Political decisions shaping the future of NASA’s human spaceflight program continue today in Washington, D.C., when U.S. Senate appropriators meet to set the agency’s funding levels. The subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, led by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (left), D-Md., convenes at 10 a.m. this morning.
The full appropriations committee is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. Thursday. Click here for audio-only Webcasts.
Senate authorizers who approved a NASA spending plan last Thursday said they had worked closely with appropriators to agree on priorities that would be funded.
Those priorities included the development of a heavy-lift rocket starting next year and investment in commercial cargo and crew transportation services to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station.
Mikulski said spending decisions Thursday would closely mirror Florida Sen. Bill Nelson's policy bill -- with minor changes because of Republican insistence on spending limits.
She said the basic concepts are the same, to restructure the Constellation program rather than to cancel it entirely, to ensure the safety of astronauts and to take advantage of technology already developed to save taxpayers money.
"We're in absolute agreement on spending, on the use of the space station, the funding for space science," Mikulski said. "We want the extra shuttle launch, so long as it's safety driven."
But House policymakers have proposed very different legislation that would continue a Constellation program-like emphasis on government-run rockets and provide minimal investment in commercial alternatives.
The bills from each chamber, still subject to changes and votes by the full chambers, will need to be reconciled before becoming law.
The 2011 fiscal year begins Oct. 1., and it's uncertain whether NASA will have clear direction by then.
IMAGE: Undated image of U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Courtesy: Sen. Mikulski's office.
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