The Hutchison Bill

Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has introduced a bill that would keep the space shuttle flying for two years after its scheduled retirement later this year and task NASA to develop a heavy lift launcher capable of delivering astronauts to low Earth orbit by 2013, and beyond Earth orbit by 2018. Sen. Hutchison argues that having Russia and China being the only two nations capable of putting humans in space, which would be the case if the shuttle is retired this year, is unacceptable.

The Hutchison bill is contrary to the recently announced space policy approach of the Obama administration, which favors ending the shuttle program as planned and encouraging the development of commercial spacecraft capable of taking humans to low Earth orbit. Hutchison is a Republican, but perhaps as importantly, she represents Texas, a state which benefits from a healthy NASA manned spaceflight program.

Earlier this week, Sen. Hutchison lost in her attempt to gain the Republican nomination to run for governor. Before her defeat, she had said she would leave the Senate soon. Now that she won't be running for governor in the fall, it's not clear that she will still leave the Senate before her term is up. If she does leave, the fate of her bill is also unclear.