Space Politics
Because sometimes the most important orbit is the Beltway…
Archive for Congress
May 9, 2008 at 7:36 am · Filed under Congress
Congress is currently putting together an FY08 supplemental appropriations bill designed primarily to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, while the vast majority of the funding in the bill (over $165 billion) is devoted to the DOD, members of Congress are also tucking into the legislation a variety of non-defense provisions. If one senator has her way, those additions will include a little extra money for NASA.
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), chair of the commerce, justice, and science appropriations subcommittee, announced Thursday the Senate’s version of the bill would include $200 million for NASA. That additional funding, the release states, in intended “to help pay back the costs and restore cuts to science, aeronautics and exploration programs that were cut in order to pay for the return to flight.” There is no other information in the release regarding how the money would be allocated, and what freedom NASA would have to move the money to programs of its own choosing.
That $200 million is far short of the $1-2 billion extra space agency supporters have sought in the past couple of years and are trying to win for the FY09 budget. Also, there’s no guarantee the $200 million will make it into the final bill: the Senate Appropriations Committee delayed its markup of the supplemental a week on Thursday because of “House inaction” on its version of the bill, in the words of full committee chairman Robert Byrd. Still, an extra $200 million would hardly be unwelcome at NASA.
May 8, 2008 at 7:53 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
Wednesday’s hearing of the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee on the planned reauthorization of NASA and the Vision for Space Exploration covered familiar ground: discussion of the Shuttle-Constellation gap, the belief that NASA is being asked to do too much for too little money, worries about being dependent on the Russians, and a little bit of concern about Chinese space developments. The only senators present were the chairman, Bill Nelson (D-FL), and the ranking member, David Vitter (R-LA), who had to leave for another event partway through the hearing.
The agency’s staunchest supporter at the hearing arguably was not either senator but instead former NASA flight director Gene Kranz. He spoke strongly in favor in NASA’s current approach to implementing the Vision, heaping praise on both it and the agency’s current leadership. “This is the best game plan that I have seen since the days of President Kennedy,” Kranz said of ESAS, comparing it to the DC-3 and the B-52. “The system that Griffin’s team is putting into place will be delivering for America 50 years later… so the message I would give to you and to the US Congress is to stay the course, stay on track.”
In one of the few questions Vitter was able to ask before leaving, he asked Kranz whether the future reauthorization bill should devote any language to studies of alternatives to ESAS, citing in particular the “Jupiter-120″, a shuttle-derived concept from the Direct proposal. Kranz rejected that suggestion. “I believe it’s important that we don’t waste too much time looking back,” he said. “I have personally been a victim, and I believe NASA has been a victim, of so many studies that seem to be never-ending that burn up the resources, delay the schedule, [and] disenchant the people who are executing them.”
Later, Robert Dickman, executive director of AIAA, offered another alternative to closing the gap involving EELV. “For less than the cost a single space shuttle mission, they could be human-qualified and… a relatively simple capsule to go to low Earth orbit could be built” for access to ISS, he suggested.
Nelson pushed back on this idea, seeing it as something of a threat to Constellation. “The question is, where are we going to get the money?” Nelson asked at one point.
“Chairman, I would simply say, the same question of where you going to get the money is the question if you try to accelerate Constellation,” Dickman responded. “It’s the same dollars, it’s just the question of whether you use it to accelerate Constellation or you keep Constellation on its current path and build something that has a unique capability to haul humans to station and back.”
“I am told that the cost estimates for human-rating of an EELV range from 500 million to a billion dollars. And under this funding profile, I just don’t know where we’re going to get that,” Nelson said.
Fortunately for Nelson, Kranz stepped in and described the cost in money and schedule he experienced man-rating the Atlas and Titan for the Mercury and Gemini programs. “I don’t see how this helps close the gap,” he concluded. “All I see it, again, is as a diversion from the basic plan that you’ve got. As I said, I think you’re building the DC-3 or the B-52 and this is the right plan.”
May 7, 2008 at 7:39 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
While the attention of most people has been focused on issues like food and fuel prices, the presidential campaign, and so on, a problem has been developing that potentially could have repercussions for space policy. In the last few weeks tensions have been rising between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia over two separatist regions of Georgia. This has included reports of shooting down unmanned reconnaissance aircraft in Georgian airspace, either by the Russians or separatist groups. Yesterday the White House criticized Russia for its actions in the region in recent weeks. Russia’s envoy to NATO, meanwhile, claimed that Russia and Georgia were “very close” to war and that Georgia was to blame.
Should hostilities break out between the two countries, would it affect US-Russia cooperation on the ISS, and if so, how? Would Congress be less disposed to grant an extension to NASA’s ability to purchase Soyuz spacecraft after 2011, or put additional conditions of some kind on that capability? Or, fearing that such a move would effectively keep the US off the station until Orion or a commercial vehicle entered service, would they do nothing? Hopefully we won’t have to find out.
May 3, 2008 at 9:57 am · Filed under Congress
On Wednesday morning, May 7, the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing titled “Reauthorizing the Vision for Space Exploration”. According to the brief description on the committee web site:
The Subcommittee will consider the issues facing the upcoming reauthorization of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Subcommittee will examine challenges related to the retirement of the Space Shuttle and the transition to the new Orion/Ares system, the impending gap in U.S. human access to space, and the need to ensure a healthy and balanced research program.
The site doesn’t currently have a list of witnesses, but one of them will be George Whitesides, executive director of the National Space Society. In a message he sent to members on Friday, he asked for comments from members on “the future of the U.S. space program, its importance to the country, and the potential gap in human spaceflight capability, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle.” If you received that message and want to share the comments you sent to George with readers here, please leave them in the comments.
May 2, 2008 at 1:11 pm · Filed under Congress
The Houston Chronicle reported Friday that top Democrats in the House have effectively anointed Rep. Nick Lampson (D-TX) as the next chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee’s space subcommittee—provided Lampson wins reelection in November. Lampson previously stated that he was interested in the post, which will be open since the current subcommittee chairman, Mark Udall (D-CO), is running for the Senate.
The designation—which is no guarantee, the article stresses, but is unlikely not to be carried through—is intended to bolster Lampson’s chances for reelection in a district that is home to JSC but also leans Republican. The Chronicle reported earlier in the week that Lampson is also leading an effort to add $2 billion to NASA’s FY 2009 budget, through a letter signed by 30 House members to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. If he could pull off that feat, or even a smaller amount like the extra $1 billion sought in the Senate, and do so before the November election, that would probably improve his reelection odds a lot more than the promise of a subcommittee chairmanship.
April 29, 2008 at 7:06 am · Filed under Congress, NASA, Campaign '08
On Monday several members of Congress, including Sen. Bill Nelson and Congressmen Tom Feeney and Dave Weldon, held a “workshop” on space issues Monday in Brevard County, Florida, where people are understandably concerned about life after the space shuttle. According to Florida Today, Nelson said that his subcommittee had proposed holding a field hearing this summer to review the future of KSC but that NASA was opposed: “I’m sad to tell you, NASA has asked me not to have a meeting, because they don’t want to stir up the people.” A NASA spokesman later contacted by the paper said that the agency would support any hearing the committee held.
The Orlando Sentinel focused on another claim made by Nelson: that space could, in effect, be a key issue in the general election because of the pivotal role of Florida, and within the state, the “I-4 corridor”, including the Space Coast. “The next president is going to decide a lot [about the space program],” Nelson said. “And East-Central Florida has an opportunity to influence the next president because, at the end of the day, Florida is going to be important this November.” However, as the Republican primary this January showed, space may not nearly be as critical issue in the state or region as some supporters hope.
April 26, 2008 at 8:40 am · Filed under Congress
An AP article Saturday examines the reelection challenge Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) is facing for his House seat. Democrats have made Feeney “their top Florida target” and are playing up allegations of ethical improprieties by him. Feeney, the ranking member of the space subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee, is instead emphasizing his space experience for his district, which includes the Kennedy Space Center.
Feeney tells the AP that he is concerned that China is challenging US leadership in space, noting events like China’s ASAT test last January. It appears, though, he could use a refresher course on China’s space capabilities. “He warns that the Chinese are developing killer satellites that can attach themselves to other orbiting devices,” the article notes. However, claims that China was developing “parasitic microsatellites” were debunked a few years ago after people traced the source of the intelligence to a source with little credibility. (Perhaps Feeney will pick up some new intelligence on his current trip to China to participate in a global space forum in Beijing.)
Feeney’s Democratic opponent, Suzanne Kosmas, is focusing on issues other than space in the campaign, according to the article (her barebones campaign web site has a picture of a shuttle launch on it, but that’s it for space-related content.) The article indicates that at least some people in the district will factor in space into their voting decisions. “It’s going to kill this town,” one Titusville resident tells the AP, speaking of the shuttle’s impending retirement. “This town pretty much lives for the space shuttle.” It’s not clear Feeney would be able to do much about that: while he is a cosponsor of Rep. Dave Weldon’s shuttle extension legislation (HR 4837), he has talked recently about the need to shorten the post-shuttle gap by accelerating work on Constellation rather than keeping the shuttle flying after 2010.
April 25, 2008 at 7:45 am · Filed under Congress, Campaign '08
Friday’s Orlando Sentinel reports that senator and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has introduced legislation designed to support the Arecibo radio observatory in Puerto Rico. The giant radio telescope is in danger of closing because of budget pressures on the National Science Foundation’s astronomy programs, much to the consternation of astronomers who use the facility for a variety of applications, including tracking near Earth objects.
The Sentinel article plays up the timing of Clinton’s legislation, introduced last week: the commonwealth will hold a primary on June 1, one of the last of campaign. “Arecibo has been in peril for a while now,” a co-director of Barack Obama’s Puerto Rico campaign told the paper. “The timing is more than suspect.” Clinton does have a legitimate case in introducing the legislation, since the observatory is run by Cornell University in New York state, but her Senate office didn’t explain why the bill was introduced now.
One thing the Sentinel article missed, though, is that Clinton’s bill, S. 2862, is effectively word-for-word identical to HR 3737, a bill introduced last October by Luis Fortuño, the commonwealth’s non-voting representative, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). (A press release issued by Clinton’s Senate office does note that a “similar” bill was introduced in the House, and includes a quote from Fortuño.) HR 3737 was assigned to the House Science and Technology Committee, which has not acted on the bill; the Senate, interestingly, sent S. 2862 to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and not the Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee.
April 24, 2008 at 6:07 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
As noted here earlier, the space subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee is holding a hearing on the ISS this morning. While it’s not specifically mentioned in the hearing charter, one would expect that committee members would ask NASA’s Bill Gerstenmaier some questions about the Soyuz reentry Saturday that experienced what may be significant problems, especially since NASA is now asking Congress to extend its authority to purchase Soyuz flights beyond 2011.
The Orlando Sentinel reported yesterday that at least one member of Congress is seriously concerned about the Soyuz problem. “I don’t know how to reliably interpret everything they [NASA] are telling me about things like this,” Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) told the paper. Weldon, of course, is pushing a bill to keep the shuttle flying after 2010.
The Sentinel article also notes that county commissioners in Brevard County, Florida (home to Cape Canaveral and KSC) “passed a resolution saying ‘resources to be spent on procuring Russian Soyuz#8230; would best be devoted to the development and procurement of domestic crew and cargo logistic capabilities.’” (The county board’s minutes aren’t available this morning.) Not that the Brevard County board has much influence on affairs in Washington…
April 20, 2008 at 1:46 pm · Filed under Congress, NASA
The space subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee is holding a hearing this Thursday morning on “NASA’s International Space Station Program: Status and Issues”. The rather crowded list of witnesses:
- Mr. William Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator, Space Operations Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Ms. Cristina T. Chaplain, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management, Government Accountability Office
- Dr. Edward P. Knipling, Administrator, Agricultural Research Service, Department of Agriculture
- Dr. Cheryl Nickerson, Associate Professor of Life Sciences, Arizona State University
- Mr. Thomas Pickens, III, President and CEO, Spacehab, Inc.
- Dr. Louis Stodieck, Director, BioServe Space Technologies and Aerospace Engineering Science, University of Colorado at Boulder
- Dr. Jeffrey Sutton, Director, National Space Biomedical Research Institute
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