NASA continued to defend its commercial-crew program, when a lead House budget-writer questioned the plan for government to help private commercial companies develop systems to carry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee, questioned at a March 21 hearing what would happen if commercial systems come online after the ISS is shut down, presumably in 2020.
“If we are even reasonably concerned that the commercial-crew program may not deliver in time to serve the International Space Station, I guess the question some would have to ask–and I’m not saying I’m opposed to it–(is) why should taxpayers pay an additional $4 billion subsidizing companies to develop these systems when other programs that are meritorious have to be cut?”
Wolf asked NASA Administrator Charles Bolden if it’s “time to revisit some of the assumptions about the commercial-crew program.”
Bolden said the space agency hopes to choose more than one firm to build the commercial systems, giving it some security that at least one will be online in time for a 2017 launch. NASA plans to have Russia carry U.S. astronauts to the ISS until the commercial-crew program is running.
“We still have…what I would call very good stable potential proposals for the commercial-crew system that I would hope to have in place by 2017,” Bolden said, saying he is “very confident with what we have going right now.”
Subcommittee Ranking Member Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), for his part, called the commercial effort “exciting.”
NASA’s fiscal year 2013 request for $830 million in commercial-crew funding has been scrutinized in Congress.
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), though, expressed concerns during a March 7 hearing about proposed funding levels for it compared to those for the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. She slammed a combined $326 million reduction to the SLS rocket and Orion vehicle in NASA’s FY ’13 budget plan, which contains an increase of nearly the same amount–$330 million–to commercial crew efforts.
“I was frankly floored…that it would be so blatant to take it right out of Orion and SLS and put into commercial crew, rather than trying to accomplish the joint goals that we have of putting forward both and making sure that we didn’t take away from the timetables for the future to shore up the commercial crew,” she said.
Also, House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Ralph Hall (R-Texas) said on March 7 he has “yet to be convinced that a viable commercial market will emerge for human orbital missions other than NASA-funded ferry flights to and from ISS.”