Emotions Running High Over Space Station
An April 13 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Space provided a good indication of the battle brewing over space station funding. Previous funding disputes over the station and the SSC could be like a walk in the park compared to what lies in store this year for space station funding.
This hearing attracted a standing-room-only crowd to hear NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin and accompanying senior officials respond to a series of funding and programmatic questions sent to NASA in late February. Goldin discarded his prepared testimony to deliver an unusually blunt and sometimes quite emotional defense of the agency and its contractors. He warned that the space station was the “last ship out of town” to preserve America’s preeminence in science and technology. Citing the demise of the SSC, he said, “this is it.”
Goldin is impassioned about the need for America to build the space station, and is mounting a strong defense to preserve station funding. He has appeared in over 50 cities to build grass roots support for the station. Goldin spoke with obvious emotion about what the continuing redesigns and downward budgets have done to agency and contractor employee morale, and visibly bristled when one Member compared the station to a white-collar jobs program.
It is still an open question whether the space station will survive House and Senate floor votes. One of the station’s strongest supporters, subcommittee chairman Ralph Hall (D-Texas) implored Goldin to provide a firm cost figure for the station. “We need a total cost...to take to the bank” for other Members, Hall said. Responding to this question from another Member, Goldin declared, “you want a number -- it’s $17.9 billion.” Yet, there remain uncertainties surrounding this latest figure, as negotiations are underway with the prime contractor, Boeing, as well as with Russia. Other participants are facing a cash crunch, foremost among them Canada.
A more immediate money problem is the $2.1 billion cap placed on station expenditures this fiscal year by Congress. At current spending rates, this cap will be reached soon, leaving no money for the last four to five months of this fiscal year. Goldin will be talking to the appropriations committees about lifting this cap to avoid termination notices.
Another controversial issue is Russia’s participation on the project. A station supporter, Rep. Martin Hoke (R-Ohio), spoke of the “tremendous risk” that Russia would eventually back out, saying “it’s really bad policy.” Goldin acknowledged, “this is not risk proof,” but emphasized that there is considerable knowledge to be gained from Russia. There were questions about which nation would be in charge of command and control, Goldin saying it would be the U.S.
Goldin wants funding stability for the station, something which will not be easily won this year. When asked what it would mean if the station had to again be redesigned to save money, he said “Dan Goldin has Excedrin Headache #3.” Avoiding this headache will require 218 votes in the House and 51 in the Senate.
