A bipartisan group of 30 representatives is urging the House leadership to add $2 billion in funding for NASA, with a primary goal of closing the five-year gap in U.S. manned space flight capability between the planned retirement of the space shuttles and the Ares-Orion replacement system. That jump in President Bush's request of $17.6 billion is twice the increase being sought by key space supporters in the Senate. The 26 Democrats and four Republicans signed a letter to Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader Boehner, their top deputies and Appropriations Chairman David Obey and ranking member Jerry Lewis, asking that the additional funds be included either in a second economic stimulus package or the emergency war supplemental.
"Investing these much-needed resources in NASA will reimburse the agency for funds spent on return-to-flight expenses following the Columbia disaster and repairs needed following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," the letter said. "In addition, those funds will help close the gap between the shuttle and the Constellation programs to minimize our dependence on Russia." The letter was initiated by Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, whose Houston-area district is heavily dependent on the manned space program. He was joined by 11 other Texans, mainly from the Houston region, and 18 others from California, Florida and other areas with interest in the space program. Most of the signers are members of the House Science Committee, including Science Chairman Bart Gordon and Science Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairman Mark Udall, D-Colo.
The letter highlighted the huge economic impact of the aerospace industry on the nation and the now-projected five-year period in which America's only means to get astronauts to the International Space Station would be the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Concern over dependence on the Russians has increased after the last Soyuz capsule returning from the space station landed dangerously hard and 200 miles off course. NASA plans to retire the space shuttles in 2010 but does not expect the Constellation system, consisting of the Orion manned space capsule and Ares launch vehicle, to be operational before 2015. Senate Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.; Senate Commerce Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairman Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who is on both the Appropriations and Commerce committees, have been seeking a $1 billion increase in NASA funding to compensate for the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia and hurricane damages.
This article appeared in the Saturday, May 3, 2008 edition of National Journal Daily.
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