A legislative proposal to delay the permanent grounding of the NASA Constellation program is expected to get further action in the weeks ahead on Capitol Hill.
President Barack Obama’s plan to halt development of the next moon rocket program as part of Constellation is tied to the fate of perhaps 2,000 aerospace jobs in Northern Utah.
Last week, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, successfully included an amendment in an Emergency Supplemental bill that prohibits NASA from terminating Constellation contracts before Sept. 30.
Bennett’s addition to the legislation means the delay will get full floor consideration in the Senate and head to the U.S. House for debate, perhaps in the next two weeks.
“The fight to strengthen our missile defense and save thousands of northern Utah jobs is not over, but my amendment takes us one step closer to that goal,” said Bennett, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
During the past five years, NASA has spent $9 billion on Constellation, including development of the Ares rocket under the direction of the Alliant Techsystems ATK companies based in the Top of Utah.
ATK announced in December that layoffs of possibly 300 employees would take place this month due to cutbacks in both the shuttle and missile programs. But the final number of layoffs are expected later this week.
Obama’s budget plan, detailed in April, restructures NASA, which included eliminating the Constellation program and the Ares I rocket booster.
White House officials cited a presidential panel that concluded last year that Constellation could not put astronauts on the moon before the mid-2020s, even with a sharp increase in funding above NASA’s annual budget of about $19 billion.
“It was clearly time to push the reset button,” said White House science adviser John Holdren at recent hearings.
But the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved Bennett’s amendment Thursday to slow down the shut down process.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said last week that it was short-sighted to gauge the White House’s proposed 2011 NASA budget solely in terms of the jobs.
“To many, including myself, defenders of the status quo for NASA — be they many or be they few — base their views solely on the job impact,” he said Wednesday. “I don’t think we can afford to do that.”
Rockefeller’s comment drew a quick rebuke from Congressman Rob Bishop, R-Utah.
“The senator is right, cutting NASA’s manned space flight program isn’t just about jobs, it’s also about the loss of our missile defense capabilities, technological and innovative edge in space exploration, and national industrial base. I invite Sen. Rockefeller to come to ATK in Utah to explain to thousands of workers who will lose their jobs,” wrote Bishop.
ATK, the builder of the space shuttle solid rocket boosters, is the primary contractor for the Ares rocket. ATK employs more than 3,000 Utahns.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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