keywords: nasa, international space station, constellation program, mission to moon, mission to mars
Synopsis: Astronaut Pam Melroy guides viewers to the International Space Station, the Moon and finally Mars. Footage of astronauts taking a space walk as they work outside the International Space Station (ISS), an astronaut moves about inside the ISS, view of the ISS from a space shuttle.
Shows a pictorial concept of the Orion, America's next spacecraft that will be used to return humans to the moon, deliver crews and cargo to the International Space Station, and carry humans beyond low earth orbit. It is part of the Constellation Program, (abbreviated CxP), and would fulfill the function of a crew exploration vehicle. Shows astronauts working, exercising, eating, and moving about inside the ISS. Shows pictorial concept of the Altair Lunar Lander, an astronaut crew of four exploring the moon, establishing an outpost on the moon. Explains the plans for a future trip to Mars. Shows children visiting a NASA site... (read more)
NASA HD: Vol. 4 - Constellation Program Earth Moon Mars
On February 1, 2010, President Barack Obama announced a proposal to cancel the Constellation program, effective with the U.S. 2011 fiscal year budget, but later announced changes to the proposal in a major space policy speech at Kennedy Space Center on April 15, 2010. President Obama signed the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 on October 11 which officially brought the program to an end.
Click here for President Obama's April 15, 2010 speech “A Bold New Course for NASA” delivered at the John F. Kennedy Space Center regarding the cancellation of the program.
Explanation of The Constellation Program:
Constellation Program (abbreviated CxP) was a human spaceflight program within NASA, the space agency of the United States. The stated goals of the program were to gain significant experience in operating away from Earth's environment, develop technologies needed for opening the space frontier, and conduct fundamental science.
Constellation was developed through the Exploration Systems Architecture Study, which determined how NASA would pursue the goals laid out in the Vision for Space Exploration and the NASA Authorization Act of 2005, to send astronauts first to the International Space Station, then to the Moon, and afterward to Mars and other destinations beyond.