NASA is a flawed agency.

NASA is also the incubator of our heroes.

There's a rumor going around that Obama will bring back the Orion (space capsule) part of the slated-to-be-cancelled Constellation program. This will save jobs and keep the money spent on Orion from being wasted.

Going down the list of what was in Constellation..

Ares I - almost a complete waste of money, though I didn't say that when the program started. What has changed in the meantime? SpaceX, founded by PayPal founder Elon Musk (who also founded Tesla Motors). SpaceX is currently flying their Falcon 1 rocket and is about to fly the Falcon 9. Their Dragon capsule is going to be ferrying supplies up to the ISS via a contract with NASA. This is technology that is working NOW. The Ares I-X cost billions more, was smaller, wasn't even the final Ares I design, took longer and was, in many ways, a failure when compared to the Falcon. Replacing the Ares I with Falcon is good, prudent and far more efficient. Musk says they can adapt the Dragon module to be man-rated (it was designed to be modified) in very little time, if NASA wants to hire them to do it.

Ares V - The "Heavy Lift Vehicle". Obama says to continue funding for a HLV but, so far, didn't mention the Ares V. I can't really comment on this except to say that SpaceX is preparing the Falcon 9 Heavy.

Orion - the capsule. Appears to be saved. Might be used as an emergency evacuation vehicle for the ISS, from what I'm reading. I don't know how a man-rated Dragon would impact this but competition would be good. Keep in mind that Orion was designed to go not only to the ISS but to the moon as well.

Antares - the Lunar Lander. Apparently cancelled but today's meeting might shed some new light on it.

You say private industry doesn't have the same vision - well, I submit that Elon Musk might very well have it. He's filling a need and stepping up to the plate to volunteer to make the committment to fill the gap in getting astronauts to the ISS. I think it would cost the treasury less for him to do it rather than NASA or even Boeing or Lockheed.

You may not have heard much about Elon Musk (unless you're a real space fan like myself). But I think you WILL be.

Oh - and the Falcon 1? That rocket has already delivered satellites into orbit. He's already started getting his payloads up there.

I'm very much AGAINST us losing our capabilities in space exploration and exploitation. Google the YouTube video from when Neil DeGrasse Tyson recently talked at the University of Buffalo. My feelings are quite well summed up by that.