Augustine's Full report will have more detail than the summary highlights skew for, but there were always a few foregone conclusions:
- 1 in 5 Americans believes the Sun goes around the Earth.
/facepalm
- NASA budget equates roughly to the amount the US spends on Peanuts each year.
(The nuts, not the comic strip).
- NASA is underfunded for what it is asked to do. (And it's only the third best funded US Space Agency.)
Have you seen how big Space is? Oh wait...
- NASA's return-on-investment is beyond dollars, but only budgeted in dollars.
What is a Giant Leap worth, or a Hubble Deep Field in terms of awe and inspiration as much as raw research & development?
- Bush's 'Vision' of Constellation, retirement of Shuttle before Constellation comes online, deorbit of ISS 5 yrs later... none funded and all doomed policies set for rewrite
Ares I seems archaic.* Shuttle gotta fly until its replacement is ready, ISS is permanent because partners won't consent to dumping it, duh.
- A list of suggested options for new directions, almost all of which will cost more than is budgeted for NASA now.
But more incentive for private/commercial Space business is good.
*
Best to delay the final approval until the next good SciFi flick to build public support.