My distinguished colleague Prof. Ken Pounds opines on the recent changes in US space policy and the cancellation of the Constellation programme. He believes that this constitutes the effective abandonment of US manned ambitions in deep space, and leaves the way open to other countries (most notably China) to reach and exploit the Moon unchallenged.

• Lunar eclipse: US retreat leaves China leading way in race to return to moon -- The Guardian

Sorry Ken, you're wrong :-) You're overestimating the capabilities and intentions of the Chinese (for all they talk a good talk, their progress in manned spaceflight has been glacial), and underestimating what the commercial guys can do.

Charles Lurio:-

"The proposed R&D [research and development] work has several sections which themselves appear geared to both benefit from and encourage 'a thousand flowers blooming' in the New Space industry. The fight for changes at NASA has barely begun. A great caterwaul has already arisen from both sides of the congressional aisle that the proposed new direction means the 'end' of US human spaceflight - when it means just the opposite".

Peter J. Brown, an aerospace journalist writing for Asia Times:-

"This is exactly why the rise of the US private space sector is so vital and so timely. While critics shake their heads, US engineers and entrepreneurs are heading at full steam in a direction that China cannot follow, not under the current rules anyway. With international partners in abundance including the space programs in Canada, Japan, Europe and India along with other countries, the US space program is preparing for the future in a very dynamic fashion rather than self-destructing."

Roger Launius and Michael Green (NASA):-

"Shuttering the space shuttle program guarantees job losses regardless of NASA’s future direction; minimizing this is an important objective. The rhetoric about future dangers being spread, however, too often approaches nonsense. One observer overstated that “left to their own devices, (commercial firms) tend to produce unreliable hardware that explodes.”"

"Amazingly untrue; over two decades, commercial launchers have delivered critical services with excellent reliability."

"This new path need not abandon human exploration; it could provide the U.S. with a sustainable and executable space exploration plan indefinitely. It furthers human activities on ISS, and opens translunar space sooner than other approaches and on American rockets built by commercial providers."