Report from Washington, D.C.

 Republicans on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee recently sent a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction recommending “over $1.5 billion in savings in FY 2012,” including cutting $177 million from the NASA budget by taking the following actions: • Cancel the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2 missions • Reduce the Other…

 The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report last month on the proposed Department of Defense (DoD) block buy acquisition strategy for Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs), recommending that the DoD “assess engine costs and mission assurance activities, reassess the length of the proposed block buy and consider how to address broader launch acquisition and…

 The Senate has begun a debate on a “minibus” appropriations bill, H.R. 2112, that combines the bills for Agriculture, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Commerce-Justice-Science. The Commerce-Justice-Science bill includes funds for both NASA and NOAA. Although subject to numerous amendments, the package has not affected funding levels for NASA or NOAA space programs. The…

NASA has officially consolidated its human spaceflight activities, including the International Space Station (ISS), deep space exploration and commercial cargo- and crew-transport operations, into the new Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate. Previously NASA’s human spaceflight activities were spread between the Space Operations Mission Directorate and Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Former NASA Space Operations Associate…

Congress is out of session for the month of August, but is returning at the beginning of this month to continue work on many unfinished appropriation bills, including some that fund the Department of Defense, NASA and NOAA. When Congress returns in September it will take up several appropriation bills, including some that fund NASA, NOAA and…

August 17, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent out its annual budget guidance memorandum to all federal agencies as they begin to build their FY 2013 budget plan submissions.This year’s memorandum directs agencies to submit their budget requests at 5 percent less than what they received for FY2011. For NASA, that…

The House of Representatives has passed its FY 2012 defense appropriations bill, H.R. 2219, which includes $530 billion in spending – $9 billion less than the President requested for fiscal year 2012. Despite the decrease, the legislation increases funding for the Department of Defense (DoD) by $17 billion over the FY 2011 budget. The Senate Appropriations Committee…

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee held a hearing on July 12 entitled “A Review of NASA’s Space Launch System.” The hearing was originally called to review NASA’s final selection of its Space Launch System (SLS) design, but NASA had not yet selected a final SLS design at the time of the hearing. Rep.…

On July 13, the House Committee on Appropriations passed its FY 2012 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) bill, which includes funds for NASA and NOAA. The CJS bill would appropriate $16.8 billion in spending for NASA, which is $1.9 billion less than the President requested for FY 2012. In formulating the budget decrease, the…

Last month, the Space Foundation and the Washington, D.C., consulting group GS3 hosted a lunch and discussion session on space acquisition. The keynote speaker was Under Secretary of the Air Force Erin Conaton, who spoke about administration efforts to address acquisition and industrial base efforts and conducted a lively Q&A session. Conaton was followed by two in-depth panels…