Lunar lunacy: space waste.

• Author: Suderman, Peter
• Position: Citings - Brief article

CONGRESS may not be very invested in sending Americans back to the moon. It is nevertheless forcing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to spend millions of dollars on a lunar program going nowhere.

In March, Congress voted for a three-week continuing budget resolution that compels NASA administrators to continue spending $1.4 million a day--about $29 million over the course of the three-week budget extension--on Constellation, an initiative aimed at sending American astronauts to the moon. This despite the fact that the Obama administration shut down the program last year.

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This isn't the first time Congress has voted to continue funding the zombie program. Last summer the legislature approved a short-term extension of Constellation's funding while attempting to negotiate a new budget. As...