By Emelie Rutherford
President Barack Obama is poised to sign into law a NASA policy bill that would build on work done on the Orion crew capsule and support imminent development of a new heavy- lift launch vehicle.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver argued to reporters recently that plans for the rocket are executable, despite a leading lawmaker’s criticism, are executable.
The House on recently night voted 304-118 to pass the same version of the NASA authorization act the Senate passed in August. The measure would authorize $58.4 billion in NASA spending from FY ’11, which starts today, through FY ’13.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) slammed the bill on the House floor on Wednesday, charging it lacked budget discipline. She said the heavy-lift rocket in the bill was designed “not by our best engineers, but by our colleagues over on the Senate side.”
“By NASA’s own internal analysis,” Giffords said, “they estimate this rocket will cost billions more than the Senate provides.” She charged the plan is not executable.
Giffords, the chair of the House Science and Technology Committee Space and Aeronautics subcommittee, was a strong supporter of the Constellation manned-spaceflight program that the legislation dismantles.
Garver said yesterday “there is no question that there are challenges” developing the heavy-lift vehicle “with the resources provided and the timeline goals provided in the bill.”
“However, we do difficult things and we are going to absolutely try to work with the folks who put this legislation together,” the No. 2 NASA official said yesterday in a conference call with reporters.
Constellation, an underfunded space-shuttle-replacement effort launched by former President George W. Bush, was intended to carry astronauts to the moon. It has included Lockheed Martin‘s [LMT] Orion capsule, the Ares I rocket being developed by firms including ATK [ATK] and Boeing [BA], and a future Ares V heavy-lift launcher.
With the new NASA plans for the heavy-lift rocket, Garver said “the trade space continues to be open on what type of vehicle we will have.” She said a possibility is the Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) government-space-launch system made up of Delta IV and Atlas V rockets developed by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance.
In addition, plans for the heavy lifter will be swayed by the FY ’11 NASA appropriations bill, which lawmakers have not finalized, Garver noted.
Overall, the NASA authorization bill lawmakers sent to Obama moves away from Constellation, but keeps alive aspects of it, including Orion.
The legislation calls on NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to “continue the development of a multi-purpose crew vehicle to be available as soon as practicable, and no later than for use with (a new) Space Launch System.” It adds: “The vehicle shall continue to advance development of the human safety features, designs, and systems in the Orion project.”
In addition, for the new heavy-lift rocket, the bill calls for building on working done on Ares I and the space shuttles that are being retired. The measure says Bolden should use, “to the extent practicable,” “Ares 1 components that use existing United States propulsion systems, including liquid fuel engines, external tank or tank-related capability, and solid rocket motor engines; and…associated testing facilities, either in being or under construction as of the date of enactment of this Act.”
Some lawmakers who previously pushed back on Obama’s controversial plan to cancel Constellation and instead invest in private companies to send astronauts to low-Earth orbit applauded the new bill, which is a compromise hashed out with the White House.
Those former critics include Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). More than 1,600 people were laid off at ATK and other solid-rocket-motor companies in Utah after Obama called in February for eliminating Constellation.
The “book is not closed on northern Utah’s storied solid rocket motor industry,” Hatch said after the House passed the NASA bill.
“Though we will have hurdles to face in the future, the House passage of the Senate bill builds a foundation for the future of the civilian solid rocket motor industry in Utah,” Hatch said in a statement.
The bill includes language creating payload requirements for the heavy-lift space-launch system that would nearly ensure Utah-built solid-rocket motors are used in them, Hatch said.
The newly passed legislation has been touted by both Bolden and the Aerospace Industries Association.
Constellation contracts will continue with the new fiscal year, because the FY ’11 NASA appropriations bill has not yet been passed, Garver said. Contracts from FY ’10 cannot be terminated and new programs cannot start until that legislation is signed into law.