If the new Congress wants a domestic alternative to Progress and Soyuz, then the new Congress has to fund COTS and CCDev. Besides the COTS and CCDev performers, there is no U.S. alternative to Soyuz for crew transport and Progress/ATV/HTV for cargo transport.

Orion has no LV, has requirements that are up in the air, is at least several years from first flight, and is too expensive for ISS support. MPCV and SLS are undefined and are likely unexecutable within the requirements, schedule, and budget constraints (which are only going to get tougher) imposed by NASA’s last authorization act.

At this point, it’s not a question of whether the commercial intent of the policy is followed. It’s a question of whether the U.S. wants a domestic human space transport capability within the next few years or not.

FWIW…

Sorry, but that’s not true. CR anomalies are common. Here’s a list of anomalies that went into the current CR.

lasg.org/CMRR/CR_anomaly_list.pdf

On page 6, there’s one for NASA that transfers $100 million from NASA to Commerce, Labor, and the FAA to help offset Shuttle job losses:

“NASA, Transfer to DOC, DOL, and FAA to Spur Regional Economic Growth and Job Creation

Sec. ___. From amounts provided to “National Aeronautics and Space Administration—Exploration” or to “National Aeronautics and Space Administration—Space Operations” under section 101, $35,000,000 shall be transferred to “Economic Development Assistance Programs, Economic Development Administration”, Department of Commerce, to spur regional economic growth in the area around the Kennedy Space Center; $5,000,000 shall be transferred to “Operations, Federal Aviation Administration”, Department of Transportation, for commercial space activities; and up to $45,000,000 shall be transferred to “Economic Development Assistance Programs, Economic Development Administration”, Department of Commerce, to spur regional economic growth in other areas affected by job losses associated with programmatic changes in the “National Aeronautics and Space Administration—Exploration” account or in the “National Aeronautics and Space Administration—Space Operations” account; and up to $15,000,000 shall be transferred to “Training and Employment Services, Employment and Training Administration”, Department of Labor, for job training activities in other areas affected by job losses associated with programmatic changes in the “National Aeronautics and Space Administration—Exploration” account or the “National Aeronautics and Space Administration—Space Operations” account.

Language is needed to make up to $100 million available at the beginning of FY 2011 to help soften the impact of job layoffs associated with Shuttle retirement. Although the final Space Shuttle flight will not occur until February 2011 at the earliest, NASA’s workforce transition, retirement, and disposition plans continue to result in workers being laid off as the Shuttle components production is closed down. This anomaly request permits a transfer of CR funding from NASA’s Exploration and Space Operations accounts to the Departments of Commerce (DOC) and Labor (DOL) to spur regional economic growth and job creation, and to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for commercial space activities. Many of the activities supported by this CR anomaly will be occurring along the Florida Space Coast, but other regions impacted by the Shuttle retirement will also benefit.”

FWIW…

This morning’s Florida Today has an article about a scientist proposing NASA fund a one-way human space flight to Mars:

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20101115/NEWS02/101115032/1007/Scientists+propose+one-way+trips+to+Mars

Why is it that the people who want massive human colonies on the Moon and Mars demand the taxpayers finance their personal wet dreams?!

Sad reality check.

A question to you smart folks out there; “Eventually the National Space Policy has to be implemented, do you think a GOPer Congress will have to keep commercial space flight funded since it’s an integral part of the policy?”

Let’s see – R&D = Research and Development …. So NASA should just do R&? Ahhhh…. Rand!

Sorry, too good an opportunity to resist!

Per the latest report, the JWST overruns are due to bad budget estimates at program confirmation, not changes the JWST budget.

Alex: “… isn’t there a way to pass a CR that directs where FY10-level funds go (i.e. no more money on 5-seg), rather than a CR that is simply FY10 to the letter?”

CRs usually contain “anomalies” that can be higher or lower than the FY10 levels.

FWIW…