Calls For $10 Billion In Funds To Continue Flights

A Florida congressman called for an extra #10 billion in funding to NASA over the next five years, so the United States can maintain a manned space presence throughout the development of the agency's next-generation Orion spacecraft.

Representative Dave Weldon introduced legislation Monday that, if approved, would keep the space shuttle in operation past the previously-mandated 2010 retirement date -- which is five years before NASA expects to fly the first manned Orion mission. NASA currently plans to purchase seats on Russian spacecraft for US astronauts bound for the International Space Station during that gap -- a plan Weldon called "a major foreign policy blunder.

"This is an issue of priorities. It's not an issue of whether the money is going to be there or not," Weldon said Monday at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, according to Florida Today. "For us to be totally putting the goal of getting our astronauts into space in the hands of the Russians, I think, is very, very bad foreign policy."

Despite the nationalistic tone of his comments, Weldon said his primary motivation is with the planned loss of between 2,500 to 3,500 jobs in his district, which includes KSC, after the shuttle is retired. Keeping the shuttles in operation -- even in a limited fashion -- until Orion is ready would give KSC workers "a soft landing," in the congressman's words.

"I don't want to drive NASA and the KSC work force over a cliff," Weldon added.

Weldon said NASA could continue to operate the shuttle fleet past 2010 for about $2 billion a year -- half of what NASA currently spends. In addition to continuing America's manned presence in space, he said, missions previously scrapped when the shuttle's retirement was announced could also be put back on the table -- including a Japanese-built centrifuge, and the $1.5 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

Removing the mandatory retirement date -- called for by the White House in 2003 -- would also give NASA some needed breathing room to finish construction of the ISS. The agency, already under the gun to fit in all the needed missions by the September 30, 2010 deadline, is facing additional pressure as the planned launch of Atlantis this month has been postponed to January 10, at the earliest.

Weldon says he brings the matter up now, so it can be front-and-center for presidential candidates ahead of Florida's January 29 primary. "The timing on this is deliberate," Weldon said. "This needs to be a national debate."

The congressman's plan remains a tough sell, however, even to the most vocal NASA supporters. Faced with the task of supporting war efforts, Congress is reticent to give NASA a penny more than absolutely necessary. A recent push to add $1 billion to next year's NASA budget failed, and President Bush has threatened to veto any bill that adds more than the $17.9 billion now allocated for the space agency.

Weldon himself says he doubts his legislation will pass.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/shuttle, www.house.gov