Space Politics
Because sometimes the most important orbit is the Beltway…
Archive for March, 2010
March 16, 2010 at 6:31 am · Filed under Congress, Lobbying, NASA, White House
The big effort in the House this week is to pass a health care reform bill, but that doesn’t mean that space can’t figure into the mix. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) brought up the subject in a meeting with President Obama last Thursday. The president if trying to secure Kosmas’s vote on health care (she voted against the original bill last year), but “Kosmas frequently pivoted the conversation to NASA” during the short meeting, according to an unnamed congressional Democrat.
Another politician who is going to be talking about NASA in Washington this week is Houston Mayor Annise Parker. She plans to meet with local members of Congress, NASA administrator Charles Bolden, and White House advisor Valerie Jarrett, among others, during the two-day visit, with a particular emphasis on trying to save Constellation. “I don’t know what the best plan is for going back to space, for continuing human spaceflight,” she told the Houston Chronicle. “I want to ensure that we are and remain one of the centers of human spaceflight.” She fears a loss of 7,000 jobs in the Houston area and economic losses of over $500 million should the cancellation of Constellation go through.
Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL) is also worried about Constellation, and concerned that NASA is already working to end the program and start the new plan despite legislation that prevents the agency from terminating Constellation or initiating new exploration programs this fiscal year. He and 15 other House members have asked the GAO to investigate NASA’s activities since the unveiling of the FY11 budget proposal to see if NASA is in violation of that law. “While the word contract does not appear in the bill language (it is in the report language), this question naturally occurs: to what extent can planned contracts be canceled, suspended, or slowed and the agency still be considered to have not terminated the program?” the GAO letter asks.
March 15, 2010 at 12:17 pm · Filed under Congress, NASA, Other
Well, not really, but it’s close. On Thursday afternoon the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee is planning a hearing titled “Assessing Commercial Space Capabilities”. The witness list and other hearing details haven’t been published on the committee web site as of midday Monday, but this appears to be the hearing Sen. Nelson referred to in his floor speech last week “to look at the commercial rocket competitors and whether they need the $6 billion the President has recommended over the next 5 years in order for them to get humans to and from the International Space Station.”
It’s not the only event this week with implications for commercial space and related policy issues. The local AIAA chapter is hosting a luncheon Thursday with George Nield, associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the FAA, as the speaker. Also this week is the Satellite 2010 commercial satellite industry trade show at National Harbor, just south of the District. Among other events at the conference is a session titled “ITAR 2010 and Beyond: Will Obama Make Changes?” on Wednesday afternoon, exploring the prospects for export control reform. On Tuesday the Washington Space Business Roundtable will be hosting a luncheon at the conference with NASA administrator Charles Bolden as the keynote speaker.
March 12, 2010 at 7:04 am · Filed under Congress, NASA, White House
Speaking at the annual conference of the Ex-Im Bank in Washington on Thursday, President Obama announced that a new proposal for reforming export control policies—the bane of the commercial space industry in the US for a decade now—is in the works:
Finally, we’re working to reform our Export Control System for our strategic, high-tech industries, which will strengthen our national security. What we want to do is concentrate our efforts on enforcing controls on the export of our most critical technologies, making America safer while enhancing the competitiveness of key American industries. We’ve conducted a broad review of the Export Control System, and Secretary [of Defense Robert] Gates will outline our reform proposal within the next couple of weeks.
NASA is also involved in the export control reform effort, deputy administrator Lori Garver said Wednesday at the Goddard Memorial Symposium. “This is an administration-led issue,” she said in response to a question on ITAR. “We are trying to get all the data we can about the kinds of things that ITAR restrictions have kept us from doing that have actually led to this nation being less secure rather than more.” She said that most people in the industry acknowledge that ITAR has been a “hindrance” to companies as well as organizations trying to cooperate with international partners on space projects. “NASA is one of the reasons why ITAR needs to be reformed, but not the only one. This is an administration-led activity we are active participants in.”
At the same time there are still efforts in Congress to pass legislation to enact reforms, such as HR 2410, the State Department authorization bill the House passed last year and is currently sitting in the Senate. “We do believe there will be legislative fixes as well, as we work with the Hill,” Garver added. “But right now we’re working on this administration effort.”
March 11, 2010 at 7:25 am · Filed under NASA
On the recently hot topic of shuttle extension, I recommend that people review the comments to yesterday’s post on the topic, where shuttle program manager John Shannon has provided his insights to clarify what’s been reported on the topic. In addition, David Radzanowski, deputy associate administrator for program intergration in the Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD), discussed shuttle extension during a panel session at yesterday’s Goddard Memorial Symposium in Greentbelt, Maryland, alongside the heads of the Aeronautics, Science, and Exploration Systems directorates.
“SOMD believes that if the nation told us to extend the space shuttle, we could do it technically,” he said. “But the reality is that we can do anything if we’re given enough money and enough workforce.” He said that “enough money” would be “well over $2.5 billion a year” to keep flying the shuttle. “That additional money would probably have to come from their directorates,” he said, referring to his fellow panelists. “It’s highly unlikely in the budget environment that we’re in that we’re going to get additional dollars.”
He also noted that not everyone agreed that flying the shuttle beyond the remaining four missions was wise. “Our own Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has essentially said that they don’t support extending the shuttle beyond its current manifest. Essentially they said that the point to make the decision to extend the shuttle has passed.”
“If we’re directed to do so, and if the money actaully shows up, and if we bring the workforce and the suppliers onboard that we need to move forward, there would still be a two- to three-year gap between the last flight and the new additional flights,” he concluded. “That’s just the way it is, folks, that’s the way it is because it takes us that long to build an external tank.”
March 11, 2010 at 6:16 am · Filed under Congress
Yesterday Reps. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) and Bill Posey (R-FL) introduced the “Human Spaceflight Capability Assurance and Protection Act”, which they called the companion version to legislation introduced by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) last week. The text of the legislation isn’t posted yet, but the summary included in Kosmas’s press release covers the major issues in the Senate version, including supporting a shuttle extension, encouraging commercial crew vehicle development, support development of a heavy-lift launcher, and include authorization for NASA funding for 2011 and 2012.
“By continuing to fly the Shuttle until the next generation space vehicle is ready to launch, we can continue to operate our space program without interruption, the loss of highly skilled American jobs or ceding ground to Russia or China,” Rep. Posey said in his statement. “Shuttle extension is the only way to close the gap in the near-term and with certainty.”
Besides Kosmas and Posey, 12 other members of Congress have signed on to co-sponsor the bill, primarily from Florida, with a scattering from Texas, Ohio, and Louisiana (and a couple outliers: Jim Costa (D-CA), whose district covers part of the Central Valley including parts of Fresno and Bakersfield; and Chellie Pingree (D-ME)). Notably missing from the list of cosponsors is the Democratic and Republican leadership of the House Science and Technology Committee, including chairman Bart Gordon and ranking member Ralph Hall as well as and space subcommittee chair Gabrielle Giffords and ranking member Pete Olson.
March 10, 2010 at 11:17 pm · Filed under NASA, White House
One of the biggest questions in the space community right now is what’s behind the White House’s decision on Sunday to hold a space conference featuring President Obama in Florida on April 15: why hold the conference, and what do they expect to get out of it, among other issues. NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver briefly addressed this after her prepared remarks at the Goddard Memorial Symposium Wednesday in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“When the Augustine Committee reported out last fall and it became more and more clear that change was absolutely necessary for NASA and our community to have a vital future, it was always clear that the president was going to take a personal role in that future,” she said, “and this is just the opportunity he’s choosing to do that.”
She also defended the process by which the new plan for the agency was rolled out as part of the FY2011 budget proposal. “That’s how our leadership in this administration makes the big decisions,” she said. “People who expressed concern that this is not the president’s plan struck me as rather odd given that this was in the president’s budget.” As for the lack of statements from the president about the new plan to date, she noted, “Think of the nation’s budget and how many things the president can talk about in the short period of time—less than a month and a half—since the budget came out.”
“This is something that we absolutely recognize is adopted at the highest levels of the administration going forward,” she continued, “and they knew this was a major shift. You don’t do major shifts without feeling strongly about it, and the president feels strongly enough about it to personally participate in a public way. He’s been personally participating in the last few months’ deliberations on the budget.”
As for the conference itself, there will be more details about the event coming out from the White House, she said, although not saying when those details will be released.
March 10, 2010 at 10:22 pm · Filed under Congress, NASA
On Thursday six members of the House, all Republicans, wil hold a press conference at the Capitol to ask NASA administrator Charles Bolden to conduct a study in advance of next month’s presidential space conference. Here’s how the event is described in a release late today from one of the six participating members, John Culberson of Texas:
Tomorrow Congressmen Frank Wolf (R-VA), John Culberson (R-TX), Pete Olson (R-TX), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Bill Posey (R-FL) will host a press conference calling on Administrator Bolden to explain how he plans to save the manned space program.
In light of the many questions surrounding the president’s budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Exploration Program, Congressman Frank Wolf, Ranking Member on the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee on Appropriations and Congressmen John Culberson, Pete Olson, Rob Bishop, Michael McCaul and Bill Posey will call on NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to appoint a team of NASA experts to review how exploration spacecraft and launch vehicle development and testing may be maintained within the proposed budget request to ensure uninterrupted, independent U.S. human space flight access to the International Space Station and beyond. The team should report back within 30 days in order to provide the administration and Congress with this necessary information – before the President’s space summit in Florida on April 15.
It’s difficult to see NASA responding to this request in a positive manner (particularly with rhetoric like “save the manned space program”). Hopefully the members will explain their logic in more detail at the press conference, scheduled for noon Thursday at the Capitol Visitor Center. (I won’t be able to attend, as I’ll be at the Goddard Memorial Symposium in Greenbelt.)
March 10, 2010 at 6:16 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
The retirement of the shuttle, which not long ago appeared to be a largely settled issue, seems a little less so now. Last week Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) introduced legislation that would at least study extending the shuttle for up to five more years at up to two missions a year; companion legislation is expected to be introduced in the House this week by Reps. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) and Bill Posey (R-FL). And yesterday shuttle program manager John Shannon said the agency was studying whether such an extension was possible given the need to restart supply lines for building additional external tanks. Extending the shuttle would cost about $2.4 billion, he said. Shannon’s comments stand in contrast to what NASA deputy administrator said last week, when she said the time for extending the shuttle “had come and gone”. However, both agree that if there was a significant shuttle extension there would be a gap of two years in shuttle flights because of the need to ramp up tank production again.
In a speech on the Senate floor Monday Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) addressed a potential minor shuttle extension, among many other space policy topics. He recommended adding one additional shuttle mission, the “rescue” shuttle that would be held in reserve if there was a problem on the last currently-scheduled shuttle flight, to carry additional equipment and supplies to the International Space Station. “The risk to safety is minimal on a fifth shuttle flight,” he said. “The President should announce he is asking NASA to do that fifth flight.” Nelson didn’t address any further extension of the shuttle.
Nelson also blamed the strong negative reaction to NASA’s new plan in some quarters to poor decisions by White House advisors. “Unfortunately, some of his [President Obama's] advisers have not given him correct information about how to lay out his vision,” he said. And later: “The President let himself be misinterpreted.” In one case, planned heavy-lift launch technology and development, he specifically blamed OMB:
There came the disconnect because people who do not understand the space program were making decisions. I lay it at the feet of some of the folks in OMB, the Office of Management and Budget. If you are going to build a heavy-lift vehicle, the likelihood is you cannot do that entirely with liquid rockets; you need solid rockets to propel that massive weight up into low Earth orbit. The solid rockets are what we are testing now. Thus, the President allowed his administration to be perceived that they were killing the manned space program when, in fact, there was nothing further from what he intended.
One wonders what Wernher von Braun would have thought of the claim that you “need” solid-propellant boosters to do heavy lift.
Nelson added his space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee would hold a hearing in a couple of weeks “to look at the commercial rocket competitors and whether they need the $6 billion the President has recommended over the next 5 years in order for them to get humans to and from the International Space Station.”
March 9, 2010 at 7:28 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) hasn’t changed his mind about NASA’s new direction, one that cancels Constellation and seeks to develop commercial systems to transport crews to and from low Earth orbit. He does realize, though, that he has a challenge in front of him: convincing fellow members of Congress that don’t think much about space to join him in blocking the plan. “Of course we have that with delegations from the five or so states that have an interest in NASA, but it is getting the other 45 states to care that’s the trick,” he told the Huntsville Times. And in a separate Monday in Huntsville, he said, “We’ve got to create critical mass.” How he plans to create that “critical mass” among members who don’t think much about space wasn’t discussed.
In his meeting with the Times Shelby reiterated his opposition to supporting commercial ventures to launch astronauts. “We have a space industry already. We build rockets right here in North Alabama. It makes no sense to enter into business with unproven companies.” That statement is a little odd since United Launch Alliance, a company that does build rockets in North Alabama, is one company that has expressed an interest in launching crewed spacecraft.
Shelby also confirmed that he met briefly last week with NASA administrator Charles Bolden, a courtesy call that lasted only 10-12 minutes, Shelby said. “He came up to sell me on a program to dismantle Constellation,” Shelby said. “I respect General Bolden as a military leader and an astronaut, but we disagree fundamentally on NASA.”
Elsewhere in the Senate, Jon Cornyn (R-TX) expressed optimism that the proposed plan would be defeated. “I think we’re going to have the votes to beat” the plan, he told the Houston Chronicle. “This is an area where the president is going to receive a substantial bipartisan pushback.”
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) hopes President Obama tweaks his new plan for NASA at the April 15 space conference planned for Florida. That includes making the plan look a little more traditional, specifying a specific goal and deadline for human exploration, as well as continuing heavy-lift launch vehicle development, according to Florida Today. Nelson, though, isn’t supportive of proposals to extend the life of the shuttle by more than a modest amount, noting there would be downtime of two years or more in order to build additional components needed for those missions. “If you had to wait around for another two-and-a-half years to assemble those parts, and you’re spending $2 billion a year sitting on the ground that’s not going into the development of the new heavy lift rocket to go to Mars, is that a wise use of resources by NASA?”
March 7, 2010 at 11:27 am · Filed under Congress, Lobbying
Place this in the “politics makes for strange bedfellows” file: today’s Baltimore Sun reports on an interesting source of fundraising for Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), chair of the appropriations subcommittee with oversight of NASA’s budget, who is running for reelection this year. The article notes that the Huntsville metro area is fourth in donating to her campaign, behind Baltimore, Washington DC, and New York (although a look at the data itself shows that Huntsville is a distant fourth, particularly when compared to the Baltimore and Washington metro areas, which dominate.)
That people and organizations in the Huntsville area would contribute to Mikulski’s campaign is itself not surprising, given her powerful position within the appropriations committee to alter the budget of an agency, NASA, which plays a major role in that city’s economy. It’s also not surprising that “Alabama business and industry leaders” held a fundraising breakfast for Mikulski last fall in Huntsville less than a week after the release of the final report of the Augustine Committee. What is a little more surprising is the person who reportedly played a role in that event’s success: Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), ranking member of Mikulski’s subcommittee. While Shelby’s spokesman said that the senator didn’t help organize the fundraiser, he “worked behind the scenes to make sure the event was a success”, according to the Sun, which calls this “an extremely unusual example of fundraising cooperation across party lines”.
Mikulski and Shelby have a long record of working together, the article notes, and her trip to Huntsville last October was not the first fundraiser that she has held there during her time in the Senate. It does come, though, as Congress debates the shift in NASA’s direction the White House has proposed in its FY2011 budget, one that has not gone over well in Huntsville as it calls for canceling Constellation, including the Ares 1 and 5 rockets. She has been quiet about the plan so far other than a letter to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) last month saying that any new NASA plan should be “mission driven” and expressing concerns about the NASA workforce. That silence will be broken for certain later this month when her subcommittee holds a hearing about the NASA budget proposal.
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