Coalition for Space Exploration Recognizes Administration Commitment to Space Exploration; Concerned with Budget Allocation
HOUSTON – While the Coalition for Space Exploration (CSE) welcomes the Administration’s efforts to maintain overall funding for NASA in FY15, we remain concerned and opposed to the annual effort to drain funds from our nation’s exploration programs and challenge the bi-partisan consensus in Congress that has consistently overturned those efforts to ensure needed budget resources for Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft. In addition, NASA has increased funding for the Asteroid Redirect Mission without growth in the agency topline which requires pulling funds from other critical accounts.
Last December, Congress passed the FY14 Omnibus and the President signed it into law after a prolonged debate that resulted in strong bipartisan support for key NASA programs and demonstrated a viable path forward for the nation’s space exploration program. This budget request will only serve to re-ignite that debate between the Congress and the White House, impeding NASA’s ability to deliver on its commitments.
At this critical stage of those programs, it is important to ensure that the significant progress already made on the development of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft can stay on track to support the first integrated Orion and SLS test flight in 2017 and the manned Orion mission in 2021. These programs continue to meet commitments although they have been funded at a fraction of what was provided in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act. It is disheartening that the Administration did not deliver a request aligned more closely with the FY14 appropriation to ensure continuity in these programs.
NASA is a powerful national resource whose impact is felt most when it has a clear mission and the required funding to support its programs. It will take leadership, vision and investment to ensure that America’s future in space is secured and that we reap the many benefits that exploration brings. We urge the Administration and Congress to work together as with the FY14 appropriation to ensure NASA has the necessary resources it needs to advance our space program as one worthy of a great nation.