Conference Report Language on NASA: Space Station, ASRM
On October 1, members of the House-Senate conference reached agreement on H.R. 2491, the VA, HUD, Independent Agencies Appropriations bill for fiscal year 1994. This FYI and the next will provide details on the NASA portion of the conference report (103-273), which contains some of the Senate report’s language restricting funds available for Russian cooperation on the space station, and leaves open the option of funding the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) if needed to launch the station to a higher orbit. However, this is not the last word on the subject: On October 6, when the conference report was brought to the House floor for a vote, it was rejected by a vote of 305-123 and sent back to conference because it did not terminate ASRM. This ran against the wishes of the House, which on June 29 had voted in their version of the bill to end the ASRM program.
Selected details of the funding for the space station and ASRM, according to the conference report, are provided below. The House’s action shows, however, that the ASRM language will have to be changed in order for the bill to pass.
SPACE STATION:
“The conferees have agreed to limit the total amount available for the redesigned space station to $1,946,000,000 as proposed by the Senate instead of $2,100,000,000 as proposed by the House. The House amount did not reflect refinements of the proposed amendment to the President’s budget on the space station submitted in House Document 103-103, which allocated certain station-related costs to other portions of the NASA research and development account. When the reallocation of these activities is taken together, however, the total provided for space station activities, including payloads, is $2,100,000,000.”
“The conferees have agreed that of the $2,100,000,000 provided for the space station program, not to exceed $1,100,000,000 shall be available before March 31, 1994. The conferees have further agreed to `cap’ the space station program at $1,100,000,000 . . . in view of the continuing concern that any joint U.S./Russian space station option not compromise the longstanding goals of the American program. Fundamentally, the conferees believe that any Russian participation should enhance and not enable the space station. In that context it is important that a U.S.-led `human-tended’ station with sufficient power to operate it should be the first phase of any international space station. The conferees welcome Russian participation including the use of the so-called Russian `tug’ for guidance and navigation, the Russian Soyuz as a crew rescue vehicle, and other Russian docking and rendezvous technology and hardware. The conferees believe that over the coming four to six weeks a final configuration incorporating any Russian participation must be resolved in order to proceed with an amended critical design review of space station Alpha. Continued delay or uncertainty regarding what space station the United States will build can only exacerbate the problem of expending $8,000,000 a day for a program that remains undefined in terms of its final configuration. The conferees hope that the United States and Russia can agree, along with the other international partners, on an acceptable final configuration that will permit the lifting of the `cap’ described above.”
The report deletes language proposed by the Senate “limiting funds for any space station with a user capability less than that available for space station Freedom.” It does insert, however, proposed Senate language “limiting funds made available for the space station program to enter into contracts with the Republic of Russia.” Another amendment inserts Senate-proposed language “prohibiting the use of any of the $100,000,000 provided for cooperative agreements with the Republic of Russia until after December 15, 1993.”
ADVANCED SOLID ROCKET MOTOR:
“The conferees have included $124,900,000 in fiscal year 1994 for the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor program. This is a reduction of $155,500,000 below the budget request of $280,400,000. The conferees regret that the full request for the ASRM program could not be accommodated within the severely constrained allocations available to the subcommittee. . . . The Committee of Conference is aware, however, that NASA will soon make a final decision regarding the orbital inclination of the space station. If such decision places station in a 51.6 degree orbit to accommodate access from Russia, the shuttle will experience a significant degradation in lift capacity to station.
“The conferees believe, therefore, that if the higher space station orbit is selected by NASA, the ASRM is clearly an active and viable option to offset the loss of shuttle lift capacity. In that context, the conferees direct that NASA and the Administration determine if the ASRM is the preferred option to address the issue of diminished shuttle lift capacity should a higher space station orbit be selected. If such a determination is made, the conferees expect that NASA will submit a reprogramming by November 15, 1993 of such funds necessary to proceed with ASRM development.
“If, however, NASA elects to choose an alternate approach to enhance shuttle lift capacity, then the funds provided ($124,900,000) for ASRM may be used only for termination and transferring the production of solid rocket motor nozzles and the refurbishment of solid rocket motor cases to the new ASRM production site located near Yellow Creek, Mississippi. To assure that such an option remains viable, the conferees have acceded to the Senate and restored the $32,600,000 requested for ASRM construction at Yellow Creek.”
It should be noted that when the final conference report is approved by both chambers, on any areas on which it remains mute, the relevant language in the House or Senate version remains in effect. Thus, if the approved conference report contains no words on the “Reinventing of NASA,” that section of the Senate report remains valid (see FYI #120 for the Senate language.)
