Commercial Spaceflight Federation Sees Room For Improvement In Program Funding Levels

The House Appropriations Committee has released its Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill, allocating Federal spending for several agencies including NASA. The bill provided a welcome increase in NASA’s funding.

“I’m encouraged to see Congress prioritizing NASA’s mission and supporting it with strong funding,” said Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) President Michael Lopez-Alegria. “Unfortunately, the increase was not evenly distributed and two key areas, the Commercial Crew Program and Space Technology, were below requested levels. We hope that as the appropriations process continues, Congress will be able to increase the funding for these key programs.”

In the bill, the Space Technology Mission Directorate is provided $620 million, which is below the requested funding of $705.5 million. Specific appropriations for the Commercial Crew Program have not yet been released, however the bill implicitly cuts a group of programs that includes the Commercial Crew Program by $80 million. Further  details on specific programs are not available until the committee report is released. Those details could affect the levels of funding and the success or failure of the programs.

“The Space Technology Mission Directorate produces the innovations that NASA needs to remain the world leader in spaceflight,” said CSF Chairman Stuart Witt. “NASA’s Commercial Crew Program offers the most cost-effective, safe source for routine flights to low-Earth orbit from American soil. Reduced funding for Commercial Crew will delay the process of returning astronauts to space on American vehicles and prolong our dependence on Russian vehicles.”

FMI: www.commercialspaceflight.org