NASA Headquarters is considering a merger of its Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) and Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD) according to a memo from the Associate Administrators (AAs) for the two Directorates. Doug Cooke is the AA for ESMD and Bill Gerstenmaier is the AA for SOMD.

The memo, a copy of which was obtained by SpacePolicyOnline.com from NASA, stresses that no final decision has been made. It alerts employees to ongoing discussions in response to a request from NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and notes that ESMD and SOMD will be responding as a team during negotiations with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) over the FY2012 budget request.

The existence of the memo, emailed to SOMD and ESMD employees on December 20, was reported today by Amy Svitak at Space News; the story is posted on Space.com.

NASA headquarters has used a variety of organizational arrangements to manage its human spaceflight program since it was established in 1958. ESMD and SOMD were created by then-Administrator Sean O’Keefe in June 2004, several months after President George W. Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration to send astronauts back to the Moon and on to Mars. NASA’s History Office maintains a website of organization charts showing how NASA headquarters, and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), were organized throughout the agency’s history.

Reorganizations thus are not uncommon. The current discussions are in response to the ending of the space shuttle program and “the likely transition away from the Constellation Program” according to the memo.

The split between the two Mission Directorates basically has been that SOMD operates current human spaceflight programs while ESMD is in charge of longer-term future programs. ESMD was established to execute the Constellation program that emerged from President Bush’s mandate. It now is in charge of studies on how to reformulate that program to conform with the 2010 NASA Authorization Act while still abiding by the language in the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act that prohibits NASA from cancelling Constellation or initiating a new program without congressional permission in a future appropriations act. ESMD also oversees technology development efforts and manages robotic spacecraft programs that support future human exploration of space. SOMD operates the International Space Station, the space shuttle program, and space and flight support activities.

Elaine Oran, James Albaugh and John Junkins have been elected as Honorary Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). AIAA announced the election of the 2011 Fellows and Honorary Fellows yesterday. They will be honored at AIAA’s Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala Dinner on May 11, 2011 at the Ronald Reagan buiding.

Honorary Fellow is the highest distinction offered by AIAA and no more than four are chosen each year. Dr. Oran is only the fourth woman to receive that honor since the first Honorary Fellow — Orville Wright — was named in 1933 by one of AIAA’s predecessor organizations. Eilene Galloway became AIAA’s first woman Honorary Fellow in 2005; Yvonne Brill and Shiela Widnall since have received the honor.

Dr. Oran is a senior scientist for reactive flow physics at the Naval Research Laboratory and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Mr. Albaugh is Executive Vice President of the Boeing Company and Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Dr. Junkins is a Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

AIAA also announced the election of 29 new Fellows. One new Fellow is elected each year for each 1,000 voting members of AIAA. A list of the new Fellows is provided in the AIAA press release.

At 6:00 pm today, the House adjourned “sine die” — without a day to reconvene. The Senate is expected to wrap up its work today as well, bringing the 111th Congress to a close. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is currently on the Senate floor summarizing the past two years.

Among last minute actions were the following:

• The Senate ratified the New START treaty
• The Senate passed a stripped down version of the FY2011 National Defense Authorization Act, sending it to the President
• The House passed the Senate-amended version of the America COMPETES Act, sending it to the President
• Both chambers passed a bill providing assistance to first responders and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, sending it to the President
• Both chambers passed a bill modernizing the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) that requires each government agency to file publlicly an evaluation of its spending on a quarterly basis, sending it to the President

With House passage yesterday of the Senate version of another Continuing Resolution (CR), federal agencies can operate until March 4, 2011 — most, including NASA, at their FY2010 funding levels. The detailed language about NASA that was in the earlier House-passed year-long CR is defunct, so NASA did not get relief from the prohibition against cancelling the Constellation program or initiating a new effort until Congress approved such plans. It also did not get specific appropriations to begin development of a heavy lift launch vehicle with an initial lift capability of 130 tons as stated in the House-passed year-long CR. Instead, NASA will be guided by the language in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act that the vehicle have an initial launch capability of 70-100 tons, later growing to 130 tons. The difference in language is viewed as signalling whether a vehicle more closely based on the space shuttle should be built (the 70-100 ton language) versus a vehicle more akin to the Ares V (the 130 ton language).

NASA will operate for another three months at its FY2010 funding level of $18.7 billion instead of the $18.9 billion proposed in the year-long CR or the $19.0 billion level requested by the President. While this will complicate NASA’s planning for the future, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) did extract a commitment from Presidential Science Adviser John Holdren and NASA Chief Financial Officer Beth Robinson at a December 1 hearing that as long as NASA received close to what the President requested that the “Launch on Need” shuttle mission (STS-135) would take place. Senator Nelson specifically raised the possibility of NASA being held at the $18.7 billion level. Meanwhile, programs like earth sciences that were slated to get a significant increase in FY2011 will have to wait to see if that funding materializes next year.

The forecast is not bright for agencies like NASA that are part of non-defense discretionary spending. Republicans have vowed to cut those programs significantly in an effort to reduce the deficit.

The Senate and House passed the short-term Continuing Resolution that funds the government through March 4, 2011.

As far as we can tell, there are no exceptions or special language for NASA, leaving the agency in limbo with regard to the Constellation language in the FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act that says it cannot cancel the Constellation program or initiate a replacement until Congress approves such action. The short term CR also funds the agency at last year’s level, $18.7 billion.

First the Senate and then the House are expected to vote tomorrow on another Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating. The current CR expires at midnight tomorrow. Whatever happens with that vote, it may not mean that members can go home for the holidays.

Politico reports that in addition to a vote on the New START treaty, which the Senate has been debating for several days, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wants action on a number of other bills before the Congress ends. A post-Christmas session is possible, albeit unlikely. On the Senate’s agenda, in addition to the CR and New START, are a defense authorization bill and a bill to pay for health care for first responders affected by the September 11 terrorist attacks. The House must deal with the CR and has an opportunity to pass the America COMPETES Act. The House passed it last summer, but it lingered in the Senate until Friday when it abruptly passed with an amendment. The House would have to reconsider the bill as amended, but it reportedly is high on the House’s agenda. The House also might deal with the food safety bill that also passed the Senate, amended, over the weekend.

It remains anyone’s guess as to how all of this will turn out. If the latest version of the CR in the Senate is the one that prevails, it is not particularly good news for NASA. Barring last minute amendments, it would fund the agency at FY2010 levels and not release NASA from the restrictions against cancelling the Constellation program. Anything can happen in the waning days of a Congress, however, so hold on to your hat!

Yesterday (Sunday), the newest version of a FY2011 Continuing Resolution (CR) was filed in the Senate as an amendment to H.R. 3082. It would fund the government through March 4, 2011. H.R. 3082 as passed by the House would fund the government through the end of FY2011 (September 30, 2011).

A summary of the amendment’s major provisions provided by the Senate Appropriations Committee does not mention NASA and a thorough reading of the amendment (Reid amendment SA 4885, pages S10742-45 of yesterday’s Congressional Record) does not uncover any special language with regard to the agency either. That would mean that if this version is enacted, NASA still would be subject to the restrictions imposed by the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act on not cancelling Constellation or initiating an alternative. The House-passed version of the bill relieves NASA of that constraint and makes specific funding decisions that would conform FY2011 appropriations fairly closely with the provisions of the 2010 NASA Authorization Act.

A cloture vote on the new Senate CR is scheduled for Tuesday. If it garners the requisite 60 votes, then the Senate would vote on the bill and send it back to the House. The House will be in session on Tuesday, the day that the current CR expires. It could vote to accept the Senate amendment, or to reject or amend it. Either of the last two choices would mean more back and forth between the two chambers until they can agree on a final bill in these closing days of the 111th Congress.

House Democrats had not wanted a short-term CR because it will give Republicans more power to shape FY2011 funding as they retake control of the House on January 5.

Apart from whatever congressional action may occur — like funding the federal government — the only space policy-related event that we know of for the next two weeks is a virtual meeting of the NAC astrophysics committee this Wednesday. Therefore this is the final issue of “Events of Interest” for 2010; the next edition will be for the week of January 3-7, 2011. Have a very happy holiday and thanks for visiting SpacePolicyOnline.com!

During the Week

One would hate to refer to these closing days of the 111th Congress as “sputtering to the end,” but one does hope that the fate of funding for the federal government will be known in the next couple of days. There is still talk of passing another short term Continuing Resolution (CR) — perhaps through February — rather than the year-long CR that already passed the House. The current CR expires on Tuesday.

The Senate has been busy working this weekend. It is debating the New START treaty at the moment (Sunday afternoon) and Senator Kerry (D-MA) just said that the Senate will meet in classified session tomorrow for further debate on the Treaty. Thus it looks like FY2011 funding may wait until Tuesday. The House will back in session that day, if necessary, should the Senate pass something other than the CR that passed the House last week. Both chambers have to agree on whatever passes.

Wednesday, December 22

• NAC Astrophysics Subcommittee meeting via telecon, 1:00-2:00 pm EST. An update on NASA’s Astrophysics Division and the James Webb Space Telescope are on the agenda.