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Projects: Space Advocacy

NASA Appropriations Bill Passes Congress

Planetary Society victories include Shuttle replacement, missions to Europa and Mars, Hubble servicing, and probably saving Voyager, as well as Iran Non-Proliferation Act Exemption

Click to enlarge > CEV in Lunar Orbit Artist John Frassanito's concept of the Crew Exploration Vehicle with the Lunar lander in orbit around the Moon. Credit: NASA

On November 8, the U.S. Senate and House Appropriations Committees resolved their differences and the Congress passed the fiscal year 2006 NASA appropriations. The bill was then sent to the White House for signature.  The budget supports the development of a Crew Exploration Vehicle and the beginning of work on the shuttle-derived vehicle to launch it. These new starts are the centerpieces of NASA Administrator Mike Griffin’s redirection of human space flight.  That redirection was first recommended in the study that Griffin and former astronaut Owen Garriott led for The Planetary Society last year.

In addition, the bill allocated funds for a mission to Europa, and directed NASA “to begin planning for this mission and to incorporate a new start for a Europa mission as part of its fiscal year 2007 budget request.” Unlike its predecessor, the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, this new mission will not require nuclear propulsion. The Society has been advocating such a mission and is urging that it be done with the cooperation of international partners.

The language accompanying the bill strongly supported Mars exploration, although the funds for a sample return mission that have been reprogrammed by NASA to other areas were not restored.

To keep open the option of a Hubble servicing mission by the space shuttle, $50 million was added to the budget. The Society has been working hard to keep this option until its feasibility is determined—if and when the shuttle returns to flight. Administrator Griffin has recently indicated that such a mission is “highest priority” for the shuttle but also said NASA would wait until after the shuttle’s second return-to-flight mission before deciding on its feasibility.

The Society also advocated that the Congress direct NASA to continue operating the Voyager spacecraft, now on their way out of the solar system. While the appropriations bill doesn’t mention Voyager specifically, it gives NASA re-programming authority, and that authority is expected to be exercised in favor of continuing the Voyager mission.

Congress also passed the exemption from the Iran Non-Proliferation Act, again advocated by The Planetary Society, which permits NASA to provide funds to Russia so that astronauts can continue to fly to and from the International Space Station using Russian Soyuz spacecraft and launch vehicles.