The fiscal year 2016 spending bill that the full House Appropriations Committee (HAC) was expected to markup May 20 proposes a big cut to the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) while providing a large boost to NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS).
The HAC commerce, justice and science (CJS) subcommittee approved May 14 via voice vote its portion of a spending bill that recommends $1 billion for CCP, $244 million less than what NASA requested. It also recommends $2.3 billion for SLS, nearly $1 billion more than requested.
In its draft report accompanying the bill, the subcommittee says it “understands” and “is concerned” that some project milestones have slipped for a “variety of reasons.” The subcommittee directs NASA to continue submitting quarterly reports on the status of the programs, formally known as Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) and Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap).
NASA shall also provide an assessment within 90 days of the spending bill becoming law on the need to reserve flights on the Russian Soyuz capsule in tandem with the Commercial Crew program in 2017 and 2018. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Boeing [BA] were awarded contracts in September for CCtCap. The United States contracts seats on Soyuz rockets until a CCP capability is available.
Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF), said in an email April 19 the proposed cuts to Commercial Crew would cause NASA to miss a payment milestone that the two contractors, SpaceX and Boeing, are in place to meet. Stallmer also called the proposed cut “very short sighted” given the present geopolitical challenges as well as launch challenges taking place in Russia. Multiple news outlets reported a Russian Proton rocket failing during launch over the weekend.
Boeing spokesman Adam Morgan said April 19 in an email that though it’s too soon to know what the final budget will be, Boeing, in general, is pleased to see the continued support of its programs. In addition to its CCtCap contract, Boeing is the prime contractor for the design, development, test and production of the SLS cryogenic stages, as well as development of the avionics suite.
The subcommittee, overall, recommended the $18.5 billion NASA requested, $519 million more than appropriated in FY ’15. It also recommended the $1.1 billion NASA requested for the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle, which is developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT] and will be used on SLS.
The subcommittee set its sights on the International Space Station (ISS), saying in its draft report that it remains concerned that annual ISS operating costs are increasing, particularly in light of NASA’s proposal to extend the life of ISS through 2024. The subcommittee wants NASA to continue implementing cost savings measures with the goal of slowing and reducing the ISS operations budget while maximizing research opportunities.
All reductions from the request level, the subcommittee said in its draft report, shall be implemented in the operations budget, rather than ISS research or crew and cargo transportation. For space operations, which include ISS, the subcommittee recommended nearly $4 billion, roughly the amount requested by NASA. The recommendation is $130 million more than FY ’15 and $46.4 million less than NASA’s request.
The subcommittee also recommended a cut to earth science programs, suggesting $1.7 billion, nearly $270 million less than NASA’s request. The subcommittee said in its draft report this level of funding would maintain most programs at the FY ’15 operating level and would adopt reductions proposed in the budget request for the Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) satellite and the Global Precipitation Measurement Project (GPMP). The subcommittee, overall, recommended $5.2 billion for NASA’s science portfolio, $7 million below last year and $51 million below NASA’s request.