Sen. Barack Obama condemned the current administration's handling of NASA and called on Congress to take action before next Friday to protect the United States' access to the International Space Station.
At issue is a waiver for a section of the Iran, North Korea, Syria
Nonproliferation Agreement that bans payments to Russia for Soyuz spacecraft to transport U.S. astronauts to the ISS after the Space
Shuttle is retired in 2010.
The current waiver is set to expire at the end of 2011. If Congress doesn't renew the waiver before Friday, there would be a gap in Soyuz availability before Orion, the Shuttle's replacement, is ready in 2015.
Chris Shank, a key aide to NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, recently told the Orlando Sentinel that "if we do not get the exemption on this, we are going to have to abandon the station, and that if we do this it will hurt the U.S. space program not the
Russians.”
In Obama's letter, sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid Monday, he also urges Congress to fund one additional, already authorized, Shuttle flight and to demand NASA take no further actions that would preclude extending the Shuttle program beyond 2010. The alternative is to leave the $100-billion facility to the other countries involved and miss out on the benefits, he wrote.
The strong tone of the letter is supported by a quote from Griffin taken from an internal e-mail that was leaked to the press earlier this month. The e-mail candidly criticizes the White House and Office of Management and Budget's handling of the Shuttle retirement and critical underfunding of plans to return humans to the moon.
Democratic Vice Presidential nominee and head of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, Joe Biden, is the sponsor of the waiver legislation that was introduced back in June. Yesterday, the waiver passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and now has to unanimously pass a Senate vote before Congress adjourns, competing with major financial crisis legislation for time on the floor.
Obama's letter is an important display of space leadership and judgment at a critical time for NASA. Let's just hope that Congress heeds the warning and gets the waiver through before recess.
Obama Calls on Senate and House Leadership to Renew America's Commitment to NASA [Senator Obama]
NASA clears hurdle over Soyuz [Orlando Sentinel]
Frustrated NASA cheif vents in internal email over fate of agency [Orlando Sentinel]
See Also:
- U.S.-Russia Relations Threaten Space Station
- Obama Campaign Reveals Science Advisors
- Obama Answers Your Science Questions
- Obama Delivers Space Policy Speech in Florida
Photo: Obama at Foreign Relations Committee hearing, obama.senate.gov
