Huntsville, AL – Engineers designing NASA's next moon rocket are defending their work to a committee appointed by President Obama to review the nation's human space flight plans.
Critics argue that the program dubbed Constellation is too expensive, too risky and will take too long to get back to space after space shuttle flights end next year.
But during a public meeting Wednesday in Huntsville, NASA executives told the Human Space Flight Plans Committee that the current design is the safest, fastest way to get back to space.
Under a plan set in place by former President George W. Bush, NASA is working on a $35 billion project to retire the shuttle fleet by the end of 2010 and return to human flight no sooner than 2015 aboard a rocket called Ares.
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