For a second day in a row, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden faced congressional authorizers largely unhappy with the new direction of the U.S. human space flight program. Yesterday he testified before the Senate Commerce subcommittee that authorizes NASA activities; today he appeared before the full House Science and Technology Committee.

In both hearings, some committee members opened the door for Bolden to distance himself from the decision to cancel Constellation, but Bolden insisted that he was deeply involved in the discussions. At one point, he emphatically stated that “we did not frivolously arrive at this budget.” He declined to provide information on the pre-decisional meetings despite repeated attempts by committee members to obtain details on the process and people involved.

Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) was the only Member at today’s hearing who expressed support for the decision to rely on the commercial sector to provide commercial human space flight services (“commercial crew”) to low Earth orbit in the future. Many other Members, Democrats and Republicans, expressed deep skepticism about the ability of commercial companies to provide such services without considerable government investments. Committee chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) asked if the proposal would not make the companies offering such services “too important to fail” – analogous to the “too big to fail” financial institutions the government is now bailing out. Is there really a non-government market for human space flight, or will these companies become “wards of the state,” he asked.

Bolden replied that NASA had not performed any of its own market analyses, relying on those of the industry. Rep. Gordon called that “the fox guarding the chicken house” and chided Bolden for an “unsatisfactory” answer. More broadly, Bolden defended the commercial crew concept by reminding Members that in the early 1980s NASA sought to turn operation of the space shuttle over to a commercial provider. The 1986 space shuttle Challenger tragedy ended those efforts, at least in part because the Reagan Administration decided that human lives no longer would be risked to launch satellites that could as easily be launched on rockets, consequently making the shuttle considerably less attractive as a commercial venture. “What we’re trying to do today, we were trying to do then,” he said.

The impact on jobs and the aerospace workforce were a consistent focus of questioning. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) challenged the assertion that the President and NASA want to encourage children to study math and science because they were giving “pink slips” to the very people who had invested their lives in pursuing those careers: “This is not a program for a bold new path, it’s more like managing America’s decline.”

The lack of a specific destination beyond low Earth orbit in the President’s new plan was another bone of contention as it was yesterday. In both cases Bolden stated that in his mind Mars is the ultimate destination, although today he did not repeat – perhaps because he was not directly asked – that he had approval from the White House to state that on behalf of the Administration.

Several Members pointed to concerns about the United States losing its leadership in human space flight. Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL) stressed that “It’s not about jobs. The heart and soul of America is NASA. If we do anything, anything, to detract from that, we’re gong to lose and we can’t afford to lose.”

A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of the hearing will be posted soon.

At a House Science and Technology hearing yesterday morning, Presidential Science Adviser John Holdren said “we are certainly not giving up in deep space,” with respect to the proposed changes to the human spaceflight program in the FY2011 budget request.

Short of actually naming Mars as the next destination for human spaceflight (as NASA Administrator Bolden did in a Senate hearing just hours later), Dr. Holdren fended off criticisms that the proposal has no plan for humans to explore space beyond low Earth orbit by saying that “the goal that we have is to take U.S. astronauts into deep space in a way that is safe [and] affordable – in a way that gets them to an array of deep space destinations not just to a particular one, in a particular moment.”

The NASA budget came under sharp criticism during the hearing. “I’ve never been more concerned with the future of human spaceflight” said Ranking Member Ralph Hall (R-TX). He also criticized changes to the NPOESS program as similarly reflecting a policy shift with no analysis – both examples of what he described as “a troubled pattern.” Representative Paul Broun (R-GA) for his part included the decision to “scuttle the nation’s human spaceflight program” as an example of what he called a demonstration of a “tremendous amount of arrogance, ignorance, and incompetence” by the Administration. Representative Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) said that the lack of “concrete plans” threatens the existence of the skilled aerospace workforce and criticized the lack of specificity of the President’s proposal for NASA and for dealing with this issue. Dr. Holdren assured her that there will be more details forthcoming on how the Administration will mitigate job loss in this sector.

Dr. Holdren stood by the proposal saying that the budget describes “a science-and-technology-centered restructuring” for NASA, allowing the agency to “do things in space that are more useful and more exciting” than going back to the Moon. Ranking Member Hall agreed, saying “I don’t care to go to the Moon until our people can go to the grocery store; now’s not the time to do that” but admonished the decision to cancel the Constellation program. Dr. Holdren replied that the proposal acknowledges the Augustine Committee’s findings that the Constellation program was unexecutable, and said “what we think we are proposing is a program that has a better chance of success than Constellation of delivering what the American people want and expect of their program…in a budget we can afford.”

On a markedly different note, Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) congratulated the Administration “for taking a courageous step” and “an honest approach to look at what NASA is all about.” Not bemoaning the loss of Constellation he said he was “pleased that this Administration is willing to stand up to the plate” and that the proposal shows that Constellation is not the only way to get into space.

NASA has announced a modest reorganization. Details are in this letter from NASA Administrator Bolden to NASA officials.

The finer details of NASA’s FY2011 budget request are now available on NASA’s budget website. These traditional “budget books” usually accompany the annual announcement of the President’s new budget on the first Monday in February, but NASA’s were delayed this year probably because of the significant changes they represent.

UPDATE: The shuttle landed successfully.

ORIGNAL STORY: Weather has cooperated and STS-130 (Endeavour) has fired its descent engines for a landing at Kennedy Space Center at 10:20 pm tonight (Sunday).

The following events may be of interest in the coming week. For more information, check our calendar on the right menu or click the links below. Times, dates and witnesses for congressional hearings are subject to change; check the relevant committee’s website for up-to-date information. All meetings are in Washington, DC and all times are EST unless otherwise noted.

During the Week

The House and Senate both return from the President’s Day recess this week.

• One piece of space-related legislation that requires action before the end of February is passage of a new version, or another extension of the existing version, of the Satellite Home Viewer Act. The law includes, inter alia, copyright provisions under which direct broadcast satellite companies (DirecTV and Dish Network) are able to provide certain television programs to their customers. At one point the Senate was going to include it in the jobs bill they hope to pass this week, but recent indications are that that bill will focus only on jobs. The existing satellite TV law would have expired on December 31, 2009. Congress did not pass new legislation in time, so extended the existing law to February 28. If the copyright provisions expire, the satellite TV companies might not be allowed to transmit some television programming.

Tuesday, February 23

• House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Air Force’s FY2011 budget request, 10:00 am, 2118 Rayburn House Office Building. Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz are the witnesses.

Wednesday, February 24

• House Science and Technology Committee hearing on federal R&D budget request, 9:30 am, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building. Presidential Science Adviser John Holdren is the scheduled witness. The hearing is broadly on the federal R&D budget and NASA’s budget request may be part of the discussion..
• Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science and Space hearing on NASA’s FY2011 budget request, 2:30 pm, 253 Russell Senate Office Building. The committee’s website does not list expected witnesses, nor does Congress Daily’s Daybook, but NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden is widely expected to testify, and Miles O’Brien, formerly with CNN and now with Spaceflightnow.com, is indicating via Twitter that he will be testifying.

Thursday, February 25

• House Armed Services Defense Acquisition Reform Panel hearing on Managing the Defense Acquisition System and Workforce, 8:00 am, 2261 Rayburn House Office Building. Norm Augustine, Joe Flynn, and Steven Schooner are the witnesses.
• House Science and Technology Committee hearing on NASA’s FY2011 budget request, 10:00 am, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building. NASA Administrator Bolden is scheduled to testify.

STS-130 (Endeavour) is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center tonight (Sunday) at 10:20 pm EST. However, showers and low clouds could require a postponement. Check back here or at NASA’s shuttle website for updates.

UPDATE: Read the entire letter from Senator Mikulski to Senator Nelson here.

ORIGINAL STORY:

In a letter to Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), chair of the Senate Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, shared her views on the new plan for NASA unveiled in the President’sFY2011 budget request. The letter is excerpted by Space News as including the following points:

• chief among her principles is astronaut safety
• a clear destination for human space flight is needed
• international partners should be engaged to the maximum extent practicable in formulating common destinations for human and robotic spaceflight
• the space program must be balanced and science should be its driving purpose
• NASA should maximize its current and future scientific assets in low Earth orbit and beyond, including extending the life of the International Space Station which should be resupplied by commercial cargo
• NASA’s future direction must include a plan to maintain critical skills and soften job dislocations

The Space News summary says that Senator Mikulski plans to ask Administration officials the following questions:

• where is NASA planning to go, how will it get there, and what will it take?
• is the intention to “scrap everything and start over” and if so, what is the plan to mitigate job dislocations?
• how will the change protect investments in Earth and space science and aeronautics in FY2011 and the future?

Senator Nelson is Senator Mikulski’s counterpart on the subcommittee that authorizes NASA activities (the Science and Space Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee). Both are powerful voices for NASA on Capitol Hill. Senator Mikulski’s letter said that it was more important than ever for the two subcommittees to work in consultation as they consider the President’s proposal. (Not sure of the difference between an appropriation and an authorization? See our “What’s A Markup?” Fact Sheet.)

Senator Nelson is planning an authorization hearing on the NASA proposal on February 24. Senator Mikulski will hold an appropriations hearing on March 25.