Space Politics
Because sometimes the most important orbit is the Beltway…
Archive for June, 2008
June 26, 2008 at 7:10 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
The full House Appropriations Committee approved yesterday the Commerce, Justice, and Science funding bill, which includes $17.8 billion for NASA. The text of the legislation is not available online yet, and a press release about the bill offers only a few details. The press release does include one ambiguous statement: “Requires NASA report to Congress the full costs of retiring the Space Shuttle by November 2009, and 2 shuttle flights to complete work on the international space station before NASA can retire the Space Shuttle.” Are they talking about retiring the shuttle by November 2009 (a year ahead of schedule), or simply a report due by November 2009? Of course, it may be a moot point depending on how the appropriations process plays out this year.
June 26, 2008 at 7:04 am · Filed under Congress, White House
That’s a direct quote from an unusual op-ed in Thursday’s Orlando Sentinel penned by two former senators—Jake Garn and John Glenn—and current senator Bill Nelson. The three say they don’t know for certain why the White House has failed to provide the appropriate guidance and funding needed to implement the Vision, “though we suspect it can be explained by Bush not knowing all the facts about what the real impact of NASA’s annual budgets has been since the loss of the Columbia in 2003.”
And what doesn’t Bush know? The three believe he’s not aware that NASA has not been reimbursed for the costs returning the shuttle to service after the Columbia accident, forced to come up with the $2.8 billion by raiding other programs. They believe Bush doesn’t know that the budget requests for the Vision his administration has submitted “have been on average a half-a-billion per year less than he projected” when the Vision was unveiled in 2004. He may also be unaware, they claim, that his directive in his 2004 speech about the Vision calling for completing the station and then retiring the shuttle by 2010 “has been turned into a mandate to end the shuttle program in 2010, whether or not the space station is finished.” (See some earlier discussion on differing interpretations of this deadline.) And, they say, Bush isn’t aware his budgets are creating a five-year gap in “U.S. human-spaceflight capability” (correct only if we exclude any US commercial alternatives that may arise during the Shuttle-Constellation interregnum.)
Fortunately, Congress is coming to the rescue because it “knows what it seems that Bush doesn’t” and is pressing ahead with authorization legislation that addresses many of these issues. (The op-ed ignores that current versions of appropriations bills are funding NASA at levels much lower than what is authorized—and the situation may only get worse if legislative gridlock forces NASA and other federal agencies to spend a significant part of FY2009 on a continuing resolution.) “Congress should reject the administration’s position on the NASA reauthorization bill, because to accept it is to surrender America’s leadership in space exploration” when other countries, including everyone’s favorite bogeyman, China, “are waiting in the wings”.
June 25, 2008 at 1:01 pm · Filed under Campaign '08, Congress
The Committee for the Advocacy of Space Exploration, which was established a couple months ago as a PAC “devoted to the promotion of a robust American space program”, has issued its first endorsements of the 2008 campaign. The group has formally endorsed the reelection of Reps. Nick Lampson (D-TX) and Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), both members of the House Science and Technology Committee.
In its statement, the committee noted that both Lampson and his Republican opponent, Pete Olson, are strong supporters of space. however, the fact that Lampson is in line to take over as chairman of the space subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee gave him the edge because he “will be in a much stronger position to positively influence space policy than Olson would be.” Giffords, a freshman perhaps best known as being the wife of NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, is also “a champion of the space program”, in the words of the committee; moreover, her opponent, Tim Bee, “has not demonstrated any particular interest in space exploration as an issue”.
June 25, 2008 at 7:23 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
In a very brief markup session Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee approved its version of a NASA authorization bill for fiscal year 2009. The full text of the legislation isn’t posted yet (nor is even a bill number provided), but the press release does confirm one key provision that would prevent NASA from retiring the shuttle in 2010 if there were still missions left on the manifest, and also report to Congress on what would be needed to recertify the shuttle to fly beyond 2010. The bill also authorizes an additional $150 million, above and beyond the $20.2 billion in the House version of the bill, for development of a commercial crew transfer vehicle (the House contained similar language, but included the $100-million authorization within the $20.2 billion for the agency overall.) Given that appropriators don’t feel inclined to fund NASA at anywhere near that level, and apparently even take money away from COTS, that provision is little more than academic.
June 24, 2008 at 7:50 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
The Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to markup its version of a NASA authorization bill, among other non-space legislation, during a session this afternoon. There aren’t many details about the legislation itself: the hearing notice doesn’t even include a bill number for the authorization bill. CQPolitics reported yesterday that the bill will be similar to what the House approved last week, which is what Sen. Bill Nelson, chairman of the committee’s space subcommittee, said in remarks last month. There may be one key difference, though:
According to a Senate Democratic aide, the draft also contains language that would prevent NASA from retiring the shuttle fleet in 2010 if scheduled missions remain on its flight manifest. The administration decided to retire the shuttle fleet in 2010 and develop a new craft that could take astronauts farther into space.
The aide said the measure would require NASA to report on the steps, costs and schedule for recertifying the shuttle fleet beyond 2010 if that becomes necessary.
The House version, HR 6063, contained language not nearly as strong as what this article suggests: while it added a mission to fly the ISS, it states that the shuttle will be retired after completing that and the other missions on its manifest, “events that are anticipated to occur in 2010.” The House version also contains no language about shuttle recertification. Given that the White House had a strong negative response to the addition of the AMS shuttle flight in the House version, this language will likely provoke a similar, perhaps even stronger, response—perhaps even a veto threat?
June 23, 2008 at 7:59 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
The space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee is holding a field hearing today in Florida on the future of the shuttle workforce at the Kennedy Space Center. Actually, though, only one member of the committee is expected to be in attendance: subcommittee chairman Bill Nelson (D-FL), although Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), who is not a member of the commerce committee, will also be in attendance. The hearing it split into two panels, one featuring top NASA officials, including administrator Mike Griffin, and one with state and local officials.
There is, of course, a lot of concern in Florida’s Space Coast region about their future with the retirement of the space shuttle and estimates that over 6,000 jobs could be lost during the transition to Constellation. “Sen. Nelson wants to hear from NASA whether they have any plans in place to help mitigate the (job) losses,” a Nelson spokesman told Florida Today. “He wants to know (if they are) planning on transferring any work to Kennedy Space Center to help minimize those losses.” (Such transfers would seemingly result in job losses at other centers, raising the ire of other members of Congress, but this side effect isn’t explored in the article.)
In addition to the hearing, an organization called Link to Launch is planning a rally this morning outside the hearing site to “provide a visual, high-profile opportunity for people to unite and show lawmakers the importance of space to our community.” Rally organizers told Florida Today that they’re hoping for 6,400 attendees, one for each job projected to be lost. The timing makes that estimate perhaps a bit optimistic: given that the rally takes place during normal working hours, it will be a challenge to get that core audience—people who have shuttle-related jobs and are worried about losing them—to attend. (One solution: bring the whole family, according to the Link to Launch web site. “We HIGHLY encourage you to bring family, friends, church members or anyone else interested. Children are very important to this event as they represent our future of the Space Program.” [capitalization in original])
June 19, 2008 at 10:12 pm · Filed under Congress, NASA
In a press release Thursday, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), chair of the appropriations subcommittee whose jurisdiction includes NASA, confirms that she would again seek a billion-dollar increase in NASA’s budget above the $17.8-billion budget her subcommittee approved on Wednesday (and which the full appropriations committee also apparently approved Thursday, although there’s no announcement about it on the committee web site.) Mikulski made a similar statement earlier this year, when her subcommittee first held hearings on NASA appropriations. “I am committed to restoring NASA’s budget to ensure the continued safety of our astronauts, and to supporting the critical programs that are the hallmarks of their success,” she said in her statement.
This will be the third time she has sought to bypass the regular appropriations process by offering an amendment for additional funding to be considered by the full Senate, an effort known as the “Mikulski Miracle”. Two years ago the Senate never took up the appropriations bill, and NASA and other agencies ended up with a year-long continuing resolution. Last year the Senate did approve the amendment, but the extra billion was lost in conference committee. Will the third time be the charm?
As for the regular appropriations bill itself, the details have not been released yet. Mikulski’s statement did include a few top-level details:
The bill fully funds the President’s budget request for Space Shuttle operations ($3 billion) and Space Station operations ($2 billion). The bill also provides $2.9 billion for development of the next generation Crew Launch Vehicle and Crew Exploration Vehicle. The bill provides $4.5 billion for NASA’s science programs and $500 million for aeronautics research.
June 19, 2008 at 9:05 am · Filed under Campaign '08, States
New Mexico governor Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign sputtered out earlier this year, but the campaign found at least one alternative use for the money it raised. The Las Cruces Sun-News reported Thursday that the campaign donated $10,000 to efforts to get a spaceport sales tax approved in Sierra County, New Mexico, in April. That donation was the single largest contribution to “People for Aerospace”, the group that spearheaded the pro-spaceport tax effort; the group raised about $105,000 overall. “He was a supporter,” Gary Whitehead, chairman of People for Aerospace, told the Sun-News. “It’s been kind of his project and he certainly wanted it to be successful and he was willing to invest in the success of the election.” Voters in Sierra County approved the tax by a two-to-one margin in April.
June 18, 2008 at 8:26 pm · Filed under Congress, NASA
The House of Representatives finally formally voted on HR 6063, the NASA Authorization Act of 2008, late Wednesday afternoon. After carrying out some roll call votes on a couple of non-controversial amendments and beating back a motion, along party lines, to recommit the bill to the science committee because it didn’t contain language on use of alternative fuels (an amendment that was proposed but rejected by the full committee earlier this month), the full bill was passed by the House on a 409-15 vote. All 15 nays came from Republicans, including former presidential candidates Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo, as well as former House Science Committee chairman James Sensenbrenner.
Both the Democrats and Republicans on the science committee congratulated the House on the wide margin of approval. The Senate has yet to introduce its own version of the bill, although Sen. Bill Nelson, who chairs the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, said last month that the Senate’s version would be “as similar as possible” to HR 6063.
June 18, 2008 at 1:09 pm · Filed under Congress, NASA
The Commerce, Justice, and Science subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an appropriations bill Wednesday that includes $17.8 billion for NASA, Space News reports [subscription required]. The details of the bill haven’t been disclosed yet, although the topline figure is similar to what the subcommittee’s counterpart in the House approved last week. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), chair of the subcommittee, issued a brief statement about the bill, mentioning only NASA’s total, and that full details about the bill and its provisions will be released when the full committee takes up the bill tomorrow.
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