The House and Senate will both be in recess next week (May 25-29, 2009). Congressional hearings during recess periods are uncommon, and none is currently scheduled related to space activities. We can all take a breather after the flurry of hearings this week! Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.
In a May 20, 2009 phone call with the orbiting STS-125 crew, President Obama told them “The space program’s always described our willingness to stretch beyond current boundaries and to look at things in new ways. So, in that way, you inspire us all…” He declined to tell the crew his choice for the new NASA Administrator because of “hoopla” he needs to go through. He spoke to the crew after repairs to Hubble were successfully completed and the crew was preparing for its return home on Friday. The transcript and audio of the phone call are available here.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had the following comment during his press briefing at 1:46 pm regarding the meeting between President Obama and Charlie Bolden earlier in the day:
Q Can you read out the meeting with Charles Holden [sic] today?
MR. GIBBS: I will. I don’t know when that is, but we will — I’ll get you something on that. I know with what’s going on with NASA and the Hubble, there’s obviously great interest in that.
Q Is an announcement of an administrator imminent?
MR. GIBBS: I think the President looks forward to meeting with him and hopes that he’s the right person to lead NASA in the coming years and through its evolving role.
The Associated Press reports that President Obama met with Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden (Ret.), rumored to be his choice to become the new NASA administrator, but that “the administration isn’t expected to announce a new NASA chief immediately.”
According to reports from AFP and the Associated Press, the meeting between President Obama and Charles Bolden, rumored to be his choice for NASA Administrator, was postponed from May 18 to May 19.
The Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science will hold a hearing on NASA’s FY2010 budget request on May 21 at 11:00 am in Room 192 Dirksen Senate Office Building. According to the committee’s website, as part of the hearing a live videoconference will be held with the STS-125 crew that is in orbit repairing the Hubble Space Telescope. The videoconference will take place at approximately 12:30 pm.
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed that the President would meet on Monday with the person he hopes will accept the job as NASA Administrator, but Charlie Bolden was quoted by Space.com as saying that he has not been asked to meet with the President.
May 15 White House Press Briefing
Q And on Monday, Robert, will there be a NASA administrator announcement?
MR. GIBBS: I think you know that the President will meet with somebody that he hopes will — wants to meet with somebody about filling the important role of future NASA administrator.
Q Charles Bolden?
MR. GIBBS: He will meet with him on Monday, and we’ll see how that goes.
“I am hearing the rumors, and as far as I know there is no truth in the rumors,” Bolden said. “You can’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when you haven’t had a conversation. I haven’t had that conversation and I don’t have one scheduled.”
MSNBC reported that Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden (USMC, Ret.) is President Obama’s choice to head NASA. Gen. Bolden is a highly respected former NASA astronaut and marine aviator. He currently serves on NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel and on the National Research Council’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board.
His name surfaced early after the election along with several others as a possible successor to then-NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. Many news stories have credited Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) as the major backer of Bolden for the position. The two flew together on the space shuttle in 1986 on the STS-61C flight just before the Challenger tragedy. Bolden’s nomination would have to be approved by the Senate. Senator Nelson chairs the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation’s Subcomittee on Science and Space that would recommend approval of the nomination to the Senate.
The MSNBC report was based on information from an anonymous Obama administration source so may or may not be accurate. NASA supporters have been waiting patiently since the inauguration for someone to be named to lead the agency on a permanent basis. Christopher Scolese is serving as Acting Administrator.
Three NASA budget hearings and one on the military space budget are currently scheduled for the week of May 18, 2009 as listed below. Times and witnesses for congressional hearings are subject to change. Check with the committee for the most up-to-date information.
NASA Budget
May 19 House Science and Technology Committee
2:00 pm 2318 Rayburn House Office Building
Witness: NASA Acting Administrator Christopher Scolese
May 21 Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science
11:00 am 192 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Witness: NASA Acting Administrator Christopher Scolese. A videoconference with the crew of STS-125 which is in orbit repairing the Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled for approximately 12:30 pm.
http://appropriations.senate.gov
May 21 Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Subcommittee on Science and Space
2:30 pm 253 Russell Senate Office Building
Witness: NASA Acting Administrator Christopher Scolese
Military Space Budget
May 20 Senate Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
2:00 pm 232-A Russell Senate Office Building
Witnesses: Gary Payton, Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force For Space Programs; General C. Robert Kehler, Commander, Air Force Space Command; Lt. Gen. Larry James, Commander, 14th Air Force, Air Force Space Command and Commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space, U.S. Strategic Command; Vice Adm. Harry B. Harris, Jr., Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Communications Networks; and Cristina Chaplain, GAO
http://armed-services.senate.gov
Differing views on the mandate for and potential impact of the “Augustine panel” on future U.S. human space flight activities were aired during a joint meeting of the NRC’s Space Studies Board (SSB) and Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) on May 13, 2009.
The panel is being created at White House direction and will be chaired by former Lockheed Martin executive Norman Augustine. Today NASA is proceeding with Project Constellation to return humans to the Moon by 2020 and someday send them to Mars as directed by President George W. Bush in 2004. The question is whether the new Obama Administration wants to continue on that course. The panel’s report is due in August 2009.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP’s) May 7, 2009 press release lays out the Augustine panel’s mandate to –
“examine ongoing and planned [NASA] development activities, as well as potential alternatives, and present options for advancing a safe, innovative, affordable, and sustainable human space flight program in the years following Space Shuttle retirement.” It goes on to say that the panel “will assess a number of architecture options, taking into account such objectives as:
Station;
“Among the parameters to be considered in the course of its review are crew and mission safety, life-cycle costs, development time, national space industrial base impacts, potential to spur innovation and encourage competition, and the implications and impacts of transitioning from current human space flight systems. The review will consider the appropriate amounts of R&D and complementary robotic activity necessary to support various human space flight activities, as well as the capabilities that are likely to be enabled by each of the potential architectures under consideration. It will also explore options for extending International Space Station operations beyond 2016.”
During the day-long SSB/ASEB meeting, NASA officials and White House and congressional staff discussed their views on the panel’s task. Acting NASA Administrator Christopher Scolese presented a chart laying out the OSTP terms of reference and adding two more: “determine appropriate opportunities for international collaboration,” and look at the “Potential for inspiring the nation, and motivating young people to pursue careers in STEM subjects.” The NASA chart also states that the panel will “determine” rather than “consider” the appropriate amount of R&D and complementary robotic activity necessary to support various human space flight activities. In addition to answering questions about the future of Project Constellation, Mr. Scolese appeared to be pinning his hopes on the Augustine panel to decide the fate of the International Space Station (ISS). Current U.S. planning is to discontinue U.S. involvement in the ISS in the 2015-2016 time period even though construction is only now being completed, giving it a very short operational lifetime.
OSTP and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) staff , however, emphasized that the Augustine panel is to provide only options and pros and cons. “We haven’t asked them to make any decisions, but to give options,” according to an OMB staffer. Another added that the idea is the panel’s report will get White House attention, spurring the White House to make decisions.
SSB and ASEB members sharply questioned the requirement that the panel’s review “fit within the current budget profile for NASA Human Space Flight activities.” SSB vice-chair A. Thomas Young asserted that the requirement invalidates the study, and instead the directive should have been to “assess” the current budget. Many consider the current budget to be inadequate for any effort to expand human presence beyond low Earth orbit in the next decade. Other Board members questioned how the panel could fulfill its mandate in just three months.
Staff from the congressional committees that authorize NASA funding held other views. One commented that he doubted that the members of his committee would be willing to cede their obligation to guide the future of the U.S. space program to “an unelected committee.” Another pointed out that Congress has twice endorsed the current plan to return humans to the Moon by 2020 – once when the Republicans controlled Congress in 2005 and again when Democrats controlled Congress in 2008 – with the idea that no matter who won the White House, Congress supported the goals enunciated in 2004. Another staffer argued that there should be no constraints on what the panel considers — such as “fit within the current budget profile” — other than the fact that “we are where we are.”
ASEB member David Goldston observed that the White House and Congress have opposite views on what the Augustine panel will do: “The White House wants them to say how to stay within the existing box, and the Hill wants them to take the box apart.”