Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Yesterday the House of Representatives Appropriations Committees Subcommittee on Commerce Justice & Science released their FY 2011 Appropriations bill. In it the subcommittee agreed to accept the NASA funding increase included in the Presidents proposed budget but did not take a position on changing the agencys course.
This is a significant accomplishment for supporters of NASAs current human spaceflight program which would have been cut losing thousands of highly skilled jobs and jeopardized Americas leadership role in space.
I am very pleased that Chairman Mollohan and the CJS Appropriations Subcommittee have recognized that the President cannot change NASAs human space exploration program through budgetary proposal" Rep. Gene Green (TX-29) said.
Congress must authorize the direction of our space program" said Green.
In his opening statement in the markup of the subcommittees FY11 appropriations bill Chairman Alan Mollohan (WV-01) stated that the subcommittee has no position on the
proposed new direction but that Any major change to the direction of the Nations space program should come through an authorization passed by Congress and signed into law by the President."
I will continue to work with the Administration on a compromise that supports America as the leader in space exploration and protects the thousands of jobs across the country and in the Houston-area that are supported by NASAs human spaceflight program" continued Rep. Green.
On June 22 Rep. Green led a letter with Reps.
John Culberson (TX-07)
Frank Wolf (VA-10) and
C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02) with 58 of their colleagues from 18 states in a bipartisan appeal to the President outlining compromise principles that would preserve NASAs human spaceflight program.
Text of bipartisan letter:
President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to express concern for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Presidents Budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Human space exploration is ingrained in the American psyche. It is part of who we are as explorers entrepreneurs scientists and Americans. The proposed Exploration Systems Mission Directorate reduction jeopardizes our countrys leadership in space and could put our national security at risk. Additionally we do not see the benefit of a 5-year delay to a decision on exploration system architecture.
If we continue with this new space policy including the outright cancellation of the Constellation program we are concerned that other countries will forge ahead of us challenging our space dominance as we literally cede the higher ground to our foreign competitors.
We must have a strong national program to take us beyond low-Earth orbit. In addition to wasting years of hard work and more than $10 billion invested in the Constellation program the cancellation of this program with nothing else in the pipeline will prevent us from exploring space for many years. It is in the nations best interest to leverage the investments made in Constellation over the last 5 years into a beyond low Earth orbit exploration program today.
We support the immediate development and production of a heavy-lift launch vehicle that in conjunction with the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle may be used for either lunar or deep-space exploration to an asteroid and beyond as you said in Florida. This would provide operational flexibility while ensuring our taxpayers investments have not been made in vain. Industry and space experts believe that a heavy-lift exploration system could be operational within six years and achieved within NASAs Exploration topline
budget. With no significant technological breakthroughs on the horizon in regard to heavy-lift propulsion needs we see no reason to prolong a decision that will result in the loss of a highly-experienced and motivated workforce.
Furthermore we believe that reinvigorating NASA and our nations science technology engineering and mathematics workforce for the 21st century is fundamentally dependent on a strong national space program that begins today. A robust American deep-space exploration program would ensure that American astronauts explore beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon Mars or any number of exciting deep space destinations. Additionally a renewed focus on heavy-lift vehicles and exploration will inspire our youth invigorate our workforce and protect many jobs in todays difficult economy.
We look forward to working with you in the coming weeks to make the necessary changes in order to support an exploration program that continues our elite astronaut corps preserves an irreplaceable workforce protects our defense industrial base and ensures that the U.S. will leave low-Earth orbit within the decade.
Sincerely
