The Constellation story

Return to the Moon to take up where, way too soon, Apollo had stopped. Such was the ambition of the Constellation programme on the point of becoming a page in NASA’s history before it has even achieved its objective.

 

From George W. Bush to Barack Obama, the Constellation programme will but very rarely have given rise to indifference. Credit: NASA/Enjoy Space

Return to the Moon! The idea did not come into being in 2004 at the time of the announcement made by George W. Bush, then President of the United States. Even though the Apollo programme was terminated in the 1970’s, NASA was already abounding with projects to return to our natural satellite.

The 2004 announcement
But at this time, the political deciders believed that NASA’s lunar programme had achieved the most important thing, namely beating the Soviet Union in the race for space supremacy. However, although the American Space Agency was concentrating on the space shuttle, meant to reduce the cost of going into space, the hope of sending astronauts back to the Moon, and then heading for Mars lived on and studies of varying extensiveness were regularly carried out. But none of them actually became a programme... All was to change with the Columbia tragedy on 1 February 2003 when 7 astronauts (6 Americans and 1 Israeli) died in their space shuttle which disintegrated on its return to Earth.

14 January 2004: the President of the United States at the time, George W. Bush, officially launched the return to the Moon. Credit: White House

NASA’s administrator at the time, Sean O’Keefe, understood that the Agency needed an objective, a clear destination, and he gave the go-ahead for a total revision of the human space flight programme. A revision that was officially adopted on 14 January 2004 under the heading Vision for Space Exploration by the President George W. Bush during a speech which, most symbolically, took place in NASA’s Washington headquarters in the notable presence of Gene Cernan, Commander of the Apollo 17 mission and the last man to have walked on the Moon in December 1972.

Constellation on track
Deemed, originally, to be the political diversion of a President bogged down in a war in Afghanistan and in Iraq, this return to the Moon, targeting an objective of 2020, did however start to take shape within the American Space Agency. In 2005, Sean O’Keefe handed over to a new administrator, Michael Griffin, who was characterised by his solid training and career as an engineer. Under his direction, the architecture necessary for the return was clarified and dubbed Constellation. It was to comprise two rockets, Ares I and Ares V respectively tasked with placing a manned capsule (Orion) and the Altair lunar module in orbit with a propulsion stage capable of sending it to the Moon. The video below explains the adopted mission scenario.



Constellation was received with mixed feelings as soon as it was presented to the media. Although some were full of enthusiasm at the idea of a new era of exploration beyond low Earth orbit, others found little interest in a repeat of Apollo, judged barely innovative. An impression strengthened by the fact that Michael Griffin used the term “Apollo on steroids” and highlighted the fact that the laws of physics had not changed since Apollo. Thus implying that the best way of going to the Moon remained the same, hence the resemblance with what had already been done...
And yet, this return to our natural satellite was to benefit from numerous improvements as regards the missions of the Apollo pioneers. First of all, the Moon’s polar areas were now going to be accessible. Operational flexibility and technical progress made it possible to envisage longer stays which would, therefore, be more fruitful from a scientific point of view. After all, we still know very little about our natural satellite as the recent discovery of water proves. NASA was even working on a base near to the south lunar pole so as to set up an exploration post as well as testing solutions that could later be used to target Mars. The Agency developed equipment and tools amongst which was an amazing rover. This house on wheels was going to provide a new mobility and spectacularly increase the range of the astronauts’ actions (see the Enjoy Space video below).




Ares I, the launcher that we love to hate
In the short term, priority was given to the development of the Orion capsule and its launch vehicle, the Ares I rocket. For NASA it was a bit like killing two birds with one stone as although Ares I and Orion were part of the lunar architecture (see above), this couple could also go to and from the International Space Station, thus replacing the space shuttle (without the cargo capacity of the payload bay however).

Launched by Ares I, the Orion capsule was also to go to the International Space Station, but several years after the retiring of the space shuttles, to restore America’s autonomy as regards human space flights. Credit: NASA

And yet, Ares I was very quickly to be subjected to severe criticism. Numerous observers judged the launch vehicle totally unsuited to its future missions and even dangerous for the astronauts! They highlighted the repeated actions to reduce the weight of the Orion capsule, which they said revealed the chronic lack of power of Ares I, or the excessive vibrations caused by the first stage based on the space shuttles’ solid rocket boosters. Obviously, Ares I is a rocket that we love to hate as it stands for all criticism, whether it is a matter of castigating the American Space Agency or more widely contesting the actual principle of human space flights... NASA continued getting Constellation underway and even took several decisive steps by testing several systems. One of the two space shuttle launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center, 39B, was modified so that it could accommodate the future Ares I rockets. Despite the difficulties encountered, the return to the Moon aroused the interest of the other space agencies who were hoping for an era of exploration placed under the banner of co-operation in direct contrast to Apollo which was the consequence of geopolitical confrontation. In the Enjoy Space video below, French astronaut Jean-Jacques Favier explains the potentially international and scientific aspect of the missions envisaged by the Constellation programme.



The end of the dream?
Money is the sinews of war; a well-known saying which also applies to space exploration. The Constellation programme was certainly suffering from technical difficulties but insufficient funds were also a big problem. Following his arrival at the White House in January 2009, Barack Obama appointed a committee tasked with reviewing his country’s human space flight plans. The panel of experts put together went by the name of the Augustine Committee after its chairman, Norman Augustine. During the public hearings held by this committee, many attacked Constellation and, more specifically, the Ares I rocket. However, the surprise came when the committee handed in its report on 22 October 2009 as the experts believed that NASA could overcome the technical problems encountered with Ares I, taking the exact opposite position of the most virulent viewpoints. However, the same report highlighted that the Constellation programme as a whole was too far behind schedule and that money would be lacking again in the future. Basically, the Orion capsule and Ares I would not be ready before 2016, the year when the United States had planned to withdraw from the International Space Station. Worse, the return to the Moon would inevitably be pushed back to an objective of 2030 and the initial budget of 100 billion dollars over fifteen or so years greatly exceeded...

28 October 2009: Ares I-X blasted off for a test flight judged satisfactory by NASA. The future of Constellation was already very uncertain at the time. Credit: NASA/Scott Andrews

Several days later, on 29 October 2009, the Ares I-X rocket, a partial prototype of Ares I, blasted off from the modified 39B launch pad at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. The most visible element of the Constellation programme accomplished a test flight judged satisfactory by NASA. But several months later, on 1 February 2010, President Barack Obama presented a budget that reorganised the priorities of the American Space Agency and put an end to the return to the Moon. A severe blow for those that worked on Constellation, and although he is in total agreement with the President’s decision, NASA’s new administrator, Charles Bolden (appointed in July 2009), declared: “It’s like a death in the family”. He believes that the stopping of the programme is going to enable the Agency to develop a different approach to space, one that is turned towards the future. Constellation, however, still has its supporters and one of NASA’s employees has even made a video, summarising everything that was accomplished on behalf of the return to the Moon. The tone is voluntarily moving and committed.



Is Constellation already ancient history? The White House’s decision appears firm despite strong opposition from certain senators who intend to fight in Congress to get this programme reinstated. A programme that, at the end of the day, will but very rarely have given rise to indifference.

Published on 4 February 2010