Space News by Jeff Foust — March 6, 2020
Foust Forward | The sound and fury over a NASA authorization bill
When the bipartisan leadership of the House Science Committee introduced a NASA authorization bill Jan. 24, it surprised many people in the civil space community. The bill appeared to reject the goal of NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the moon by 2024, requiring instead a return only by 2028. It also spurned NASA’s approach for using public-private partnerships for building a lunar lander in favor of a more conventional government-led approach, and minimized activities at the moon to just those needed for a later human mission to Mars.
The bill got a sharp reaction from NASA. “It’s fairly prescriptive. We would like more flexibilities on what we do on the surface of the moon and flexibilities in how we do our contracting,†NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in an interview a few days after the bill’s release.
The bill’s sponsors say it’s not their intent to block a 2024 return to the moon. “Let me be crystal clear: this bill is not about rejecting the Artemis program or delaying humans on the moon until 2028,†said Rep. Kendra Horn (D-Okla.), chair of the space subcommittee and lead sponsor of the bill, during a Jan. 29 markup of the bill that made only minor changes to it.
More:
https://spacenews.com/foust-forward-the-sound-and-fury-over-a-nasa-authorization-bill/
