Congress set a new course for human deep space exploration as well as commercial space travel late Wednesday, when the House passed the Senate version of a 2010 NASA authorization measure with strong bi-partisan support.
The 304 to 118 vote came just prior to midnight in Washington and just before the House and Senate adjourned for the November elections.
While lawmakers must still sort through the contentious appropriations process leading to an actual budget bill for NASA and many other federal agencies, strong House endorsement of the Senate measure offers a significant roadmap for the future exploration of Near Earth Asteroids, Mars and other inspiring journeys.
President Obama is expected to sign the measure, which represents a compromise in the budget blueprint he submitted to Congress in February as part of his proposed 2011 federal budget.
“This important vote today in the House of Representatives on a comprehensive NASA authorization charts a vital new future for the course of human space exploration,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. “We are grateful that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 received strong support in the House after its clearance in the Senate, and can now be sent on to the President for his signature.”
One key feature of the measure paves the way for NASA to develop a new heavy lift rocket and human spacecraft by Dec. 31, 2016, for missions beyond low Earth orbit.
Another commits $1.6 billion over three years to the development of commercial crew and cargo delivery systems for travel by astronauts, private passengers and commercial researchers to the International Space Station and other orbital destinations.
Another extends activities aboard the International Space Station from 2016 to at least 2020.
The measure calls for an additional space shuttle mission beyond the flights of Discovery and Endeavour scheduled for launchings on Nov. 1 and Feb. 26, 2011. The additional mission would head for the space station in mid-year with spare parts and supplies to help sustain research activities well beyond the shuttle’s retirement.
The bill calls on President Obama to strike some compromises. His proposal would have invested nearly $6 billion in NASA funding in the development of commercial space taxis over five years. He called for NASA to embark on major technology investments before initiating the development of a heavy lift rocket in 2015.
Under the president’s time line for deep space missions, astronauts will bypass near term exploration of the moon as called for under the previous administration’s Constellation Program in favor of a first ever mission to an asteroid by 2025. An orbital journey to Mars would follow a decade later.
NASA’s top line funding would be $19 billion for 2011, up from $18.7 billion this year. Additional increases would follow, bringing NASA’s budget to just under $20 billion in 2013.