By Steve Holland
Washington - United States President Barack Obama is trying to tamp down an uprising in politically vital Florida against a new strategy for Nasa that has rankled space veterans and lawmakers and sparked fears of job losses.
Obama's decision to kill Nasa's Constellation programme to launch astronauts into orbit and return Americans to the moon has prompted soul-searching on whether the United States is prepared to cede a pre-eminent space role to Russia and China.
"As with all great human achievements, our commitment to space must be renewed and encouraged or we will surely be surpassed by other nations who are presently challenging our leadership in space," Democratic and Republican members of the US Congress from Florida wrote to Obama last week.
Obama's move for a greater private sector role in space launches - as he seeks to keep ballooning federal deficits in check - has generated fears of job losses among thousands of Nasa employees who provide an important economic base in Florida, a state usually crucial in presidential elections.
Employees at major space complexes in Alabama and Texas are also worried.
It is making for a potentially explosive environment when Obama travels to the Cape Canaveral area on April 15 to host a space conference with top officials and leaders in the field.
"What reception will they get? Not good," said Keith Cowing, editor of nasawatch.com, a website that closely monitors the US space agency. "It's a gutsy move. It's Daniel in the Lion's Den."
Obama, in his February 1 budget proposal, planned to increase Nasa's overall funding to $19-billion in 2011 with an emphasis on science and less spent on space exploration.
He would cancel the Constellation programme's Orion spacecraft and Ares rockets, after $9-billion and five years of tests. Constellation is aimed at returning astronauts to the moon in the 2020s to clear the way for a Mars mission.
Instead, Obama would spend $6-billion a year for five years to support commercial spacecraft development and pursue new technologies to explore the solar system in what the White House called "a more effective and affordable way." - Reuters