NASA’s new mission ”“ as outlined in President Obama’s budget request ”“ has apparently survived its encounter with Congress.
Just before adjournment last week, the House authorized $58 billion for the space agency over the next three years. This bill, a compromise that passed earlier in the Senate, accepts the space policy outlined earlier this year by the president. For instance, it accommodates the administration’s intention of relying on commercial contractors to come up with an efficient system for ferrying equipment and personnel into orbit.
It also implements the long-standing plan for the retirement of the space shuttle fleet. And it accepts the administration’s decision to cancel Constellation, an ambitious but underfunded space exploration program.
But compromises added by Congress will delay NASA’s change of course. The bill provides for one additional space shuttle flight that will divert about $500 million from other NASA priorities. The legislation also provides a lifeline to some contractors by preserving elements of the Constellation program.
Congress called for work to continue on the Orion crew capsule that was to be Constellation’s vehicle for space travel. And it ordered NASA to develop a heavy-lift rocket by 2015. As a New York Times editorial observed last week, these specifications make it likely that NASA’s rocket scientists won’t begin anew, but will return to the designs developed for Constellation’s Ares rockets.
The administration’s intention to make NASA more streamlined and cost-effective may have survived, but it remains to be seen whether the agency will be able to muster the resources to satisfy both the president and Congress.
— Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Nick Cowenhoven at nickc@journaltribune.com.
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