House aligns for one more shuttle flight

BY BART JANSEN

WASHINGTON — The House science committee agreed Thursday to add one more shuttle flight, following the lead of the Senate, and making the extra flight look increasingly likely.

That and other decisions moved the House science committee closer to a $19 billion spending plan for NASA for fiscal 2011.

But a bitter dispute remains between House and Senate committees regarding how much to invest in commercial rockets after the shuttles retire next year. Answers could take months to resolve as policy and spending committees negotiate their differences with the administration.

On Thursday, the House science committee approved spending $150 million on commercial crews over the next three years, with another $300 million available via a loan program, far short of the $3.3 billion proposed by the president over the same period and the $1.3 billion approved by Senate committees to foster a commercial crew program.

The House committee also approved a proposal from Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, to fly an additional shuttle flight in mid-2011, which the Senate science and appropriations committees approved earlier. Obama proposed retiring the shuttle as scheduled after two more flights.

Kosmas wants to finance the additional flight by shifting $900 million over two years from the International Space Station and space exploration programs.

"This extension of the shuttle program will help protect jobs while giving us more time to diversify our economy and provide new opportunities for Space Coast workers," Kosmas said.

The retirement of the shuttle fleet will cost Kennedy Space Center an estimated 8,000 jobs.

House and Senate panels have agreed to Obama's proposed $287 million increase for NASA next year, which would come amid a freeze in overall domestic spending. The life of the International Space Station would be extended from 2015 to 2020.

Obama also wants to end the Constellation return-to-the-moon program, a proposal that has sparked widespread opposition in states working on the program's Ares rockets and Orion capsule.

The House panel refused to endorse continuing the Constellation program, which Obama has called underfunded and unrealistic, but they do want to continue developing government rockets and spacecraft as backup to any commercial venture.

Animosity toward commercial rocket companies emerged during Thursday's hearing as Kosmas proposed adding $2.3 billion over five years for development of commercial rockets.

"We must provide a level of support that will encourage development of this job-creating industry," Kosmas said.

Her amendment failed on a voice vote as critics argued that the provision would divert funding from the exploration program.

Kosmas also tried to add $2 billion over five years to develop new technologies such as propulsion systems or orbital refueling. She said the provision would help both Kennedy and Johnson space centers.