President Barack Obama is under increasing pressure to keep NASA and its many projects as budgetary priority, especially with the agency's space shuttle program now coming to an end.

The finances are tight, and the demands are more, so to balance the whole thing out, the President has tried to propose some measures, a part of which was killing of NASA's Constellation program. As soon as the measures came to light, some very heavy criticism came the President's way, and with every passing day, it is becoming more and bitterer.

NASA authorities and other supports of space programs have stressed that it makes no sense to cut off something like the Constellation program, which started so long back and required so much of investment, both in terms of efforts and funds, to reach where it is today. The mission of the program, which started during the Bush Administration, was to put man back on the moon by 2020.

Considering the fact that a lot of effort and money has already gone into the project, it does seem like something that should not be killed. But there are chances that the Constellation program might end up repeating all the mistakes that NASA has made in the past. Not very likely, in my opinion. After all, the agency has learned some good lessons in the past.

On Tuesday, a senior NASA official said that it would not be difficult to add more shuttle flights, if only the Government is willing to put in $200 Million every month towards the cause. But considering the financial situation of the country, it is a very difficult thing to do.

Another measure which has attracted a lot of criticism is the proposal to outsource some of the projects to private firms. Critics question whether it would be a good idea to hand something this huge to a firm which is little to no experience of handling such programs. This is something that should be considered. It does not seem like a very good idea to just trust a company with such programs based on what promises it makes, NASA cannot afford any more failures, or disasters.

Everyone is now waiting for April 15, when Mr. Obama will take the stage in Florida to explain his vision on the proposal more clearly. Let's hope it is worth the wait!