NASA Retires the Shuttle Next Year
PHILLIPS: And our world just hasn't been the same since. The moon, well, it's still pretty much the same. 40 years ago astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took one small step for man leaving the first human footprints on the moon. Look where the path has lead. Astronauts from the space shuttle "Endeavour" commemorating the anniversary, showing off their fancy foot work with a spacewalk just outside the Intentional Space Station happening right now. "Endeavour's" crew is hooking up spare parts outside of the hulking, floating observatory. And for shuttle, astronauts hit the second spacewalk in three days. Inside the space station, another tricky issue, a broken toilet. It's not like you can call Mr. Plumber some 220 miles above the earth. But the station has another one for the six astronauts on the outpost and "Endeavour's" seven crew members are doing their business in the shuttle's flue. We got that cleared up. Now, if you're in a certain age, the Apollo program is just something that you read about in the history book. Soon the shuttle program will follow in its footsteps. NASA's moth balling late next year on the program. So what's next? John Zarrella looks at NASA's future.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one. Booster ignition and liftoff of Endeavor.</s>JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): And now there are seven, the number of space shuttle flights left. Nearly 30 years of flying astronauts in a reusable space plane, soon just a chapter in history books.</s>DAVID LECKRONE, HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENTIST: And it just makes me want to cry to think that this is the end of it.</s>ZARRELLA: When the last shuttle flies in September 2010, it leaves a gaping hole behind. Because of NASA budget cuts, the next generation vehicle, the Ares rocket and Orion capsule, key components of the Constellation program, won't be ready to fly astronauts until 2015. Until then, NASA has to carpool with the Russians to get to space. Thousands of shuttle workers not needed for the new vehicle will lose their jobs. Workers who are needed may not be around if more budget cuts spur the delay of the next generation of spacecraft. And further delays are possible. An Obama administration ordered blue ribbon panel is reviewing NASA's direction after shuttle ends, i.e., the Constellation program, which Leckrone says is fuzzy on direction.</s>LECKRONE: And I just don't see that if that organization, within NASA, this producing Constellation, doesn't begin talking to their customer, potential customer base, they're doing to end up with something that no one is interested in using.</s>ZARRELLA: Precourt says Constellation is clearly visionary.</s>CHARLIE PRECOURT, ATK LAUNCH SYSTEMS: It behooves us to build an architecture that can serve a multitude of missions for those next 50- plus years. And that's where this was first envisioned was to think about space station, lunar asteroids, beyond maybe to Mars.</s>ZARRELLA: Built as less expensive than shuttles, safer for astronauts, the Constellation program is supposed to be everything shuttle is not. (on camera): Funny how perceptions change. For decades, the shuttle program was maligned as too costly, too complicated a vehicle, too risky, too unreliable. Now what do you hear? Too bad it's over. John Zarrella, CNN, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.</s>PHILLIPS: And the first guys to walk on the moon think mankind's next giant leap should be a mission to Mars. Apollo astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins are big supporters of a trip to the red planet. They are actually in Washington today, and they're urging President Obama to boldly go where no man has gone before. Armstrong and his crew mates are scheduled to meet with the president next hour. President Obama and his guests have something in common. They've all been subject to some classic conspiracy theories. Ahead of today's Apollo 11 anniversary, all the folks who think the lunar landing was a hoax have come out of the wood work. Some of their favorite reasons why it couldn't have happened, no star is visible in NASA's pictures and video, and no reason the American flag should have been rippling since there's no breeze on the man. Professor Robert Thompson tackled that one on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."</s>ROBERT THOMPSON, PROFESSOR, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Well, it was waving. And the reason it was waving was not because there was wind. Because as we say, there's no wind on the moon, there's no atmosphere. However, to make that flag stand out and go straight, you got to have to this little have ribbing to make it go. Because it's not going to fly straight when there's no atmosphere. And every time they touched that little pole, it sent vibrations through the ribbing. And then, therefore, the fabric so it actually looks like it's vibrating. I actually think the flag is the biggest argument against the moon landing being a hoax. Because if you go back and watch the coverage of them trying to get that flag to stand up, it looks like keystone cops that can't get it in the ground. It's a joke if you were going to fake it, you wouldn't make your astronauts look so silly.</s>PHILLIPS: So in other words, Professor Thompson saying stop the lunar lunacy, folks Striking the Taliban where it hurts. What U.S. Marines found in southern Afghanistan and why they blew it up.