Giffords Seeking Compromise on Human Space Flight Plan

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), chair of the House Science and Technology Committee’s Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, believes that there is a “third way” to resolve the dispute between the President’s plan for human space flight and the current program. In an op-ed for The Hill, a newspaper focused on happenings on Capitol Hill, Rep. Giffords continued her opposition to the Obama plan, but signaled that she is searching for a compromise not just retaining the Constellation program intact.

Saying that the modified proposal set forth in the President’s April 15 speech “seems unworkable within the budget without crippling NASA’s other missions,” she concludes that “We cannot continue to argue between the president’s plan and the status quo. There must be a third way.”

What is that third way? Rep. Giffords says that she and her staff are working on it, and it is a challenging task. In her view the basic components must include: American leadership in space, clear timelines and destinations aligned to realistic budget expectations, assured access to the International Space Station on U.S. spacecraft, continued commitment to the aerospace workforce, and encouraging a commercial space sector that will take over spaceflight to low Earth orbit when it is sufficiently mature.