McCain pledges NASA budget hike

Republican presidential candidate John McCain visited the Space Coast this evening and reiterated that he too would support a $2 billion increase in NASA's budget to help shorten the gap between retirement of the space shuttles and the first piloted flights of a replacement system.

The pledge, made during a speech tonight at the King Center in Melbourne, matches a similar commitment made by Democrat Barack Obama. To date, both candidates have issued space policies that commit to missions to Mars and to reducing the scheduled five-year hiatus in U.S. human space launches.

The two candidates have been going at each other over the issue.

Obama's camp recently attacked McCain because of Republican Party promise to freeze all spending except money for national security and veterans, even though McCain already had said he would support the $2 billion increase in NASA's budget in an interview with Florida Today earlier this year while visiting the Space Coast.

McCain, likewise, attacked Obama's months-old and long-since retracted plan to delay the NASA moon-shot project in order to fund his education plan. Obama's amended space policy, based on strong lobbying from U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, instead calls for increased funding, cutting the gap and aiming for Mars.

The short space-related part of McCain's Friday speech was the latest in a series of unprecedented attention for NASA by presidential candidates. The campaigns have repeatedly touched on space policy during the campaign.

"We've got competition," McCain said Friday, referencing China's recent movement in human space flight. "We've got to stay ahead. We will be the first nation to Mars. We will continue to lead in space. I've always been a strong supporter of manned space flight."

Specifically McCain said he would add the $2 billion to NASA's budget that the agency says is needed to fly the shuttles longer (although for how long remains undetermined) and to keep the new rockets and spaceships envisioned for the Constellation program on track. NASA is in the midst of detailed studies to determine the cost and implications of not retiring the fleet in 2010.

FLORIDA TODAY broadcast the event live and you can watch a replay right here in the Flame Trench. The part about space policy comes about 22 minutes into the recording for those who want to skip ahead. The video should start playing automatically. If not, just push the play button on the video player at the top of this post.

You can also talk about the candidates' space policies in our Space Chat forum.