Lawmakers Question White House on NASA
Posted on: Thursday, 17 February 2005, 15:00 CST
WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers cast doubts Thursday about the Bush administration's decision to steer NASA toward lunar and planetary exploration while cutting back on some of the space agency's science projects such as the Hubble telescope.
"Congress has never endorsed, in fact has never discussed, the vision," House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., said in reference to President Bush's January 2004 declaration that the United States would return humans to the moon in the next 10 to 15 years and ultimately launch manned flights to Mars and beyond.
Boehlert said he "stood and applauded" when the president made that speech, but that he was concerned that NASA was trying to do too much at once and not answering some basic questions about the future of the Hubble, the International Space Station, and the space shuttle.
Boehlert's committee was hearing testimony from NASA officials on its proposed fiscal 2006 budget, which would be increased 2 percent over this year's version, to $16.5 billion. The budget includes a proposal for $858 million, up 17 percent, for Mars and lunar robotic exploration, but would reduce spending in some Earth and space science programs.
The budget does not provide for servicing the Hubble space telescope, which will cease to function as early as 2007.
NASA Deputy Administrator Frederick Gregory, a former astronaut, listed some of the major priorities for the space agency this year, including the return of the space shuttle to flight, two years after the Columbia disaster, progress toward completing the International Space Station, steps toward lunar missions beginning in 2008 and the scheduled 2011 launch of the Webb Space Telescope.
On Sunday, Gregory becomes acting administrator of NASA when the current chief, Sean O'Keefe retires.
But the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., joined Boehlert in warning that there was no consensus in Congress about proposed changes in NASA's priorities, which he said were "almost staggering in terms of magnitude."
He noted that beyond the Hubble, the White House budget would cut NASA funds for nanotechnology research and climate change science and eliminate money for hypersonics research. He expressed concern about NASA's reduced commitment to aeronautics research on reducing aircraft noise and emissions.
Several lawmakers asked why the shuttle, scheduled to make 28 flights to the space station before it retires in 2010, couldn't make one repair trip to the Hubble. "The Hubble telescope in a week will probably do better and more science than we will probably do in the lifetime of the space station," said Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich.
Gregory and his aides said that safety was a major factor in the decision not to service the Hubble. He said astronauts had a safe haven on their trips to the space station, but the telescope offered no such protection.
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On the Net:
NASA: http://www,nasa.gov/
House Science Committee: http://www.house.gov/science/
Source: Associated Press/AP Online
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