Perhaps hope is not lost:
http://nasawatch.com/archives/2010/04/is-a-human-spac.html
Is A Human Space Flight Compromise Emerging?
By Keith Cowing on April 5, 2010 9:00 PM
Keith's note: Only a week and a half remain before the much-anticipated Space Summit at NASA KSC on 15 April. While no public mention has been made as to venue, agenda, participants, audience etc., there does seem to be a general consensus forming behind the scenes as to what sort of rethinking might be acceptable to all parties with regard to where NASA human spaceflight is going.
This is the consensus that seems to forming in and among NASA, OSTP, and NSC: Ares 1 and 5 remain cancelled. Orion is continued - but in a "Lite" variant designed to ferry people to and from ISS. This "Orion Lite" would fly on human-rated EELVs and would be, in essence, a government competitor to what NASA is also encouraging the so-called "Merchant 7" (SpaceX, Orbital et al) to develop. The commercial activities would remain unchanged from what was announced in February. Meanwhile, NASA will continue to fly the Space Shuttle albeit at a stretched out rate (2 or so flights/year) while ET production is restarted.
Andreas Saldivar said:
I read this article tonight. I agree with Armstrong and others that the US abandonment of manned space flight is wrong as well as sad. If we go down this road it will be, IMO, 20 years before a US launched manned mission. Very disappointing.
Andreas
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36476183/ns/technology_and_science-space/
