A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of the February 17, 2011 hearing before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee on the federal research and development budget is now available. Dr. John Holdren, Science Adviser to the President and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy was the witness. Our hearing summary focuses on those aspects of the hearing that concerned the space program, which was not the dominant topic.

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee, and the House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee, will hold hearings on NASA’s FY2012 budget request on March 2 and March 3 respectively.

Congress may still be wrangling over how much NASA and other federal agencies will get for FY2011, but the FY2012 budget clock starting ticking on Monday when President Obama sent his request to Congress. Theoretically, Congress is supposed to pass the new budget before the next fiscal year begins on October 1. As everyone can see from the heated battles underway on FY2011 — five months after that fiscal year began — it does not always work out that way. In fact, it hardly ever works out that way.

Nonetheless, the authorization committee and appropriations subcommittee in the House are going to get the ball rolling after Congress returns from a one-week recess to reconnect with constituents face-to-face.

Following a Flight Readiness Review today, NASA confirmed February 24 as the launch date for STS-133. Liftoff is scheduled for 4:50 pm EST.

The mission originally was scheduled to launch last November, but was delayed first by a gas leak and then by problems with “stringers” on its External Tank. This is the last flight of the Discovery orbiter. At least one more shuttle mission, STS-134 (Endeavour) is scheduled, and if Congress does not cut NASA’s FY2011 budget too deeply, the agency plans one more flight of Atlantis (STS-135). Congress directed the agency to fly that “Launch-on-Need” mission and the agency is willing to do so as long as the money is available.

Currently STS-134, commanded by Mark Kelly, husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) who continues her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head last month, is scheduled for April 19. Kelly told a news conference on February 4 that he expects his wife to be at Kennedy Space Center for his launch. STS-135 is tentatively scheduled for launch in June. That would be the last flight of the shuttle program.

There is still time to register for the March 4 symposium at NASA headquarters on “State of the Space Agency: NASA Future Programs Presentation.” NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and the Associate Administrators of NASA’s mission directorates will present NASA’s FY2012 budget request in some detail with plenty of time for Q&A. The event is sponsored by the NASA Alumni League, the American Astronautical Society, AIAA, Women in Aerospace, and CES. Advance registration is required, but there is no fee. RSVP to Pat Smith at margaret.p.smith@nasa.gov. Check our calendar for March 4 for more information.

NASA Inspector General (IG) Paul Martin released a report today criticizing NASA’s acquisition strategy for commercial launch vehicle services because it does not take advantage of the Minotaur rocket for medium-class missions.

“Our analysis shows that use of the Minotaur for certain NASA science missions offers significant savings when compared to the available commercially provided intermediate class launch vehicles cited in NASA’s report to Congress. Moreover, it also would be less expensive than SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which is still under development and not yet certified to carry NASA science missions. For example, if NASA used the Minotaur rather than Falcon 9 or the intermediate-class Atlas V for the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission scheduled for launch in November 2014, the Agency could save between $61 million and $156 million…”

The IG report continued that NASA’s explanation for not using Minotaur is that it “could have a negative impact on the domestic commercial rocket industry because it might discourage companies from entering the launch services market,” but the IG concludes that it is unlikely they would be ready in time for the SMAP mission. “Accordingly, while we appreciate the legal and policy reasons for promoting commercial launch providers, we believe that NASA should consider using the Minotaur as a launch vehicle for appropriate science missions until cost-effective and reliable commercial launch services are available.”

Minotaurs are based on decomissioned intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs.) The IG report says that NASA does consider Minotaur for small missions in its launch services acquisition strategy, but not for medium-class missions.

UPDATE: The hearing has started. I’m tweeting it: SpcPlcyOnline.

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee’s hearing this morning with Presidential Science Adviser John Holdren on the federal government’s FY2012 budget request for research and development has been delayed. Instead of starting at 10:00, it will start “10 minutes after this morning’s series of votes. (Last votes are expected between 11:30 – 11:45 a.m.)” according to a committee press release.

Finding the NASA and DOD FY2012 budget requests is easy, but for anyone looking for how much is being requested for the Landsat program (at USGS) or NOAA’s satellite activities, perhaps our latest fact sheet will help. FY2012 Budget Documentation: Where To Find Agency Budgets is now available on our left menu under Our Fact Sheets and Reports, or simply by clicking here .