The House of Representatives passed (233-193) the conference report (H. Rept. 111-89) on the FY2010 Budget Resolution (S. Con Res. 13) on April 29, adopting most of a Senate provision that recommends an additional $2.5 billion for NASA in FY2011 to pay for shuttle flights in case the current schedule for slips. The budget resolution sets budget targets for Congress to follow and the language does not have the force of law. It does represent the sense of Congress that 2010 should not be a hard date for terminating the shuttle.

The Senate-passed version stated that a fixed date of 2010 for retiring the shuttle might create “dangerous scheduling pressures” and that there was a possibility that shuttle flights might be needed in 2011, for which $2.5 billion in FY2011 therefore was provided. It also noted the expected 5-year gap between termination of the space shuttle and availability of the new Ares/Orion system and the consequent need to purchase crew launch services from Russia to take astronauts to and from the Internatonal Space Station (ISS), and that the Senate “recognizes the strategic importance of uninterrupted access to space and supports efforts to reduce or eliminate this five-year gap in U.S. human space flight.” The House had no similar provision. The conference agreement includes the additional $2.5 billion but is more specific that the additional funds are for the currently scheduled remaining eight shuttle flights to complete the ISS (not for additional flights). It includes similar language about the strategic importance of the space program.

The House Science and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing on Keeping the Space Environment Safe for Civil and Commercial Users on April 28 2009. Hearing Charter.

Chairwoman Giffords’ Opening Statement

Witnesses:

Lt. Gen. Larry D. James, Commander, 14th Air Force, Air Force Space Command (written statement)

Nicholas Johnson, NASA Johnson Space Center (written statement)

Richard DalBello, Intelsat General Corp. (written statement)

Scott Pace, George Washington University (written statement)

The House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science has scheduled a hearing on NASA for April 29 at 10:00 am in Room 2359 Rayburn House Office Building. Christopher Scolese, Acting NASA Administrator, is the scheduled witness. Note: times and witnesses for congressional hearings are subject to change. Check with the committee for the most up-to-date information: http://appropriations.house.gov.

On April 23, the House Science and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment held a hearing on NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) program. Hearing Charter

Witnesses were:

Mary Ellen Kicza, Assistant Administrator, Satellite and Information Services, NOAA Written statement

David Powner, GAO Written statement

George Morrow, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Written statement

The Congressional Budget Office released a report entitled “The Budgetary Implications of NASA’s Current Plans for Space Exploration.” The report updates a 2004 CBO analysis of 72 NASA programs that showed that NASA’s development programs could grow by 50% on average. Using that as a basis, the new report lays out four scenarios for fulfilling the 2004 mandate to return humans to the Moon and someday send them to Mars.

“Because of the likelihood that NASA will not meet its planned schedules if funded at its current level, CBO considered four alternative scenarios.” They are:

• Keep Funding Fixed and Allow Schedules to Slip
• Execute NASA’s Current Plans and Extend Operation of the Space Shuttle and Space Station
• Achieve the Constellation Program’s Schedule and Allow the Science Schedules to Slip
• Absorb Cost Growth to Achieve Constellation’s Schedule by Reducing Funding for Science and Aeronautics

The new report was required by the 2008 NASA authorization act.

Charlie Kennel, chair of the National Research Council’s Space Studies Board, comments in the SSB’s most recent newsletter on “a new world order in the making — a world in which President Obama has promised, America would not–could not–act as a hegemon, but would strive to lead in the role of ‘first among equals.'”