By Emelie Rutherford
The Senate passed a NASA policy-setting bill recently that could help the solid-rocket motor industry in the wake of the cancellation of the Constellation manned-spaceflight program.
The chamber passed the NASA authorization bill, for fiscal year 2011 through FY ’13, last Thursday night by unanimous consent. The measure is a compromise between lawmakers and the White House.
It would direct NASA to begin building a heavy-lift rocket right away, instead of waiting until 2015 as the White House previously proposed, and to continue working on a crew capsule based on the ill-fated Constellation effort’s Orion vessel, developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT].
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, according to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).
“The NASA bill doesn’t bring back Constellation, but it does establish payload requirements for a new heavy-lift Space Launch System, which should use solid rocket motors,” Hatch said in a statement. “This could save thousands of Utah jobs.”
More than 1,600 people were laid off at ATK [ATK] and other solid-rocket-motor companies in Utah after President Barack Obama called in February for eliminating Constellation and investing in private companies to send astronauts to low-Earth orbit.
The Constellation space-shuttle-replacement effort has included the developmental Ares I launch vehicle–the first stage of which was under contract with ATK–as well as the Orion crew capsule and future Ares V heavy-lift rocket.
The NASA bill also would require NASA to use existing contracts, workforces, and industries that were focused on the space shuttle and Ares rockets efforts.
“I believe the outlook for workers who produce solid rocket motors is a little brighter today with the passage of this bill,” Hatch said recently.
After lawmakers resisted the White House’s proposed NASA budget, Obama in April pledged to begin building a new heavy-lift rocket, a replacement to Ares V, by 2015 and begin developing a crew-rescue vehicle based on Orion.
The bill that passed the Senate last Thursday sets a target date for re-starting manned space flights of 2016, instead of 2025 as the White House had proposed. To achieve that accelerated schedule, the legislation calls for immediately building a heavy-lift rocket.
The White House has signaled support for the Senate bill. Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro said it “recognizes that Constellation is no longer the right program for achieving our boldest ambitions” while boosting overall NASA funding, helping to launch a commercial space transportation industry, and extended the U.S. commitment to the International Space Station (ISS).
Pro-NASA Senators portrayed the committee’s bill as a bipartisan compromise with the White House.
“We’ve had to take a clear, hard look at what we want from NASA in the years and decades to come,” said Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. “We’ve asked the tough questions. The result is a truly bipartisan bill that will help refocus and reinvigorate the agency, while making key investments in aeronautics, science, and education.”
Rockefeller in a statement highlighted support in the bill for commercial crew and cargo, saying if the industry develops as envisioned the United States will have cheaper access to the ISS and be less reliant on Russian partners for access to the station after the space shuttle retires.
Lawmakers including Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee, are skeptical about the commercial endeavor.