Obama to combine defense with NASA

The transition team of President Barack Obama hopes that his vision of the civilian space agency and the military collaboration would lead to shared expenses, to further US mission to space in competition with the Chinese attempt, by 2020.

In fact, the space transition team of Barack Obama is considering stepping up collaboration between NASA and the Defense Department, in hopes of getting the next generation of spacecraft in the sky sooner-and at lower cost-than would be possible with ill-starred Ares rockets of NASA, currently slated to hit the launch pad in 2015.

After a decade of discussion and assembly, NASA and its 14 international partners will develop the size of resident crews at the space station from three to six, significantly increasing the amount of research that can be done on the orbiting outpost. Military satellites must be launched on the DoD’s schedule, not when NASA feels like it.

President Obama may be siding with critics while Griffin would like to adhere to that plan. According to the former astronaut John Glenn, the shuttles should keep flying until the Constellation is ready. The Obama transition team is investigating ideas on merging NASA with the Pentagon.

The verdict on such an amalgamation, if there is one, would probably benefit the current race to the moon as other countries are accelerating with their space programs.