Obama to End NASA Constellation Program?

When Obama releases his budget on Monday, there may be a big hole where funding for NASA's Constellation program used to be.

(Fox News) - When Obama releases his budget on Monday, there may be a big hole where funding for NASA's Constellation program used to be. Constellation is the umbrella program that includes the Ares rocket -- the replacement for the aging space shuttles.

According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel, the forthcoming budget -- which the president will announce in detail during tonight's State of the Union address -- will include no funding for lunar landers, no moon bases, and no Constellation program at all. Instead, NASA will outsource space flight to other governments (such as the Russians) and private companies.

NASA's Constellation program aims to create a new generation of spacecraft for human spaceflight, consisting primarily of the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles, the Orion crew capsule and the Altair Lunar Lander. These spacecraft will be capable of performing a variety of missions, from International Space Station resupply to lunar landings.