy Launch Vehicle. In October 2010, the NASA authorization bill for 2010 was signed into law which canceled Constellation. However, previous legislation kept Constellation contracts in force until passage of a new funding bill for 2011.
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=== Commercial Crew Vehicles and the Artemis program ===
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NASA continues the development of the Orion spacecraft for deep space travel. In an effort to reduce costs, it has contracted for private development of vehicles for use in low Earth orbit. Since May 2020, the Commercial Crew Development program has used the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to bring people to and from the International Space Station, while Boeing's Starliner spacecraft started operating in 2024 for the same purpose. Furthermore, it seeks human-rating for the launch vehicles in the United States Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles program. Private spacecraft are also operating under the Commercial Resupply Services program bringing cargo to ISS.
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The Orion spacecraft and Ares V (also Jupiter DIRECT family of rockets) was modified and reauthorized in 2010/2011 as the main payload of the Space Launch System, and the program was partially revived as the Artemis program in 2017.
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== See also ==
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Artemis program, similar program by NASA
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Space Launch System
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List of Constellation missions
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Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS), European-Russian counterpart of the CEV and the Vision of Space Exploration
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Exploration Systems Architecture Study
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NASA's Vision for Space Exploration
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Soviet Moonshot
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SpaceX Dragon, Space capsule built by SpaceX for NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program.
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== References ==
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This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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Further reading
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Mari, Christopher, ed. (2008). The Next Space Age. The Reference Shelf. Vol. 80. Bronx, New York: H. W. Wilson Company. ISBN 978-0-8242-1082-3. LCCN 2008036936. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
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== External links ==
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Official Constellation NASA web page
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Official Orion NASA web page
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Official Ares web page Archived January 31, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
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A Visual History of Project Constellation on tallgeorge.com
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Video animation – crewed Mission to Mars concept |