The House passed the FY2011-2013 NASA authorization bill as passed by the Senate (S. 3729).

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will hold a media teleconference at 1:30 pm EDT today to answer question from reporters about the newly passed NASA authorization bill. The event will be streamed live at http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio.

UPDATE: Thanks to a NASA Tweet we were finally able to find Charlie Bolden’s statement posted on a NASA website. Kudos to NASAWatch for making it publicly available earlier.

The House Majority Leader’s list of legislation to be voted on today in the House includes, as expected, the Senate version of the NASA authorization bill, as well as the FY2010 intelligence authorization bill, and a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating until December 3. Several other bills also will be considered today, and votes on bills debated yesterday also must be taken, so it is difficult to guess when the NASA authorization vote will occur.

The bill is being brought up under a procedure called “suspension of the rules” where the House agrees to suspend the regular rules and pass a bill as long as it can garner a two-thirds vote in favor. It is usually used for non-controversial bills where a two-thirds vote is considered very likely. There is no guarantee that the NASA bill will achieve that threshold, but the Democratic leadership apparently feels sufficiently confident of success. According to NASAWatch, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden issued a statement supporting the Senate bill today.

This is an authorization bill that does not provide any funding to NASA. Rather it sets policy and authorizes (permits) programs to begin. Only appropriations bills give money to agencies to spend. The appropriations bill for fiscal year 2011, which begins on Friday, that includes NASA — the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) bill — has not yet been reported from the House Appropriations Committee. The CJS subcommittee marked it up in June, but there has been no further action.

Congress has not passed any of the FY2011 apppropriations bills, thus it will pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) that will fund agencies through December 3, 2010 at their FY2010 funding levels unless an exception is made. The Senate is expected to vote on the CR first today, and then the House. Both chambers are expected to adjourn today or tomorrow until after the November elections, returning on November 15 at last report.

Thus, if the NASA authorization bill passes the House and is signed by the President, NASA will have more clarity about its future direction, but it will not have any additional funds to execute it. That step will await Congress when it returns.

For anyone who’s interested, NASA postponed the IBEX teleconference from today to tomorrow, September 30, at noon.

Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin disagrees with Rep. Bart Gordon that a flawed NASA authorization bill is better than no bill at all. In an email, Dr. Griffin argues that although the Senate bill is somewhat better than the Obama Administration’s plan for NASA, “it is not enough better to warrant its support in law.” His bottom line is that “If we cannot do better than that, then I believe we have reached the point where it is better to allow the damage which has been brought about by the administration’s actions to play out to its conclusion than to accept half-measures in an attempt at remediation.”

The full text of the email is as follows:

“After considerable reflection, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that NASA and the nation’s space program would be best served if the House were to vote against the Senate Authorization Bill in its present form.

“I have the greatest personal and professional respect for Chairman Gordon, and I understand his decision to consider a poor authorization bill rather than to have none at all. However, as Mr. Gordon himself has noted, the Senate Bill has grievous flaws, for which the best hope is now that they can be fixed during the appropriations process. But this is an uncertain path, and while it is true that the Senate Bill offers some improvement over the Obama Administration’s ill-advised plan for NASA, in my considered opinion it is not enough better to warrant its support in law.

“As happened after the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia, it is time once again to ask ourselves whether we want to have a real space program, or not. If we do, then the Senate Bill won’t get us there. If we cannot do better than that, then I believe we have reached the point where it is better to allow the damage which has been brought about by the administration’s actions to play out to its conclusion than to accept half-measures in an attempt at remediation.”

Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, says that the House will vote on the Senate version of the NASA authorization bill on Wednesday.

According to a statement on the committee’s website, Rep. Gordon remains concerned about some of the provisions in the Senate bill, but with time running short, it is “better to consider a flawed bill than no bill at all as the new fiscal year begins.”

He added that he will continue to push for the provisions in the version of the bill he released last week through the appropriations process. He listed the following as his concerns about the Senate bill:

• it has an “unfunded mandate” to fund the space shuttle through the end of FY2011 at a cost of $500 million, but does not say where the money will come from “all but ensuring that other important NASA programs will be cannibalized”;
• it is “overly prescriptive” on the design of a rocket “while being silent on the safety of the vehicle”; and
• it does not “provide a timetable for a government backup” to commercial crew services, and while he is hopeful commercial crew will be available on the time schedule promised, “I am wary of being completely dependent on them, because if they fail, we will be dependent on the Russians for longer than absolutely necessary.”

UPDATE: NASA postponed this from Wednesday to Thursday, September 30, at noon.

NASA will have a media teleconference on Wednesday, September 29, 2010, at 1:00 pm EDT to release new information about conditions at the edge of the solar system from its Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX). The event will be streamed live at http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio. Briefers are:

• Arik Posner, IBEX program scientist, Heliophysics Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington
• Nathan Schwadron, IBEX science operations lead and associate professor at the University of New Hampshire in Durham
• David McComas, IBEX principal investigator and assistant vice president of the Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio
• Merav Opher, associate professor, George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

UPDATE: This is updated to show that (1) registration for the AIA event tomorrow is closed; (2) NASA will have a science teleconference on Wednesday; (3) the House now is expected to vote on the Senate version of the NASA authorization bill on Wednesday, and (4) the IBEX telecon was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday.

The following events may of interest in the coming week. For more information, see our calendar on the right menu or click the links below. Times, dates and witnesses for congressional hearings are subject to change. Check the committee’s website for up to date information.

During the Week

Indications are that Congress will adjourn this week until after the November elections, though the date is uncertain in both chambers pending passage of a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating after Thursday at midnight when fiscal year 2010 ends. None of the FY2011 appropriations bills has passed. The House reportedly is waiting for the Senate to act first to make certain that the bill can pass that chamber (usually the House acts first on appropriations measures).

Today (September 27), Rep. Bart Gordon, chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, released a statement saying that the House will vote on the Senate version of the NASA authorization bill (S. 3729) on Wednesday. Even though he has concerns about the Senate bill, “I felt it was better to consider a flawed bill than no bill at all,” he said. See our story.

Monday-Friday (September 27-October 1)

• International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Prague, the Czech Republic

Tuesday (September 28)

• REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT HAS CLOSED. AIA breakfast on national security space, 2212 Rayburn House Office Building, 8:45 am EDT
• NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Science Committee, teleconference, 8:30 am – 1:00 pm EDT
• NAC IT Infrastructure Committee, NASA/Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm PDT

Wednesday, September 29

• House Science and Technology Committee hearing on “Averting the Storm: How Investments in Science Will Secure the Competitiveness and Economic Future of the United States,” 2318 Rayburn House Office Building. 10:00 am EDT (All four witnesses were members of both the 2005 National Academies study committee that wrote “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” and its update released last week.)
• NASA Teleconference (streamed live) on Conditions at the Edge of the Solar System, 1:00 pm EDT (this was postponed to Thursday at the last minute)
• House of Representatives expected to vote on the Senate version of the NASA authorization bill sometime today (see above).

Wednesday-Friday (September 29-October 1)

• NRC Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center/Edwards Air Force Base, Palmdale, CA

Thursday (September 30)

• Congressional Robotics Caucus meeting on space robotics, 11:45 am – 1:15 pm EDT, Capitol Visitor Center rooms HVC 201 A&C
• NASA Teleconference (streamed live) on Conditions at the Edge of the Solar System, 12:00 pm EDT (this was originally scheduled for Wednesday)

Soyuz TMA-18 landed safely in Kazakhstan at 1:23 am this morning (Saturday) with three ISS crew members: Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko and American Tracy Caldwell Dyson. They spent 176 days in space. The landing was delayed one day after the Soyuz spacecraft failed to undock because of technical issues.

Soyuz TMA-18 successfully undocked from the International Space Station tonight, after failing to do so last night, according to NASA. Landing is at 1:21 am EDT.