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Key members of Congress told NASA in a letter made public Tuesday to delay the launch of its project for a new spacecraft to carry gear and astronauts to the International Space Station. "We are writing to express our deep concern with NASA's current approach to the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) program," said the October 21 letter to NASA chief Sean O'Keefe. It was signed by House Science Committee chairman Sherwood Boehlert and ranking Democrat Ralph Hall. The United States has not yet decided what its space program is to look like, they said. The White House has formed a committee to look into the space station and a possible replacement for the space shuttle, after the Columbia broke up on descent in February, killing all seven astronauts aboard. "Therefore, neither the mission nor the benefits of the OSP are knowable at this point," said the letter, of which AFP obtained a copy. NASA has launched an OSP website. Posted are artists' renderings of stubby-winged craft similar to the shuttle. "NASA's Orbital Space Plane program has successfully completed its systems requirements review to evaluate the concept design of the nation's next space vehicle," the website said. "NASA is proceeding with OSP development before we -- the Congress, the White House and NASA -- have reached any agreement either on appropriate NASA goals for human space flight beyond the International Space Station or on the extent to which OSP is an appropriate approach to support those goals," the letter said. "It is even too soon to know whether OSP will significantly increase crew safety for missions to low Earth orbit and we believe that any crewed replacement vehicle will be judged by the extent to which it significantly improves safety." The lawmakers also said NASA's five-year budget plan for developing the new vehicle was no longer credible. Investigators into the Columbia disaster frequently pointed the finger at tight NASA budgets. "Prior human space flight projects at NASA have been plagued by problems stemming from the unrealistic cost estimates put forth at their inception," the lawmakers said. "We are not prepared to let budgetary gamesmanship damage another NASA program." They asked O'Keefe to shelve the project until it is approved by the White House and by Congress. All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links   Nov 02, 2006 |
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