Congressional Reaction to NASA's "Section 309" Report on HLV and Crew Vehicle

The report NASA delivered to Congress earlier this week in response to section 309 of the 2010 NASA Authorization Act has not gotten a warm welcome. The report informs Congress of the agency’s current reference designs for a new Space Launch System (also called a Heavy Lift Vehicle) and a Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle as required by that Act, but cautions that the designs cannot meet the Act’s budget and schedule goals.

The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and its Space and Science Subcommittee replied that producing a heavy lift vehicle and a crew capsule is “not optional. It’s the law.” They go on to say that “NASA must use its decades of space know-how and billions of dollars in previous investments to come up with a concept that works.” The statement was made by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Senator David Vitter (R-LA), the main architects of the law.

Representative Ralph Hall (R-TX), the new chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and a long-time supporter of the human spaceflight program, called the report “only the beginning of a long conversation” between Congress and NASA over the future of that program. Reiterating a sentiment he expressed during hearings last year on the Obama Administration’s “commercial crew” proposal, Rep. Hall said that a U.S. capability to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station must be restored and “I’m not convinced that the commercial market is ready to fill that role.”