Feb 8, 2011

By Robert Block, Sentinel Space Editor

In a move sure to please their conservative bases and ardent rocket-building constituents, three Republican members of Congress –  Rep. Bill Posey of Rockledge, Sandy Adams of Orlando and Rob Bishop of Utah — called on their fellow lawmakers today to “reprioritize” NASA for human spaceflight missions, not global warming.

The move takes aim at the Obama administration’s call last year for an increase in NASA’s science funding, especially Earth Science.  But with NASA’s budget expect to remain flat next year at its 2010 level of $18.7 billion, Posey, Adams and Bishop, whose Utah district includes solid-rocket manufacturer Alliant Techsystems Inc., or ATK, said that House leaders needed to protect NASA’s core mission of sending humans into space.

Posey and Adams sent a letter sent to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky.,  and Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf R-Va.), saying that while they recognize there is a need for budget cuts, “it will be critical for the Appropriations Committee to produce legislation that is precise in its budget cuts. For years, Presidents and Congress have charged NASA with completing tasks that fall outside the scope of NASA’s primary mission.”

“NASA’s primary purpose is human space exploration and directing NASA funds to study global warming undermines our ability to maintain our competitive edge in human space flight, ” Posey said in a joint press release Tuesday.

Adams accused the administration of being “unable or unwilling to outline a plan or stick to their original promises” on space exploration. “That is why I am encouraging Chairmen Rogers and Wolf to reduce funding for climate change research, which undercuts one of NASA’s primary and most important objectives of human spaceflight,” she said.

Bishop agreed.  “It is counter-intuitive to direct millions of dollars to NASA for duplicative climate change programs and at the same time cancel its manned space flight program- the purpose for which the agency was originally created,”  said Bishop in a press release issued on Tuesday.

Though the administration has not canceled NASA human spaceflight franchise, many conservative space supporters accuse the White House of doing so because last year it scrapped — with the approval of Congress — the agency’s over-budget Constellation moon program.

This article was first posted on www.OrlandoSentinel.com