It is not a problem of wanting to deorbit the ISS in 2016, it is simply that
this administration has not made any commitment to it past that point--yet. So
there is definitely a difference in making plans versus just saying they don't
know about funding yet.

The real thing to worry about is that the way things are going, human
spaceflight capability from the United states may completely disappear under
this administration. Funding has already been reduced for the 2010 budget. The
Orion/Ares program is years behind schedule and billions underfunded, and the
capabilities of the system have been curtailed to the point that, at best, it
will only ferry astronauts back and forth to the ISS and never go anywhere else,
like the Moon or Mars, as intended by the original design. Any follow-on
programs, such as Ares V heavy lift launcher and Altair lunar lander are on
indefinite hold.

Things are truly falling apart right in the space program at the moment, but the
ISS is the program least affected.

Michelle

--- In 2001aspaceodyssey@yahoogroups.com, "Collin R. Skocik" <collinskocik@...>
wrote:
>
> For those of you who do not yet know, NASA now wants to de-orbit the
International Space Station in 2016. Personally I think that's absolutely
ridiculous, and I just sent a letter to the president asserting my position on
the subject: