This just in from reporter Bart Jansen in Washington, D.C.:Florida lawmakers on Wednesday introduced legislation to extend the shuttle beyond its scheduled retirement this year and speed government development of a heavy-lift rocket.
The bill is designed to counter President Barack Obama's budget for NASA, which proposes abandoning the Constellation program to return people to the moon and would continue plans to retire the shuttle.
Obama wants to rely on Russian and commercial rockets to ferry supplies and people to the International Space Station, which he has proposed extending from 2015 to 2020.
But Reps. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, and Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, say the country should rely on government space vehicles such as the shuttle and the next rocket. The bill they introduced Wednesday mirrors one introduced March 3 by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.
"This bill is intended to maintain a robust human spaceflight program that will protect Space Coast jobs, enhance our national security and generate scientific and technological advances that boost our economy," Kosmas said.
Their proposed legislation calls for funding two shuttle flights a year and making the fleet's retirement dependent on the availability of a replacement vehicle or until the shuttle is no longer needed for the space station.
Extending the shuttle would close the several-years gap between the shuttle's retirement and development of the next rocket capable of carrying people. The extension would be an alternative to depending on Russian rockets or commercial rockets.
But one of the big questions is money. A NASA official said Tuesday that shuttle fleet operations cost $200 million a month, or about $2.4 billion a year. Another question is safety, with some safety experts arguing that its time to ground the aging fleet.
"We need a plan to close the space gap that actually maintains America's ability to send American astronauts into space," Posey said.
Prospects for the bill are uncertain, but Congress will address the issues involved as it deals with the budget blueprint and spending bills for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
Obama has scheduled a space summit in Florida on April 15 to discuss his plans with experts.
Posey will participate in a news conference on Thursday calling on NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to explain how the president’s proposed budget would maintain uninterrupted U.S. access to space.
21 comments:
If the bill is passed by both houses, what are the chances that President Obama will sign it?
Is there enough support to override a Veto?
Rick Steele
Sarasota, Florida
Where the !@#$% is Bill Nelson on this legislation? Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is from Texas.
Bill is out trying to come up with Museum sites for the retired orbiters while the rest of the folks who represent space districts are trying to do something (a rarity for Congress)
And Bill claims he doesn't know what Mr. Obama is going to say when he gets here next month. He is the Senior Senator from the state of Florida and ranks near the top in senority in the Senate. He ought to have some pull by now.
Bill you should have retired a long time ago. Maybe you did and forgot to notify your constituents.
Rick,
Slim to none. This president doesn't believe in compromise. It's his way or the highway. Look at the healthcare boondoggle.
The question to ask is: do they have enough votes to overide a veto?
And do you REALLY expect Puglosi to let it come up for a vote?
ROFLMAO!
Don't be a what iffer, Bill Nelson is and has always been a huge advocate for the space program.
How is this not a pork barrel project....Spending money we don't have.
NASA has stated that it costs $200 Million a month to run the shuttle program. That means it will cost $12 Billion to keep it running for the next 5 years. Maybe tough getting this passed.
Plus part of the bill is worried about local space center jobs. There's many people across the country that are unemployed and nobody cared about trying to save their jobs. Why should they care if our jobs are saved?
This might be extremely difficult to pass.
Plus I heard NASA is already working on plans to retire all their shuttle facilities. This bill might not get passed in time. Our Senators/Congressmen were too late on this bill. Should have come about a couple of years ago. This 5+ year gap has been mentioned for many years now.
Plus the shuttle program is already losing qualified people to other industries. Even the CEO of the major NASA contractor at KSC is jumping ship.
He is backing most of Obammy's budget request.. Nelson see value in it for Florida.. I watched him on the Senate floor yesterday say it.. this guy knows he is done in Florida.. so it looks to me that he is looking for a new job with the DEMS... He has turned red coat..
President Obama doesn't believe in the Constitution. He believes only in power, control, and the plundering of the hard earned assets of the citizens. He is a demagogue, whose real side is now becoming evident.
If Obama wants the shuttle, he manipulates to get the shuttle. If he doesn't want the shuttle (which is factually correct) he won't sign anything that would override his own wishes. He doesn't give two bits about what anyone else wants.
Whew, see all those democrats supporting this bill? Must be an election year for sure. I know this must have been thought of before but here goes anyway. We have this huge ISS floating up there going no place. How hard would it be to develop it further for use as either a spacecraft to travel to Mars, or even to send it into Lunar orbit as a interim vehicle while manned missions explore the lunar surface, sort of a weigh station. A fully stocked and available lunar servicing station could make it so much safer for the astronauts out there for long duration flights. Of course we'd have to use the shuttle to launch the heavy components to LEO while building up the station for deep space missions. A win for everyone since I think it'd be a shame to see a multi billion dollar system eventually end up buring up as it reenters the atmosphere.
The real question here is..what took the elected officials of our county so long to do this? They have known this was going down for years and, as so-called leaders, they react instead of proact. Re-elect no one.
It shouldn't cost 200 million a month. They (USA) will probably get rid of alot of people and keep the minimal amout of people to do the job. So that will keep costs down. And if they only fly 2 times a year, they wont have to work overtime to process each orbiter. So there is another cost reduction.
And i agree, we all need to vote out everyone in congress who let it get to this point of all of us losing our jobs out here. We need to send a message to all of the people who represent us. If you don't work for us, your out.
The Democrats have to support SOMETHING that is popular with their constitutents. Lord knows Obamacare is not it.
I visited KSC a month ago as a guest of NASA. They were not happy about not having manned spaceflight goals . . . the first time in 5 decades.
When the Bush administration proposed back in 2004 to end the space shuttle in 2010, why didn't Rep Dave Weldon propose this type of bill before he left at the end of 2008? It seems he flaked out. And if he supports Florida's space programs, why is he on the board in Alaska to develop space shots there?
Obama wouldn't veto a bill to extend the shuttle if it passes Congress. But he might require that taxes be raised to pay for it before he signs. I don't think anyone here would mind paying a little extra for a space program, do you?
Accelerating Ares I/Orion development does almost the same things as extending the shuttle (keeps the lights on at KSC, keeps our space workers working and prevents the central FL economy from collapsing), maintains a U.S. manned spaceflight capability, lowers the cost of the Ares V heavy lifter when it is needed down the road and results in creation of a reliable and affordable post-shuttle space access system for the U.S. (an American Soyuz, if you will) that keeps us a leader in human space flight for decades. Best of all, it requires NO EXTRA MONEY FOR NASA. It fits easily inside the existing $18B budget with the savings NASA realizes from the end of shuttle and Constellation. NO CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL IS NEEDED. The space states' congressional delegations need to get on the same page and bring this compromise plan to the President at once...
Glad to see this bill. The fight is finally on. Nothing happens in politics without a fight. This wasn't going to happen by any President or NASA Admin having a reasonable plan. It's going to happen because congress supports it. When congress supported Apollo, we went to the moon. When it stopped it's support, we spent 37 years in earth orbit. Congress needs to fight for it and it can get it. The healthcare debacle showed that legislation lives or dies by what Congress does, not what the President dreams of. Logic is not involved, fear of not getting elected is the coin of the realm. Make your congressman think the need the shuttle to get your vote!
In light of the fact that the bill to extend unemployment benefits was passed for $185 billion, seems the NASA budget is a small blip on the budget radar screen. As for the shuttle extension at a twice a year launch rate, think there would be a need to maintain the extensive technical support staff to work flight issues. There needs to be other work for these engineers to occupy their time between flights or they could just move on. Loss of critical expertise could become a big problem for flight support.
As for writing your representatives to ask for votes, doesn't seem to work in California. The health care issues has shown me that they want it regardless of voters wishes.
Not much point in looking to Mr Bill to show up in the Senate House and buck Mr Nobama's plans for anything let alone saving our shuttle program. Mr Bill is too busy padding his next appointment before the Nov. elections bounce him off the podium.
Every space worker that voted for the Nobama hope and change, after he promised that he would not end the manned space program, should be under going a political reorientation (gut) check right now. Its time to take back our country from the political elites brought us to this place before its too late.
But no worrys... The band is still playing and the caviar is being served on Capitol Hill while the 'Titanic' Debt has already hit the Iceburg... Good Luck everyone! Oh we forgot to tell you that the life boats are only for the Captain and his politicans. The rest of you 'Folks' can just swim for it...
lets get on with the next program and not waste it on Shuttle this is a dead horse nothing last forever.
how about longer stays than 6 mos on iss
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