Source: Florida Today
U.S. Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana opened this morning’s ceremony celebrating the delivery of NASA’s last shuttle external tank by ripping President Obama’s “radical” proposals for the space agency.
“You all deserve better, and the nation deserves better,” he told an audience of hundreds of NASA and contractor employees at the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans, earning loud applause.
Vitter, who is running for re-election, is the ranking Republican on the subcommittee that oversees NASA policy, led by Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat. Vitter has been a vocal critic of Obama’s proposal to cancel the Constellation program since it was announced earlier this year.
He said the Obama plan to turn over the transportation of astronauts and cargo to low Earth orbit to commercial companies would sacrifice U.S. leadership in human spaceflight and lengthen the gap in U.S. flights after the shuttle program ends.
He also criticized NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden’s recent interview with Al Jazeera, part of an administration effort to reach out to Muslim communities.
“Call me old fashioned, but I certainly don’t want (NASA’s) primary purpose to be outreach to Muslim countries to make them feel good about their science [inaudible],” he said.
Congress has not yet approved NASA’s 2011 budget proposal, and may not until after this fall’s elections are over.
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