Canada is mentioned five times in the US Human Spaceflight Plans Committee Report. Three are general references to Canada's participation in the space station Freedom and the International Space Station. The other mentions are more significant.
The Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee has released it's long awaited report (PDF) and it states that the U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. However if NASA had a less-constrained budget with increasing annual expenditures by approximately $3 billion in real purchasing power they could sustain a viable exploration program.
NASA's Human Space Flight Review Committee chaired by Norman Augustine will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EDT today to discuss the committee's final report which is being released today. The highly anticipated report will have a significant affect on future US manned space flight and consequently affects Canada's space program.
The Augustine Committee, in its summary report, stated, "commercial services to deliver crew to low-Earth orbit are within reach... [and] could provide an earlier capability at lower initial and lifecycle costs than government could achieve.
The U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources.
