海角大神

NASA director to Congress: Funding NASA is an investment in American industry

NASA administrator Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden urged legislators to increase funding for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, in an editorial published on Friday in Wired magazine.

First Look

NASA administrator Maj. Gen.聽Charles Bolden issued a stern request to the US Congress today calling legislators to fully fund the agency鈥檚 collaboration with private aerospace companies developing a shuttle program to carry American astronauts to the International Space Station.

NASA retired its shuttle program in 2011, and since then NASA has been paying the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) to carry American astronauts to the ISS. 聽on Friday, General Bolden called on Congress to fully fund the agency鈥檚 .

聽In 2010, President Obama laid out the future of the American space program as a two-pronged effort. One part would involve NASA researching deep spaceflight, culminating in a mission to send US astronauts to Mars in the 2030s. While that was going on, the agency would also contract with private American companies to develop a new generation of shuttles to carry American astronauts to the ISS.聽

The plan is called Commercial Crew, and Bolden writes that since its inception Congress has chronically underfunded the program.

鈥淪ince 2010, the President has received approximately $1 billion less than he requested for NASA鈥檚 Commercial Crew initiative. During this time we鈥檝e sent $1 billion to Russia,鈥� Bolden writes.聽

鈥淪pace travel is complex,鈥� he writes, 鈥渂ut this choice is simple: Do we invest in ourselves 鈥� in our businesses, our ingenuity, our people 鈥� or do we choose instead to send our tax-dollars to Russia?鈥澛�

Bolden writes that he supported the decision to shutter NASA鈥檚 shuttle program, but adds that 鈥渋t was always supposed to be temporary.鈥�

Despite the funding gaps, NASA has made some progress with the program. Last year the agency agreed a $6.8 billion deal with SpaceX and Boeing to develop a new generation of space shuttles that would ferry American astronauts into near space.

The investment was praised at the time. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told 海角大神鈥檚 Noelle Swan聽that NASA鈥檚 role 鈥渟hould be at the frontier.鈥�

鈥淭rucking astronauts and their food and supplies and so on is no longer the frontier,鈥� he added. 鈥淣ASA astronauts shouldn鈥檛 be truck drivers. That鈥檚 not what they鈥檙e for. They鈥檙e for being the first people on Mars, or on an asteroid.鈥�

But the funding shortfalls have persisted, and Bolden writes that they have led to delays in the Commercial Crew Program and, more recently, an extension of NASA鈥檚 contract with Roscosmos to shuttle American astronauts.

On Aug. 5, Bolden sent a 聽informing them that, due to the reductions in Obama鈥檚 funding requests for the Commercial Crew Program, NASA was 鈥渇orced鈥� to extend its contract with the Russian agency 鈥� to the tune of $490 million.

鈥淚 am asking that we put past聽disagreements behind us and focus our collective efforts on support for American industry聽鈥撀爐he Boeing Corporation and SpaceX聽鈥撀爐o complete construction and聽certification of their crew vehicles so that we can begin launching our crews from the聽Space Coast of Florida in 2017,鈥� he wrote.

Three weeks later, Bolden is making a similar request. In the聽Wired聽piece he adds that, had Congress adequately funded the Commercial Crew program from the outset, 鈥渨e could have been making final preparations this year to once again launch American astronauts to space from American soil aboard American spacecraft.鈥澛�

The letter also came five months after Bolden was scolded by Sen. Ted Cruz (R) of Texas for a perceived decrease in agency spending on space operations.

鈥淎lmost any American would agree that the core function of NASA is to explore space,鈥� Cruz said.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what inspires little boys and little girls across this country,鈥� he added. 鈥淚 am concerned that NASA in the current environment has lost its full focus on that core mission.鈥�

In his聽Wired聽op-ed Bolden notes that the private American shuttle program would be cheaper in the long-run than paying Roscosmos to do the same thing. According to Bolden, it costs around $81 million to send an American astronaut to the ISS on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. He says it will cost $58 million per seat to send American astronauts to the station once Boeing鈥檚 and SpaceX鈥檚 spacecraft are certified.聽

鈥淓very dollar we invest in Moscow is a dollar we鈥檙e not investing in American businesses,鈥� he writes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 as if we keep ordering expensive takeout because we haven鈥檛 yet set up our own kitchen.鈥�