NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden told a Space Transportation Association luncheon on Capitol Hill today that he does not want to build the heavy lift launch vehicle (HLLV) specified in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act (P.L. 111-267).

In response to a question from NASAWatch editor Keith Cowing, Mr. Bolden explained that he does not think that the 130 metric ton lift capability prescribed in the law is necessary today and is not sure the agency can do it. He wants to build an “evolvable” launch vehicle, working in “small incremental steps [to] demonstrate that we can keep to cost and schedule and then people will begin to have confidence that we know what we’re talking about…. There are things I do not know. … I don’t know what my 2011 budget is … and that plays a critical role in what I can do.”

The law reflects a compromise reached last year between Congress and the Administration on the future of the human spaceflight program. The President wants NASA to provide funding to companies to build a “commercial crew” capability to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station in low Earth orbit (LEO) instead of NASA. NASA would purchase crew launch services from those companies. In the President’s plan, NASA meanwhile would focus on developing technologies to enable astronauts to someday go beyond LEO, to asteroids or Mars, for example.

Congress, however, is skeptical that the commercial sector is ready to take on that responsibility, and wants the United States to have a bold program of human exploration that includes missions beyond LEO sooner, not later. The 2010 NASA Authorization Act took a middle ground, approving some funding for NASA to facilitate commercial crew, but also directing NASA to build its own Space Launch System (SLS) and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). They would serve as a backup to the commercial companies for LEO access and also provide the beyond LEO capabilities Congress wants.

Although it is unusual for Congress to dictate detailed technical parameters in law, in this case it did, telling NASA that the new SLS (also known as a heavy lift launch vehicle – HLLV) must have an initial launch capability of 70-100 metric tons, increasing to at least 130 metric tons with the addition of an integrated upper stage. The law authorized funding levels for the SLS, MPCV, and commercial crew.

President Obama’s FY2012 budget request for NASA has been sharply criticized by House and Senate authorizers because they feel it contravenes the law, however. It requests more money than authorized for commercial crew, and less money than authorized for SLS and MPCV. NASA’s official position is that it is doing the best it can under current budget constraints and complying with the major elements of the law.

Mr. Bolden’s frank comment therefore could be considered controversial. Mr. Cowing gave the Administrator an opportunity to clarify his remark, but Mr. Bolden stated again that he does not want to build the launch vehicle directed in the Act. Conflicts between Congress and the President over how to spend taxpayer dollars are not unusual, but the Constitution gives Congress the “power of the purse” to decide how to spend government funds. That is done through authorization and appropriations acts. The former give permission for a program to begin and recommends funding levels; appropriations bills actually provide the money. Congress, however, so far has been unable to reach agreement on FY2011 funding for NASA or any other government department or agency making the situation extremely complex.

NASA terminated operations of the Stardust spacecraft today, bringing its 12 year mission to a close.

Launched in February 1999, Stardust captivated scientists and the public by transmitting photographs of Comet Wild 2 and returning samples of dust from it — stardust. The sample canister was successfully dropped off at Earth in 2006 while the mother spacecraft continued its flight through space. That gave scientists an opportunity to assign the spacecraft a new mission — studying another comet that just had been visited by NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft.

In that mission, an impactor was deployed from Deep Impact and placed into the path of Comet Tempel 1 to cause a collision. The mother Deep Impact spacecraft studied the material that was ejected during the collision, as well as relaying data and photographs from the impactor as the collision approached. Now scientists would have a chance to return and take additional photographs of the crater that the impactor created along with parts of the comet that Deep Impact could not see.

Rechristened Stardust-NExT, the spacecraft successfully returned to Comet Temple 1 on February 14, 2011 and sent back photographs and data that are still being analyzed.

As its final task, the spacecraft was commanded to burn all of its remaining fuel so engineers on Earth could calculate how much was left after its 3.54 billion — yes, billion — mile journey. They want to compare their estimates of the fuel required for such a mission with what was actually used, but there are “no fully reliable fuel gauges for spacecraft in the weightless environment of space” according to NASA. The data are expected to be useful when planning future missions.

Like Stardust, Deep Impact was given a second mission after its successful encounter with Comet Tempel 1. Renamed EPOXI, it studied Comet Hartley 2. Scientists want to learn more about comets because they hold clues to what happened in the early formation of our solar system.

Stardust-NExT program manager Lindley Johnson said that although this is the end of spacecraft operations, it is “just the beginnings of what this spacecraft’s accomplishments will give to planetary science.”

The House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee will hold hearings next week to hear from the President’s Science Adviser and the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

John Holdren, President Obama’s science adviser and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will testify to the subcommittee on Thursday, March 31. NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco will testify the next day, April 1. Both hearings are on the FY2012 budget request and start at 10:00 am in H-309 Capitol.

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics has announced that a hearing on NASA’s exploration program will be held next week.

“A Review of NASA’s Exploration Program In Transition: Issues for Congress and Industry” will hear testimony from Doug Cooke, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Exploration, who has announced plans to retire; Scott Pace, Director of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute and NASA Associate Administrator for Program Analysis and Evaluation during the George W. Bush Administration while Mike Griffin headed the agency; and James Maser, head of the Corporate Membership Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and President of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which builds the J-2X engine that was to be used with the Ares-1 launch vehicle. Ares-1 is part of the Constellation program, which is being terminated.

The hearing is scheduled for March 30, 2011 at 10:00 in 2318 Rayburn House Office Building. Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS) is the new chairman of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee. He represents the 4th district of Mississippi that includes NASA’s Stennis Space Center where rocket engines are tested. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) is the ranking member of the subcommittee, but Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL) is serving as acting ranking member while Rep. Giffords continues her recovery from being shot in the head during an assassination attempt on January 8.

The Russians have rescheduled the launch of the next Soyuz to the International Space Station (ISS) to 6:18 pm EDT on April 4 (5:18 pm CDT), which is 4:18 am on April 5 at the launch site in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz TMA-21 mission was delayed from its original March 30 launch date because of a problem with the command communications system in the Soyuz capsule.

The launch will take place a few days before Russia celebrates the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin. It will take three crew members to the ISS to join the three already there. The Soyuz TMA-21 crew consists of American Ron Garan and Russians Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko.

The following events may be of interest in the coming week. For more information, see our calendar on the right menu or click the links below. Congress is in recess this week while Members meet with their constituents back home.

Monday-Thursday, March 21-24

• National Research Council (NRC) Propulsion and Power Panel of the Committee on Review of NASA Technology Roadmaps, CalTech, Pasadena, CA

Wednesday, March 23

• Women in Aerospace Breakfast and Discussion on The NASA Authorization Act of 2010: How Did We Get Here? What’s Next? Library of Congress Member’s Room (Jefferson Building, 2nd floor), 8:30 – 10:00 am

Wednesday-Thursday, March 23-24

• NRC Entry, Descent, and Landing Panel of the Committee on Review of NASA Technology Roadmaps, NRC Beckman Center, Irvine, CA

President Obama signed the three-week Continuing Resolution (CR) today, as expected.

The House and Senate both are in recess until the week of March 28 while Members head back to their States and Districts to interact directly with constituents and determine the mood of the electorate. As contentious as the last couple of month have been in Washington, they are merely setting the stage for bigger fights ahead. April 8, as the date when this CR runs out, is the next watershed moment.