GREENBELT, Md. — Obama administration officials continue to push back against a congressionally directed heavy-lift launch vehicle development that would salvage elements of the Constellation program the president seeks to dismantle. Full story
NASA claims thousands of jobs will be lost with the cancelation of its Constellation program, the successor to the space shuttle. The president wants private companies to be the main provider of manned space flights.
Physicist Michio Kaku tells TODAY’s Matt Lauer that with the cancelation of the Constellation program, the U.S. will lose its status as a leader in space exploration, falling behind Russia and China.
The first man to walk on the moon blasted President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel NASA’s back-to-the-moon program on Tuesday, saying that the move is “devastating” to America’s space effort. Full story
A mobile launcher has been built for the Ares 1. The problem is, if the Obama administration has its way, there never will be such a rocket. Full story
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden defended the space agency's budget Tuesday and said its focus on commercial space transportation would provide ''incredible opportunities'' for U.S. companies. Full story
Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer for the Franklin Institute, talks about the Obama administration’s decision to cancel the Constellation program, which would get astronauts to the international space stations and return them to the Moon by the year 2020.
Oct. 28: After several delays, a test of NASA's new Ares 1-X rocket, the first launch of the Constellation program, apparently went off without a hitch. NBC's Jay Barbree reports.
Nov. 13: TODAY hosts talk to Jeffrey Hanley of NASA's Constellation Program about the spectacular new high-definition images from outer space.
The scaffolding for a mobile launcher rises into the sky at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in late January. The launcher had been designed for the Constellation program, but now NASA has said the program will be canceled.
A bow shock forms around the Constellation Program's 327-foot-tall Ares I-X test rocket traveling at supersonic speed during its Oct. 28, 2009 launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The rocket produces 2.96 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and goes supersonic in 39 seconds.
The Constellation Program mission requires two spacesuit system configurations to meet the requirements of Orion missions to the space station and to the moon. Configuration One will support dynamic events such as launch and landing operations; contingency intravehicular activity during critical mi
