Senate holds hearing on implementation of new NASA policy

The White House's top science advisor, NASA's chief financial officer and federal watchdog officials are scheduled to testify this morning in a U.S. Senate hearing reviewing NASA's new direction.

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation at 10:30 a.m. is set to begin a hearing titled "Transition and Implementation: The NASA Authorization Act of 2010."

Committee chairman John "Jay" Rockefeller IV issued the following opening statement.

Witnesses include (click on names to link to prepared testimony):
-- John Holdren, director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy
-- Elizabeth Robinson, CFO, NASA
-- Cristina Chaplain, director, acquisition and sourcing management, U.S. Government Accountability Office, accompanied by:
-- Susan Poling, managing associate general counsel, U.S. GAO

You can watch a Webcast of the hearing live here.

The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 dropped NASA's Constellation program of rockets and spacecraft. It instead supports development of commercial crew taxis to low Earth orbit, extends International Space Station operations to 2020 and begins development of a heavy-lift rocket and Orion-like spacecraft for exploration missions.

Congressional appropriators have not yet provided funding increases proposed in the authorization act.