Senators Want Big Rocket Instead of New Tech, Commercial Transportation

FleaPlus writes "Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation are drafting a bill (due this week) which slashes NASA technology development/demonstrations, commercial space transportation, and new robotic missions to a small fraction of what the White House proposed earlier this year. The bill would instead redirect NASA funds to 'immediate' development of a government-designed heavy lift rocket, although it's still unclear if NASA can afford a heavy lifter in the long term or if (with the new technology the Senators seek to cut, like in-space refueling) it actually needs such a rocket. The Senators' rocket design dictates a payload of 75mT to orbit, uses the existing Ares contracts and Shuttle infrastructure as much as possible, and forces use of the solid rocket motors produced by Utah arms manufacturer ATK."

Comments

What else do you expect?

[Attila Dimedici]

What else do you expect when the head of NASA says that his primary mission is to remind Muslims of all the contributions they made to science?

Re:What's next?

[Chris Mattern]

Incompetent Senators telling us that we don't need any more operations at hospitals, but replace them with blood-letting?

Patience, patience. They're getting government-run health care in place as fast as they can manage.