NASA has bad news for lawmakers

WASHINGTON – Top NASA officials told lawmakers this week that they cannot build the replacement for the space shuttle that Congress wants on the budget and deadline they were given.

“These (spacecraft) systems must be affordable, sustainable, and realistic,” the agency said in a 22-page report. Congress’ plan would not “meet … these goals.”

“None of the design options studied thus far appeared to be affordable in our present fiscal conditions, based upon existing cost models, historical data, and traditional acquisition approaches,” the report says, adding: “Any (spacecraft) designs selected … must meet the test of being realistic – not relying on assumptions of increased funding or other ‘miracles’ for attainment.”

The bombshell is a major blow to hopes for the quick development of a new heavy-lift rocket and Apollo-like capsule capable of taking humans to the moon and beyond. It is also a major setback for Kennedy Space Center, which is set to lose at least 6,000 jobs during the next year as NASA retires the space shuttle.

The report prompted a sharply worded response from the Senate Commerce Committee, including U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who were the principal authors of the plan passed by Congress last year.

“(T)he production of a heavy-lift rocket and capsule is not optional. It’s the law,” they said. “NASA must use its decades of space know-how and billions of dollars in previous investments to come up with a concept that works. We believe it can be done affordably and efficiently – and, it must be a priority.”

Under the plan signed into law by President Barack Obama in October, NASA was supposed to get $11 billion during the next three years to start building a rocket and capsule that could as a first step fly to the International Space Station by Dec. 31, 2016. But new pressure in Congress to slash federal spending means that NASA is unlikely to get even that much.

The plan was intended to keep the human-spaceflight program alive while also preserving jobs in key NASA states such as Alabama, Florida, Texas and Utah. It called for using hardware from the shuttle and the Constellation moon-rocket program, which was canceled last year by Congress and the White House after the agency had spent nearly $12 billion on a technically controversial rocket and capsule.

The new plan had been greeted skeptically by some former astronauts and space experts, because the new projects would get even less money than Constellation’s rocket ships, which were over budget and years behind schedule.

NASA’s push-back earned praise for the agency in some circles.

“I think NASA should be applauded for being honest instead of telling Congress of what it wants to hear,” said John Logsdon, a space expert at George Washington University.