Senator Shelby Reportedly Wins on Use of Stimulus Money

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) has won his case that NASA should use funding in the stimulus bill to support the existing Ares/Orion program instead of promoting commercial options for human spaceflight. The Ares launch vehicle and the Orion spacecraft are part of NASA’s Constellation program.

At the May 21, 2009 Senate Appropriations hearing on NASA’s budget, Sen. Shelby left no doubt about his skepticism that commercial companies, notably SpaceX, will succeed in developing a human spaceflight capability in the near future (read our hearing summary). He pointedly asked Acting NASA Administrator Chris Scolese about NASA’s plans to allocate $150 million of the $400 million designated in the stimulus bill for the Constellation program to facilitate commercial development of spacecraft to deliver crew and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) rather than spending all $400 million on NASA’s own Ares I launch vehicle and the Orion spacecraft. Sen. Shelby represents Alabama, home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, which has a significant role in the Ares/Orion program. Congress gave NASA $1 billion in the stimulus bill, of which $400 million was allocated to the Constellation program, which includes both Ares/Orion and the commercial crew/cargo initiative.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Sen. Shelby threatened to delay the confirmations of Charlie Bolden and Lori Garver to be Administrator and Deputy Administrator of NASA unless NASA and the White House agreed that $100 million of the $150 million be reallocated back to Ares/Orion. The newspaper, located in Orlando, FL, a short distance from Cape Canaveral and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), highlighted the potential negative impact on Cape Canaveral of Sen. Shelby’s actions. SpaceX is planning to launch its Falcon 9 launch vehicle and its Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral. Dragon is being designed to carry either crew or cargo to and from ISS.