{"id":12363,"date":"2020-07-09T17:57:33","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T09:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-chief-still-hopeful-to-get-more-money-for-moon-landing-effort\/"},"modified":"2020-07-09T17:57:33","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T09:57:33","slug":"nasa-chief-still-hopeful-to-get-more-money-for-moon-landing-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-chief-still-hopeful-to-get-more-money-for-moon-landing-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA chief still hopeful to get more money for moon landing effort"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
File photo of NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Credit: NASA\/Bill Ingalls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

House lawmakers this week proposed to fund NASA\u2019s human-rated lunar lander development program at less than one-fifth of the level the Trump administration wanted, but NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Wednesday the House budget bill is just the \u201copening salvo\u201d in an appropriations process that now goes to the Senate.<\/p>\n

The appropriations bill in the House of Representatives would approve $22.63 billion for the space agency in fiscal year 2021, the same budget NASA received for fiscal year 2020. The figure falls short of the Trump administration\u2019s request of $25.246 billion for NASA next year.<\/p>\n

The difference in the House budget and the White House\u2019s proposed spending plan is largely in NASA\u2019s Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and the next man on the moon before the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

The White House asked Congress for $8.761 billion for deep space exploration systems development in 2021, including work on the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, Orion crew capsule, human-rated lunar landers, and the Gateway mini-space station to be assembled in orbit around the moon. The bill released earlier this week by the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee would provide $6.017 billion for work on future crewed missions to the moon.<\/p>\n

The bill drafted by the House appropriations subcommittee would provide $628.2 million for NASA\u2019s Human Landing System program, in which the space agency is partnering with private industry to develop commercial spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the lunar surface. In the White House budget request in February, NASA asked Congress for nearly $3.37 billion for the human-rated moon lander program.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Bridenstine thanked the House appropriations subcommittee for the \u201cbipartisan support they have shown NASA\u2019s Artemis program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe $628.2 million in funding for the Human Landing System (HLS) is an important first step in this year\u2019s appropriations process,\u201d Bridenstine said in a written statement. \u201cWe still have more to do and I look forward to working with the Senate to ensure America has the resources to land the first woman and the next man on the moon in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA announced contracts with three industrial teams in April to advance concepts for a Human Landing System.<\/p>\n

A team led by Blue Origin \u2014 with participation from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper \u2014 won a $579 million contract. Dynetics and SpaceX received deals worth $253 million and $135 million, respectively.<\/p>\n

The three teams began 10-month design and concept maturation studies, and NASA officials previously said they were likely to down-select to two lander proposals to continue into full development. But those plans hinge on how much Congress appropriates for the Human Landing System program.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Artist\u2019s illustration of Blue Origin\u2019s proposed human-rated lunar lander. Credit: Blue Origin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Congress approved $600 million for the HLS program in fiscal year 2020, the most significant funding for a NASA human-rated moon lander since the Apollo program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the opening salvo from the House of Representatives, which is controlled by Democrats, and they have (more than) $600 million in the bill for a Human Landing System,\u201d Bridenstine said Wednesday in remarks during NASA\u2019s Exploration Science Forum. \u201cNow that\u2019s not everything we asked for, but what it shows is there\u2019s bipartisan support for this activity, and we can work with the Senate to help get more resources as is necessary to achieve the 2024 landing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Republican-led Senate has been more receptive to the Artemis moon landing program. Vice President Mike Pence announced the 2024 target for the next crewed lunar landing in March 2019.<\/p>\n

Appropriators in the Senate have not yet released their version of the NASA budget for 2021. NASA\u2019s budget is bundled in a spending bill shared with other federal agencies, including the Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

Once each chamber passes the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill, lawmakers will try to iron out the differences before voting on a final version to be sent to the White House for President Trump\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n

In May, members of the NASA Advisory Council\u2019s Human Exploration and Operations committee expressed doubt that NASA could pull off a human landing on the moon by the end of 2024.<\/p>\n

Tommy Holloway, a former space shuttle and space station program at NASA, called the aggressive schedule to develop a Human Landing System in a little more than four years a \u201cpipe dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way that they\u2019re going to get there,\u201d Holloway said.<\/p>\n

Jim Voss, a retired NASA astronaut, said the program appeared to be \u201cmarking time\u201d with its pursuit of trade studies to guide decision-making on the Artemis architecture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they have any chance of making 2024, and we can argue about that all day, but they won\u2019t make 2028 if we keep restudying everything,\u201d Voss said in May.<\/p>\n

Before Vice President Pence announced the 2024 schedule objective last year, NASA was aiming to return humans to the lunar surface by 2028. Bridenstine argued Wednesday that setting 2024 as the goal was beneficial.<\/p>\n

\u201c2024 matters because, number one, it drives the budgets that we need to achieve these goals, and number two, the longer the programs go and the more expensive they become, the more likely they are to get canceled, and we\u2019ve seen that over and over again,\u201d Bridenstine said. \u201cWe need to put points on the board, and once we get there we need to grow. Driving down costs, increasing access, reusability, all of these things need to be driven into the architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The House appropriations subcommittee charged with helping write NASA\u2019s budget proposed providing $2.6 billion for the Space Launch System in 2021, well above the White House\u2019s request for $2.257 billion. The House bill calls for $1.4 billion for the Orion crew capsule program next year, the same level of funding NASA proposed.<\/p>\n

The budget bill would provide $459.7 million for exploration ground systems next year, including infrastructure at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to support SLS\/Orion launches. That\u2019s an increase over the $384.7 funding line in the White House budget request.<\/p>\n

The House spending proposal includes $4.052 billion for low Earth orbit space operations, encompassing the International Space Station program and funding to pay for commercial crew and cargo transportation services. The Trump administration asked for $4.187 billion.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s $1.1 billion in the House bill for space technology development, down from $1.578 billion in the White House proposal. The House plan calls for nearly $7.1 billion for NASA\u2019s science mission directorate in 2021, nearly $800 million more than the Trump administration requested.<\/p>\n

NASA would get $819 million for its aeronautics programs in 2021 under the House version of the budget, in line with the White House request. The House bill also provides $126 million for NASA\u2019s education program, which was planned to be eliminated by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

The House bill would appropriate more than $2.9 billion for NASA\u2019s safety, security and mission services, $419 million for construction and environmental compliance and restoration, and $44.2 million for the office of the inspector general.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File photo of NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Credit: NASA\/Bill Ingalls House lawmakers this week proposed to fund NASA\u2019s human-rated lunar lander development program at less than one-fifth of the level the Trump administration wanted, but NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Wednesday the House budget bill is just the \u201copening salvo\u201d in an appropriations process that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[304,386,800,1545,466,625,190,1883],"class_list":["post-12363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-artemis","tag-congress","tag-human-landing-system","tag-human-spaceflight","tag-jim-bridenstine","tag-moon","tag-nasa","tag-nasa-budget"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}