( CNN ) -- In a long-awaited speech Thursday in Florida , President Obama will boldly go where no president has gone before , laying out an entirely new vision for the U.S. space program . The firestorm of controversy has already begun . For more than 50 years , presidents have pushed for government rockets to send astronauts to space , the moon and possibly Mars . But now a new paradigm is being proposed . The moon program is off the table , and Mars is only a distant possibility . NASA is essentially getting out of the astronaut business , letting the Russians and private enterprise take over . The glory days of NASA , some say , are over . The Obama plan is truly breathtaking , ending an era that lasted from Presidents Kennedy to Bush . Some specifics : . • The moon program , called Constellation , is being suspended , and its components and $ 9 billion of research are going down the drain . The Ares rocket , which recently underwent a successful preliminary test , will be canceled . The Orion lunar module will be repurposed as an astronaut `` lifeboat '' tethered to the international space station . • The space shuttle program is ending , causing 4,600 workers to lose their jobs . ( This was also in the Bush plan , but that proposal included funding the Ares rocket . ) • Without a space shuttle , the U.S. will rely temporarily on Russian rockets to send our astronauts into space . • Eventually , private enterprise will take over launching our astronauts . Some critics say that this is all too much , too soon . Private companies may not be ready to pick up the slack for years to transport astronauts . Conceivably , any political crisis with the Russians in far-away places , such as the Balkans , might affect our access to outer space . And we will just have to swallow our pride when the Chinese plant their flag on the moon sometime after 2020 , as they say they will . Proponents of the plan Obama is expected to describe , however , say that it is long overdue and inevitable . In these trying financial times , the U.S. can not sustain an ambitious space program . Get real , they say . Let private enterprise take over . It 's the American way . But everyone agrees that the wheel is broken and needs to be fixed . It all boils down to one dirty four-letter word : cost . During the Cold War , the superpowers gladly opened their treasuries because the space race was a matter of national pride and honor . Since then , the realities have sunk in . It costs about $ 10,000 per pound to send anything into near-Earth orbit . ( Think of John Glenn made of solid gold . ) But when you add in life support and safety factors , it costs about $ 65 million to send each astronaut aboard the space shuttle , which in turn costs half a billion dollars per launch . To go to the moon would cost perhaps 10 times as much . There are some positive recommendations that Obama should keep in mind as he plots the future of the space program . • NASA needs to set concrete goals and deadlines . In the past , the space shuttle and the international space station were used to justify each other 's existence . Instead , the space program should hold the feet of the bureaucracies and corporations to the fire . Having a tangible vision of the future , with a clear destination and mission , will hold planners accountable , give a sharp focus to the objectives of the space program and cut waste . • NASA has to abandon its cost-plus model , where it guarantees its contractors a profit beyond the cost . This model is unsustainable -- the tail wagging the dog . It 's an open invitation for bureaucracies and corporations to pad their budgets , rather than operate as efficiently as possible . • NASA has to inspire competition and innovation . The Hubble Space Telescope and the robotic missions to the planets have been a shining beacon for research based on goals set by scientists instead of the narrow priorities of bureaucracies and politicians . • NASA has to fund risky , out-of-the-box propulsion systems -- besides the expensive chemical rockets that are used now -- to help drive down the cost of space travel . A lot of a rocket 's fuel goes into lifting itself into orbit , which is a waste . Ground-based laser and microwave beams , for example , can vaporize water contained in a rocket , which is then shot out the other end , so only the payload goes into space , not the fuel . As he speaks to aerospace workers , the president should frame this moment as an opportunity to redesign the space program . The key is to maintain the U.S. as the leader in innovation , ideas and progress , because science is ultimately the engine of prosperity . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Michio Kaku .
Michio Tanaka : President Obama 's changes to space program alter vision that 's lasted for 50 years . Kaku says cuts and new priorities make some critics believe NASA 's glory years over . Obama : Program must focus on Russia until private firms can get our astronauts back in space . Kaku : NASA must improve operating procedures , innovate and set concrete goals for the future .