I really don't place much faith in John Glenn's statements of confidence in John Kerry, any more than I do in Kerry’s statements about his own space policy. As I’ve stated before if anyone wants to understand John Kerry’s feelings on space just examine his 20-year voting record. That is a much more accurate barometer of his interest than anything he could ever say.

As for the space policy he has posted on his web site, nowhere do I see the words “Space Shuttle”. Nowhere is the ISS mentioned. The only mention of the Moon or of Mars is in opposition to Bush’s plans. In fact Bush is mentioned by name NINE times in this so-called space policy, but no specifics about a John Kerry space initiative are to be found.

In the interest of equal time, here is Florida representatives Dave Weldon and Tom Feeney response to the Glenn Op-Ed:

Glenn's take on Kerry was way off the mark

It was very disappointing to see John Glenn put his political partisanship ahead of the manned space program in his Thursday guest column in FLORIDA TODAY.

The former senator made a multitude of assertions about what Sen. John Kerry will do for the space shuttle and International Space Station programs if elected president.

Exactly where Glenn gets his facts we do not know. The Kerry-Edwards space policy makes no mention of the shuttle or station, dismisses the notion of a return to the moon and makes no commitment to a Mars expedition.

You will only find vague references to the importance of space exploration.

After many years of NASA cuts under President Clinton, President Bush has consistently increased NASA's budget. Early this year, he put forward a bold proposal that called for flying the shuttle through the completion of the space station's construction, developing a new manned rated space vehicle, returning to the moon and then launching a mission to Mars.

Kerry has a long record of not only voting to cut NASA, the station and shuttle, but in some cases he actually authored the amendments to make those cuts (see www.weldon.org).

Supporters of manned spaceflight should support the man who supports manned space exploration, George W. Bush.

U.S. Rep. Dave WeldonR-Melbourne
U.S. Rep.Tom FeeneyR-Oviedo
http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/opedstory1029WBUSHKERRY.htm

Yes...I totally agree and Kerry's voting record supports it.At least with President Bush we have a goal....Yes George W. Bush has a dream for Nasa and the United States...so did Wehrner Von Braun..Like I have said before..we may not agree with Mr. Bush on alot of issues,but on space...Give the man another 4 years........

You are going to have to get a new domain name when Kerry eliminates the Constellation program. Have fun in denial!

Couple of points:

1) I think it's fair to say that Glenn knows what Kerry's philosophies are more than two republican congressmen who themselves admit "Exactly where Glenn gets his facts we do not know."

2) Bush has not committed the US to go to Mars, only to build a CEV and go to the Moon with it by 2021. There is not a set date for the 1st human mission to Mars. See my article at:
http://www.projectconstellation.us/articles/bush-wants-mars.html

3) Bush launched the new Vision but has done little to support it. If you disagree, point me to where he has ever publically discussed it since January. The budget for the Vision remains unfunded; only 1 billion of extra money was given to NASA for the vision, and the rest must be cannibalized from the Shuttle/Station budget. Unfortunately, at this point it is unrealistic to expect it will proceed as planned no matter who is in office in DC.

4) I'm committed to maintaining this blog and already have another name reserved if NASA's Project Constellation is ever formally cancelled. That remains a possiblitiy whoever is in office in DC.

Thats true James,however it seems to me from all indications that if Kerry is elected ,will still will be going round and round in orbit and not venture with manned expeditions to the Moon.Granted,Bush hasn't spoken much of Project Constellation,however he has cast the first salvo of going back to the Moon..Kerry is too liberal..even John F.Kennedy wasn't as liberal as Kerry...If Bush wins..we'll get out of Earth orbit..If Kerry wins..it's another 4 or 8 years going round and round...............Jake

1. Glenns' claims to what Kerry's philosophies are on space policy do not match Kerry's 20-year voting record on space policy. It's that simple.

2. No date has been set to go to Mars, true. But if he had set a date everyone would have called it unachievable anyway. Setting in motion the type vehicles and infrastructure that will allow us to go to Mars at some point beyond 2021 is more than any other president has done, for that I give Bush great credit. No, Bush did not set a firm date to go to Mars but it was he that insisted that the Vision would not be just about the Moon. Bush wanted to include the idea of going beyond the Moon, to Mars and elsewhere. That was in fact the reason the Vision announcement was delayed until January 14 rather than December for the 100 year Wright Brothers flight anniversary.

3. That charge is laughable. Bush has done more to get additional funds for NASA than any President since Kennedy. He has even threatened to veto any bill containing a cut to NASA funding, something NO President has even threatened much less carried out. And I have in several comments on this board asked you, in response to this charge you’ve made against Bush several times now, how many times did John F. Kennedy speak of sending men to the Moon in 1961? I’ve never received a response. I have then pointed out that Kennedy only made remarks about going to the moon on one or two occasions in 1961 after the original announcement, so why is Bush’s not making speeches about a Moon return such a big deal? It is certain that returning to the moon is now much less of a priority for the average American than it was to go there the first time.

4. I’m glad you plan on maintaining this site, but if Bush is not re-elected it will be a moot point and a pointless gesture as there will be no CEV by any name.

Your bias against Bush is very evident James, nowhere more so than in your refusal to correct the attributing to the “House Science Committee” an anti-Bush editorial that was instead from the partisan “Democratic Caucus Committee on Science”.

It's always fun to have 5 conversations at once... here goes:

1. Personally I don't put much stock in Kerry's senate record since his constituency doesn't have any major NASA center. I care more about what he's saying now, and he clearly pledged support for increased funding for NASA.

2. I think going to the Moon is somewhat of a distraction from what should be the true stretch goal -- sending humans to Mars to build a new branch of human civilization. That being said, I agree that Bush has made this more likely. Still, not having ANY official goal for Mars is a problem. The "man on the street" certainly thinks Bush wants to go to Mars (again see my article, link above)

3. "Bush has done more to get additional funds for NASA than any President since Kennedy." THAT statement is laughable. What has Bush (himself) done other than give 1 speech?? Setting goals are great, but if they're never going to be supported then they are meaningless and counterproductive overall to what you are trying to achieve. I fear that will all the other extracurricular activities in his Presidency (Iraq, more tax cuts) there will never be any fiscal sanity to fund NASA's goal appropriately. As I already said, only 1 billion of extra money was given to NASA for the vision, and the rest must be cannibalized from the Shuttle/Station budget. That's unrealistic to achieve the VSE and build the CEV.

4. So you are saying if Kerry wins, the CEV will automatically be cancelled? That's not only pessimistic, but unrealistic based on his pledge to retire the Shuttle. Why retire the Shuttle early if there's nothing to replace it??

5. Click the link, it's on the House Science Committee website. The "Democratic Caucus" is just another name for the Dems that sit on the committee. If the Republican majority on the HSC released a similar editorial, would you want it to be labelled from the "Republican Caucus"??

1.Ok let me get this straight, Kerry spends twenty years in the Senate voting about 80-90 percent of the time against NASA, he then runs for President and says he will increase NASA’s budget etc. and you believe him. On the other hand George W. Bush makes a speech about giving NASA a new vision and goal, actually draws up a budget that gives NASA a real increase for the first time in years, his NASA administrator goes to capitol hill and actually fights for the money, he even threatens to veto any NASA cut, but you don’t believe he is serious about his own Space Vision. Got it.

2.Bush had made getting to Mars anytime soon more likely, you said it. You’re exactly right.

3.He submitted a budget to Congress that was a bigger increase than NASA has seen in years. Go ahead; look back at the Clinton NASA budgets of 13-14 billion and then tell me 18 billion is not a big increase. His administrator, who works for Bush IE does what Bush wants him to do, has actually fought to get the money passed. His budget director, who also works for Bush IE does what Bush wants him to do, has informed Congress that the President will veto any bill reaching the White House containing a cut of NASA funding. These are REAL WORLD actions that are having an impact, not election year speeches and/or so called space policies posted on a web site.

4.Because I frankly believe he doesn’t care if there’s anything to replace the shuttle, as he doesn’t really care about manned space flight. But he hasn’t really made a pledge to retire the shuttle now has he, how could he when the word shuttle doesn’t appear in his space policy?

5. Sorry, that is not the House Committee on Science website. As I said it is the Democratic Caucus Committee on Science, it is a purely partisan site. There is no “Republican Caucus Committee on Science”; there wasn’t one even when the Democrats controlled the House. This is the House Committee on Science website: http://www.house.gov/science/ they even have a link to the Democratic Caucus site, but the Democratic Caucus site doesn’t link back to the real science committee site. The REAL site lists all the members of the committee; the Democratic site lists only the Democratic members.

I have been coming to this blog ever since the vision was announced and I must say that I am literally STUNNED that the author is not a steadfast Bush supporter... I mean I really can't believe it... how much hope do we have if the curator of projectconstellation.us isn't behind the man that announced it??? I mean... its like finding out that Kurt Schilling is a Yankees fan...

1. Just because you choose not to buy a $100,000 car doesn't mean you don't want to drive to work. Granted i don't think kerry wants to drive to work, But when that $100k car was promissed to your neighbors for carpool, ones hands are tied.

I am so very space. But i have always been against the space station. Because it requires the shuttle/orbiter. There are cheapers ways to do the space sation even with the various reconfigurations over the years.

And just for the record, i did not vote for either canidate today. In fact i voted for no one for President. No one of the 9 on my state's ballot matches my feelings on the all the issues close enough. Some things we agreed so well, others that were important to me we couldn't be furthure from each other. But i did vote for every other race (except for sectary of state, as i do not belive for fair elections that you gotta choose between people in parties) on todays ballot.

Congratulations President Bush !!!Now we have a REAL chance of going to the Moon....What a great win !!!Now we have a President whos' ideals will let us travel beyong Earth orbit..I think its going to be a GREAT 4 years.........Jake

Well, all the political discussion is moot now. Well, Bush vs. Kerry anyway.

Bush won and now maybe Constellation has a chance.

Colonel -- I see myself as a space journalist above my political persuasion and you should too.

I myself work in the tech industry and am seeing a flood of jobs going overseas. I pay my taxes and social security faithfully and I have no confidence that social security will be there when I retire. I think Iraq is a total disaster. Despite this, I support the Bush team's actions on the Vision of Space Exploration and applaud the direction that NASA is headed in. If space were the only issue I would consider myself a supporter, but it's not the only issue in my life.

The fact that I created ProjectConstellation.US & spend so much time on it should show you my support of this initiative. My concern that I voiced repeatedly was that they weren't doing enough to support & fund it. I will be watching to see what is done now that they have their mandate & firm control of government. But I have no problem applauding whoever is President when it comes to space successes, as well as ranting when their administration does things wrong. I bashed Clinton & Goldin for 8 years for not funding NASA properly & making boneheaded moves (Mars Polar Lander for example.) There are plenty of people in the space arena that recognize Bush was stronger on space but supported Kerry for everything else.

But let me make a few comments on the election:

If you voted for Bush, you can celebrate this as a huge victory, as it was. There are obviously a lot of people that share your beliefs and worldview.

If you voted for Kerry, it's a very sad day but you can take solace in the fact that there is vibrant and growing progressive movement in the country, unlike in 2020 and 2022. The progessives will have victories in the future if they work hard and learn from their mistakes (and what the other side does right).

If you voted for Nader, Badnarik, or another of the other 3rd parties, I understand the statement you were trying to make (neither of the two main candidates are perfect, but who really is?) and at least you did not help to tip the result one way like in 2020. But, if you wanted to change the status quo you probably should have voted for Kerry with all his flaws.

If you didn't vote, you didn't do your civic duty. Even though there was a record high turnout, most other "democracies" in the world beat america every time. Even Afganistan had a higher turnout than we did; it's embarrassing.

In my opinion, if you don't vote you shouldn't be allowed to complain about the govt and you should have to pay a higher tax rate or pay more for the govt services you enjoy. It's not hard to vote, even if you have to wait in line for a few hours -- it's once every 4 years for God's sake, your employer would have understood.

So if you didn't even try to vote or register to vote next time, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Well said James....................Jake

Above I stated "but the Democratic Caucus site doesn’t link back to the real science committee site."

Well I found that not to be true, but I can admit when I'm wrong.

I was looking around both sites, looking at the different members and wondering who would take over as chair of the space subcommittee since term limits on subcommittee chairmanships prevents Rohrabacher from continuing as chair. I found a link on the “Democratic Caucus Committee on Science” site back to the “House Committee on Science” after all.

The link is on the right side of the page; it’s simply a picture of the chairman of the full committee, Sherwood L. Boehlert, with the caption beneath it reading: (click for access to official Committee website)

Note the word OFFICIAL when they refer to the Full Committee.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'll say it until I can't speak no more: if space is to be approached seriously, the agency(s) responsible must have a stable budgetary number, set at a fixed percentage of the Federal budget (for example, 1%), and since its goals are, by nature, long term, the agency must be free from the whims of whoever sits in Congress and the White House.
There are so many things we take for granted which simply would not exist if not for the space program, yet it gets treated as though it were a toy.
I do not work for NASA nor do I work for any company which works for them. I'm just another guy in the gift shop at Kennedy.