And in November, 2003, the Space Shuttle program was in full review, with all aspects of it function and management under a microscope. We would not have to wait long for a new direction to come forth, In January, 2004, the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) was announced by then-president Bush.
Unfortunately, the VSE did not come to pass, for two reasons. First, the point designs arrived at through the ESAS process in 2004-2005 failed to recognize the damaging vibrations imparted by Shuttle-scale solid rocket motors, and this effectively threw a fatal monkey wrench into plans for the Ares I booster. Second, the use of the funding that was received by NASA and its contractors was squandered on a bloated, bureaucratic design review process that slowed down progress such that launch dates slipped out past the then-planned destruction of the ISS in 2015.
There is a far more fundamental reason that the VSE did not come to pass: reliance on commitment from politicians, and a requirement to survive multiple regime changes in American government over the planned life of the Constellation Program.
My presentation at the 2003 ILC in Hawaii proposed a different way to build lunar projects. The principles therein can be applied to any project, but I wanted to explore the possibilities of setting up a program management infrastructure whose sole aim was to ensure continuity in our return to the moon - without threat of cancellation.
In the audience that day were two of the more famous astronauts to have walked on the moon. Capt. John Young (Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, STS-1, STS-8) was one of only three human beings to have journeyed to the moon twice. Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt was the only scientist to walk on the moon, as a crew member on the final journey, Apollo 17.
Just prior to the start of audio on the attached video, I had mentioned that what brought me to the podium at that particular conference was my lifelong obsession with lunar exploration, which started by watching Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan bounding across the lunar surface in December 1972. When I stated that, Jack Schmitt, sitting in the audience a few rows from the front, smiled and pumped his fist into the air several times in approval. The next day, there was a luau for the participants in the conference, and Jack told me he liked my talk.
John Young sat at the very back of the audience. He was quiet and reserved, did not make any comments. But I was glad to see him, and proud to be in his company.
Enjoy the video.
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