Panel approves $785M for NASA shuttle replacement program

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the last space shuttle flight to the International Space Station.

WASHINGTON — Congress may be warming up to NASA's plan to fly astronauts to the International Space Station on private rockets, but the agency still may not meet its 2017 launch target.
A key House Appropriations subcommittee voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a spending plan that would provide $785 million for the Commercial Crew Program in fiscal 2015.
That's $89 million more than the program will receive this fiscal year, and it's the most the Republican-led panel has ever endorsed. But it still falls short of the $848 million the Obama administration is requesting.
The money is included in a broad spending bill that also funds Justice and Commerce department programs. The bill now heads to the full Appropriations Committee for action.

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The $17.9 billion the package would give NASA is about $250 million more than the agency received in fiscal 2014. The bill would continue financing the space agency's top priorities, notably a crewed mission to Mars within 20 years and the powerful James Webb Space Telescope set for launch in 2018.
It also would provide slightly more money than Obama has requested for science programs, aeronautics and security. Lax security at NASA centers has undermined the agency's sensitive technology network, according to a recent report from an independent group led by former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh.
"The systems are being compromised," Rep. Frank Wolf, the Virginia Republican who chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, said Wednesday.
Congress has been less generous with Commercial Crew since the Obama administration began asking for money to fund the shuttle replacement program, beginning with the fiscal 2011 budget. The last shuttle trip to the space station was Atlantis' flight in July 2011.
NASA officials initially hoped Congress would approve enough money to begin using private rockets by 2015 to ferry crew from the U.S. to the space station. That's been pushed back to 2017, and the agency's inspector general warned last year the schedule could be delayed up to another three years if there's not enough money.
NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. has been clear that not funding the full $848 million this time would almost certainly push that first flight to 2018. That would mean buying more seats on Russian rockets for trips to the space station, at a cost of about $70 million for each trip.
"Budgets are about choices," Bolden told members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee in March. "The choice here is between fully funding the request to bring space launches back to American soil, or continue to send millions to the Russians. It's that simple."
The agency plans to award a contract in August or September to at least one of the companies — Boeing, Sierra Nevada and SpaceX — now competing to fly crews to the orbiting lab. Agency officials hope to receive enough money to award multiple contracts, saying continued competition as systems are developed and tested would result in safer, more affordable rides.
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation, an industry trade group, was disappointed with the amount approved by the House subcommittee Wednesday.
"NASA's Commercial Crew Program offers the most cost-effective, safe source for routine flights to low-Earth orbit from American soil," federation Chairman Stuart Witt said. "Reduced funding for Commercial Crew (compared to Obama's request) will delay the process of returning astronauts to space on American vehicles and prolong our dependence on Russian vehicles."
On Thursday, a key Senate Appropriations subcommittee is scheduled to hear from Bolden about the budget request.
The Senate traditionally has approved more for the Commercial Crew program than the House, often leading to negotiations that split the difference. As a result, it's likely the program will get more than $785 million when Congress approves a final spending plan for NASA.

Contributing: James Dean, Florida Today

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