They are hardly the same. The Orion is still getting full funding and is actively being worked on. It is the Shuttle replacement, and will go to the ISS, assuming private companies don't have the capability yet. When the asteroid/Mars missions happen, Orion is going to be the spacecraft that is used. It is very far from cancelled.

Orion isn't going to make it at the rate they are going...

...It's first scheduled test flight is two years away... the same as it was before Constellation was cancelled.

     Orion is no more than a bigger more advanced Apollo capsule. Not a true ship at all. It still requires parachutes after re-entry and still splashes down in the ocean. Meanwhile instead of doing what they should have done while STS was still flying was to, not invest in, but build the replacement years ago. Think about it, the shuttle was first designed in the late seventies, first flew in the early eighties and you mean to tell me they could not have produced a viable replacement inside of thirty years? Bullshit! The Air Force has been flying their own space plane for two years now. Its already proved itself during its  orbital flight and the turn around is a lot faster and that without a crew. So...who's foolin' who? Too much emphasis was put on using STS and not enough on improving STS. How hard would it have been to use one of the shuttles as a flying test bed for new avionics and/or designs, engines etc. You're supposed to build on what works not run it into the ground and then worry about what will replace it. Damn idiot politicians!

Exactly, they couldn't even bother to make a viable replacement before they let STS end! I don't want to see Orion ever leave the ground, since it is little more than a rehash of 50 year old technology.

I agree, it is beyond stupid that a replacement isn't already in place. People have been coming up with designs for a potential shuttle replacement practically since the shuttle first launched.

The Orion, despite similarities to Apollo, does build on the technology of the shuttle. The capsules are reusable for one thing. Orion is much better for actually landing on other planets than any space plane. Until we have runways on the Moon, things like the space shuttle will never be able to land there. And taking off like airplane is terribly ineffecient if you want to get to orbit or beyond (and once again you would need a runway). If you want to land on the Moon or Mars or an asteroid, you need something more like Apollo than the Shuttle. It's also cheaper for the most part, unless you are doing a lot of launches.

Upgrading the shuttle was pretty much out of the question. The program was already way over budget, and even if it wan't you can't really just slap a new set of engines on it or anything like that. It would probably be cheaper to just build something new than try to significantly upgrade the existing shuttles.

Yeah, the Air Force has a space plane (that started as NASA's). So? Robotic flights are (comparatively) easy. The point isn't about having a space plane, it's about having a way to get humans to orbit and beyond.

Well then, you can say goodbye to the US manned space program, because that's the only thing being developed.

One year isn't an extension, its camouflage for the slow dismantlement of NASA, and the turn over of space to private industry and international "cooperation", which means the US will just fall further behind.

Obama was right about one thing, there isn't much ingenuity in the Constellation program, and you are absolutely right, I can't stand his politics.

I doubt Orion will be operation by the end of the decade or even longer, which will end up making it obsolete. I should probably just try to develop what I want to see on my own, instead of expecting NASA to take a step forward when they are actually taking a step backwards.

As it turns out, Obama wants Orion to be an American alternative to the Russian Soyuz, not for going anywhere beyond Earth orbit, and instead wants a new program and commercial vehicles to do the beyond Earth orbit missions.

Shuttle snaps sky show above Australia...

Odd, I didn't know "dismantlement" meant "increase overall budget." NASA's budget for 2011 is higher than 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA. And god forbid we cooperate with other countries. Going to Mars will be cheap and easy, right?

I assume you have something to back up that claim other than your apparent hatred for Orion? You seem to have ignored what I've already said in this thread multiple times, so I'll say it one more time in the hope that you read it this time. The first test flight of Orion is scheduled for 2013. It will be fully operational by 2016. Sure, there could be some delays, but it's very unlikely to be that delayed.

Once again, you appear to be ignoring everything I've posted. Orion is supposed to go to Mars and/or asteroids. Obama's program is for private companies to do Earth orbit stuff, and NASA to do the stuff beyond.

Not what I am reading, but oh well.

Left by the Astronauts over the central display screen of Atlantis.

Thought it should go on this thread:

Space Shuttle launches have always made me get goosebumps.  I love watching them liftoff and I'm sad to see them gone.  Btw, since it is still spelled wrong up there after all this time, the Shuttle's name is Atlantis.