Federal lawmakers grilled a leading NASA official Wednesday about the proposed changes to the Constellation space program -- a change that could mean serious job losses to a Top of Utah company.
In a U.S. House hearing on Capitol Hill, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, held a photo of an unidentified Utah worker who lost his job last week at ATK, one of the contractors for the Constellation program.
"I hope I can tell him he lost his job because the government was going to save money or come up with a program that was safer for astronauts ... not because we are choosing winners or losers in the free market," said Bishop at a hearing of the House Committee on Science and Technology.
This month, ATK reduced its payroll by 247 people, mostly by layoffs, blaming changes to defense spending in the missile and shuttle programs.
Bishop questioned NASA administrator Charlie Bolden on estimated costs for Constellation, which includes the Ares rocket.
Also in the hearing, he quoted a May 21 letter to Bolden sent by Charley Precourt, ATK's space-launch systems general manager.
The ATK letter reads that there have been "misconceptions" about the cost of the project and defends the work of the Utah company.
"ATK has consistently met our Ares milestone commitments," wrote Precourt, a former NASA astronaut.
Ares is partially being developed by ATK, and Bishop estimates that 2,000 jobs may be tied to shelving NASA's commitment to using the Ares rocket motor developed and built in Utah.
In April, President Barack Obama detailed a budget proposal that would drastically change the Constellation's agenda to travel to the moon, instead using privately built rockets, not Ares.
Lawmakers noted that Jeff Hanley, Constellation program manager, was reassigned on Wednesday, according to sources inside and outside the agency.
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