Senate Panel Weighs In

The U. S. Senate committee that oversees NASA has voted out unanimously an authorization bill for NASA's next budget that envisions President Obama's plan for future manned spaceflight, but with some twists. The bill establishes goals of manned flights to an asteroid and later to Mars, as the President has, but plots a slightly different course to get there.

The bill calls for adding a shuttle flight next year and for using ISS at least until 2020. It also authorizes the immediate development of a heavy lift launcher by NASA-- Obama's plan calls for waiting five years before deciding whether to build such a vehicle or not. The bill also directs NASA to develop a deep space, human-rated spacecraft by 2016, years earler than the Obama plan would need one. Likely, that spacecraft would be something quite close to the Orion, since that capsule's development is already well underway. Of course, having a deep space ship by 2016, and a heavy lift rocket to launch it could lead to deep space missions well before the President's proposed mission to an asteroid in 2025.

The bill, of course, may or mat not become law, but watching the process and seeing what comes out will be interesting.