Thu, Mar 04, 2010
Kay Bailey Hutchison Calls Obama's NASA Budget "Short
Sighted"
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
(R-TX) (pictured, right), Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce,
Science, and Transportation Committee, introduced legislation
Wednesday to close the gap in U.S. human space flight that will
occur if the space shuttle is retired before the next generation of
space vehicle is developed.
Senator Hutchison's bill would allow the National Aeronautical
and Space Administration (NASA) to extend the shuttle's service as
work continues on the next generation of American space vehicle.
Companion legislation is expected to be introduced in the House of
Representatives next week by Reps. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) and Bill
Posey (R-FL).
"We must close the gap in U.S. human space flight or face the
reality that we will be totally dependent on Russia for access to
space until the next generation of space vehicle is developed,"
said Senator Hutchison. "If the space shuttle program is
terminated, Russia and China will be the only nations in the world
with the capability to launch humans into space. This is
unacceptable."
Hutchison said the Obama Administration's budget proposal was
"short-sighted and represents the wrong direction for U.S. space
policy."
The Administration proposes to retire the shuttle as scheduled
while discontinuing years of work on development of a new launch
vehicle and provides no short term solution to deliver critical
equipment and components to the International Space Station that
are essential to extending the life of the station until 2020.
![](/images/content/aerospace/2002/shuttlefromisspic1102a.jpg)
"Not only are we turning our backs on 40 years of American space
superiority, we are giving up vital national security and economic
interests to other nations. This must not be an 'either or'
proposition where we are forced to choose between continuing to fly
the shuttle to service the station and maintain our independence in
reaching space, or investing in the next generation of space
vehicle. We can and must do both. By maintaining our independence
from other nations in reaching space, the U.S. can fully realize
the research potential of the space station as a national lab,"
Hutchison said.
In a news release, Hutchison said
her bill, titled "The Human Space Flight Capability Assurance and
Enhancement Act" would:
- Make shuttle retirement dependent on the availability of
replacement capabilities for comparable size crew and cargo
delivery, whether government-owned or commercial, (assuming a rate
of 2 missions a year), or until it is conclusively demonstrated
that it is the space shuttle cargo capabilities are not needed to
ensure space station viability;
- Require International Space Station (ISS) operations and full
utilization through at least 2020, and further establish the ISS
National Laboratory operating mechanisms and procedures;
- Provide for the acceleration of a government-owned human space
flight capability to as close to 2015 as possible;
- Expand support for Commercial Orbital Space Transportation
(COTS) to support ISS -- both for cargo and for eventual crew
launch capability;
- Reaffirm long-term goal of moving beyond low-Earth orbit
whether to the Moon, Mars or alternative destinations;
- Provide for the near-term evaluation of heavy-lift rocket
launcher design options, including shuttle-derived options, to
enable the expansion beyond low-earth orbit and accelerate the
start of vehicle design activity; and
- Authorize top-level funding for all of NASA's mission
activities, but would only address the human space flight policy
issues.
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