WASHINGTON
– Senator
(R-Texas), Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Committee, today introduced legislation to close the gap in
occur if the space shuttle is retired before the next generation of space
vehicle is developed. Senator Hutchison’s bill would allow the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to extend the shuttle’s service as
work continues on the next generation of American space vehicle. Companion
legislation is expected to be introduced in the House of Representatives next
week by Reps. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Florida) and Bill Posey (R-Florida).
“We must close the gap in
human space flight or face the reality that we will be totally dependent on
for access to space until the next generation of space vehicle is developed,”
said Senator Hutchison. “If the space shuttle program is terminated,
the world with the capability to launch humans into space. This is
unacceptable.”
Hutchison said the Obama Administration’s budget proposal
was “short-sighted and represents the wrong direction for U.S. space policy.”
The Administration proposes to retire the shuttle as
scheduled while discontinuing years of work on development of a new launch
vehicle and provides no short term solution to deliver critical equipment and
components to the International Space Station that are essential to extending
the life of the station until 2020.
“Not only are we turning our backs on 40 years of American
space superiority, we are giving up vital national security and economic
interests to other nations. This must not be an ‘either or’ proposition where
we are forced to choose between continuing to fly the shuttle to service the
station and maintain our independence in reaching space, or investing in the
next generation of space vehicle. We can and must do both. By
maintaining our independence from other nations in reaching space, the
can fully realize the research potential of the space station as a national
lab,” Hutchison said.
The Human Space
Flight Capability Assurance and Enhancement Act would:
- Make shuttle retirement
dependent on the availability of replacement capabilities for comparable
size crew and cargo delivery, whether government-owned or commercial,
(assuming a rate of 2 missions a
year), or until it is conclusively demonstrated that the space
shuttle cargo capabilities are not needed to ensure space station
viability;
- Require International
Space Station (ISS) operations and full utilization through at least 2020,
and further establish the ISS National Laboratory operating mechanisms and
procedures;
- Provide for the
acceleration of a government-owned human space flight capability to as
close to 2015 as possible;
- Expand support for
Commercial Orbital Space Transportation (COTS) to support ISS — both for
cargo and for eventual crew launch capability;
- Reaffirm long-term goal of
moving beyond low-Earth orbit whether to the Moon, Mars or alternative
destinations;
- Provide for the near-term
evaluation of heavy-lift rocket launcher design options, including
shuttle-derived options, to enable the expansion beyond low-earth orbit
and accelerate the start of vehicle design activity; and
- Authorize top-level
funding for all of NASA’s mission activities, but would only address the
human space flight policy issues.
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