And, just in case any of you out there were wondering how I actually do feel about the president's space policy... here's a piece that I published on ANN back on Sept. 20th, 2011... Oh, and by the way, I am all for SpaceX, the SNC Dream Chaser and the Boeing CTS-100, I'm simply not a Newspace zealot.
When
President Obama signed the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 it placed into effect
PL111-267. This law mandated that it will be the policy of the United States to
have a Federal space launch system and that NASA must develop a Heavy Lift
Launch Vehicle to replace the Space Shuttle- it was called the “Space Launch
System” or “SLS.” In that law Congress saw fit to specify lifting tonnage,
launch date, exploration destinations, use of existing materials and man power
and a very clear date for reporting to the Congress on the beginning of
development as well as the progress of the program. Although that action caused
the Internet critics of human spaceflight to try and malign the proposed system
by dubbing it the “Senate Launch System.” The program specifics were not born
out of the desire of the Senate or the House to design a launch system. These
specifics were instead born out of a well earned mistrust of NASA’s politically
appointed upper management to actually follow through with the intent of the
Congress.
Since the
beginning of the Constellation program, which was supposed to be the follow-on
to the Space Shuttle, the project had wide support. For example, in 2005 the
House approved the program by a vote of 385-15 and in 2008 the vote was a
409-15 approval. Thus both Republican and Democrat controlled Congresses
approved of the direction in which NASA was headed. Yet in the beginning of
2010, in his Fiscal Year 2011 budget Proposal, President Obama saw fit to
simply cancel Constellation and re-direct the funds for NASA’s human
spaceflight program to start-up “commercial” operators. There was no goal for
NASA that proposal, no schedule, no launch system- it was, in fact, a program
to nowhere. This sent a shock wave through the Congress and the aerospace
industry.
Prior to his election, candidate Obama had stated that
when elected he “…will expedite the development of the
Shuttle's successor systems [Constellation] for carrying Americans to space so
we can minimize the gap,” [between the Shuttle and Constellation]. But on
February 1, 2010 President Obama did exactly the opposite.
To say that the Congress was outraged would be somewhat
of an understatement. Aside from a hand full in the Congress, the opposition to
the Obama space program was quite heated. In the first hearing of the House
Committee on Science, Space and Technology following the bombshell of the Obama
FY2011 Budget Proposal, the normally reserved senior Representative Ralph Hall
started to read his opening remarks and then stammered and stopped and said
“…I’m so damned mad I can’t even read this.” There were applause in the
chamber. In every hearing thereafter, in both houses of Congress, there was
great opposition to the Obama space program to nowhere.
The spin quickly began and the script was made official
with talking points saying that there was nothing wrong with the Obama
proposal, it was simply that NASA had “Rolled it out poorly.” The Obama
appointed NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and his ever grinning side-kick
Assistant Administrator Lori Garver spouted this talking point many times as
did a select few in the Congress such as Bill Nelson. This loyal Democrat who
helped Obama win Florida, where the president’s new space program was about to
put thousands of skilled workers out of a job while bankrupting much of the
Space Coast. In late March of 2010 Nelson, along with KSC Director Bob Cabanna,
did a panel discussion at the University of Central Florida. There Nelson
assured the crowd that the president was going to “fix” his FY2011 space
proposal on April 15 when he was scheduled to visit KSC. When asked, “What if
he doesn’t?” Nelson frankly replied, “Then we (the Congress) will fix it for
him.” For the next few weeks Nelson repeatedly stated that he had assurances
from the White House, that the president would make major changes in his
proposal on April 15th and would make a major announcement on a
time-table for NASA and an objective- which would be Mars.
On the appointed day the president arrived at KSC as Bill
Nelson stood proudly by waiting for the big announcement. Instead, President
Obama visited the SpaceX facility, rubbed elbows with Elon Musk, went to
designated speaking area and announced that the Orion spacecraft that he had
canceled would now serve as a multi-billion dollar rescue pod to be hung on the
International Space Station (ISS). He also sneered at returning to the moon
with a been there, done that, quip… and other than some standard Obama
circle-speak, that was that. He then boarded Air Force One and jetted down to
Miami for a campaign fund raiser.
It is said that in Washington D.C. a friend is someone
who stabs you in the chest rather than in the back- the president was
apparently not being friendly to Senator Nelson.
From that point on the Congress went about “fixing it”
for the White House. They invited NASA and aerospace industry engineers to
conceive of a launch system that could take the Orion from the Constellation
Program and use it to explore beyond low earth orbit and to back-up the Obama
blessed “commercial” operators who were supposed to take over shuttling U.S.
astronauts to the ISS. They asked the engineers to make, to the greatest extent
practical, use Space Shuttle hardware and facilities as well as those that were
in development for Constellation. Additionally, the Congress asked that the new
program consider current and future budgetary restraints. By mid-summer the
Senate had what they needed to mandate a palatable and realistic direction for
NASA. Following the Congressional summer recess of 2010 the Senate’s
Authorization Act was accepted by the House and went before the President, who
signed it into law. You would think that was it- done- let’s get started, but
you must remember that this is the Obama Administration we are talking about.
Members of the Senate did indeed remember that they were
dealing with the Obama Administration. This president wants things done his
way- period. If he cannot get his way past the Congress, he will make an end
run around that body and get his way administratively. A good example of this
can be seen in “Cap-N-Trade.” This pet
project of the Obama White House could not get past the Congress, so the
administration simply went around the Congress and is currently trying to
impose it by way of the EPA. In the nine months between the announcement of the
FY2011 Budget proposal and the signing of the NASA Authorization Act the
Congress developed a well earned mistrust where the President was concerned.
Additionally, the members of Congress clearly did not trust the politically
appointed “leaders” at NASA to execute the law to any greater degree than they
trusted the Obama Administration to follow the law.
For that reason, the members of the Senate who wrote the Authorization
Act placed some specifics into the act. These included a 90 day countdown from
the day of the Act’s entry into law that required the production of a full
report on vehicle specifications must be delivered to the Congress and made
public. The Congress did NOT “design the rocket.” That little myth has become a
common slur used by those who still want the original Obama program-to-nowhere
to return. Another common slur that is used by the fans of the Obamaspace is to
say that SLS stands for “Senate Launch System.” When you read a comment posted anywhere in the
Internet’s assorted public space “forums,” it should be considered to say
nothing more than “I want the Obama plan to nowhere.” It also says that the
person posting that message knows nothing about NASA as a whole and cares little about the agency itself.
Of course
the opinions of the semi-informed lemmings of the Internet forums are of no
matter in this saga- the real struggle is in the political arena. You see, the
Congress established NASA and the agency is under their direction. NASA, however,
is administered by persons appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the
President. That, is the real ball to which we must keep our eye upon.
Likewise, we
often hear and read the saying “The Congress writes the checks.” That is not
correct- in fact, the Congress only APPROVES the checks. The Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) actually “writes the checks.” What most people do
not realize is that OMB is not required to disburse as much as Congress has
approved. They can, and often do, disburse far less and can also delay funds as
they wish in order to steer an agency in one direction or another. OMB is under
the direction of the President.
For 339 days
after the president signed the law that created the SLS, Congress waited for
the report that was to be submitted by NASA’s politically appointed
“leadership” within 90 days after the President’s signature. Likewise the
engineering specifications for the SLS were being held up, not by NASA’s career
civil servants, not by engineers, not by contractors- but by… (you’ll never guess)… OMB! Yes, OMB, which-
again- is under the direction of the President, had insisted on an
“independent” review of the costs in the SLS plan before it invested billions
in the system. This sounds quite responsible until you know that OMB has NOT
called for any independent review or accounting of those so-called “commercial”
operators that Obamaspace desires to become the exclusive providers of
transportation of humans to and from space and who will also be getting
billions of dollars to fly rockets.
While
announcing the SLS, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden as well as Senator Bill
Nelson attempted to spin the administration’s delaying tactics and as being the
grand plan of the President all along intended to ensure that the new program
would be “sustainable” and “affordable.”
Sorry- NO
SALE guys.
This was
Obama playing basketball and trying to run out the clock until he could get
that last three point shot and win the game for himself. Tell the thousands of
honest, hardworking spaceflight workers who lost their jobs, homes and
self-worth in the nine months that it took to start this program, all about
this study. While you are at it tell the businesses, the restaurants, mom and
pop stores, the auto repair shops and so on that depended on those same workers
all about the studies and other delays.
No sale.
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