In Congress, Support Grows For Unmanned Space Flight

For years, Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R-Tex.) has been a major booster of the international space station and the shuttle and has advocated doubling spending for space exploration and research.

Last week, however, he questioned the need to continue the space station project and urged NASA to place greater emphasis on unmanned space research. "From what I read and hear, astronauts on the space station spend most of their time on maintenance and conducting experiments that could be performed by mechanical means," he said. Robotics "can achieve our scientific goals more cheaply and with less risk to astronauts' lives."

Shaken by the Feb. 1 Columbia disaster that killed seven astronauts, Smith and many of his colleagues in both parties are having second thoughts about NASA's core mission of manned space flight. Many are strongly suggesting that the agency shift to safer, unmanned space research, which they argued would be equally effective.

Some lawmakers argue that NASA should be investing far more in projects such as the Mars Exploration Rovers and the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, which are scheduled to be launched later this year, or developing a new jet propulsion system that could send robots much deeper into space. And some want NASA to pay even more attention to safety. Rep. Ralph M. Hall (D-Tex.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), for example, urged NASA to reconsider its decision against adding an escape hatch to shuttles because of problems with the added weight. Officials began considering escape hatches after the shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986.

Yesterday, retired Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., chairman of the commission investigating the shuttle accident, said one of his panel's goals is to produce a final report that would provide "the foundation" for Congress to debate the space program's future.

"We would, for example, frame the costs and risks and fixes [of the shuttle fleet] necessary, and then it would be up to the Congress and the administration to decide whether they could bear that cost," he said.

To be sure, NASA's traditional mission has strong adherents in Congress. During a hearing last week into the causes of the Columbia breakup, unwavering supporters of the space program, including Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) and Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), urged a reaffirmation of the current space program and a commitment to developing a replacement for the three remaining shuttles.

"We all want to continue space exploration, but we just don't want to waste time waiting on the results" of the shuttle investigation, Hollings told NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "Let's get on and get your best advice on how we should proceed to get going on this thing, and not just with upgrades" of the existing shuttles, but development of replacement spacecraft.

But House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.) cautioned that Congress for too long has avoided "tough and basic questions" about the space program that first must be answered -- including the true risks of continuing to fly the shuttle to service the space station and whether NASA money would be better spent on unmanned space research or other research and development.

"I think that manned flights represent the aspirations and hopes of so many Americans," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). "But I will tell you, I personally believe we're going to need to do more in the unmanned area. I think it's going to be imperative in the days ahead."

Not since June 1993, when the House came within one vote of closing the space station, have lawmakers engaged in serious debate about the future of the space program. Back then, a coalition of lawmakers, largely from states with little financial stake in the program, argued that the billions being spent on a floating research lab with huge cost overruns and of dubious scientific value could be better used for social programs or reducing the deficit.

The Clinton administration then proceeded with a new strategy to jointly build and operate the space station with the Russians while pressing to develop a replacement for the 1970s-vintage shuttle. In November, however, after it became clear that NASA was at least a decade away from developing a suitable replacement, the space agency revised its strategy to extend the life of the four remaining shuttles until at least 2020 while focusing much of its effort on completing its "centerpiece," the space station. The Columbia disintegrated somewhere above Texas less than a year after undergoing an extensive overhaul and technological upgrading.

O'Keefe last week strongly defended his agency's priorities in devoting nearly half of NASA's $15 billion annual budget to human space flight. He said that it is crucial to strike a balance between manned and unmanned flight -- "It's not a matter of either/or," he said -- and repeatedly noted that the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope would have been rendered a "$2 billion piece of space junk" if the crew of the shuttle Endeavour had not flown to its rescue and adjusted its faulty lens in 1993.

But critics complain about a NASA culture obsessed with manned space flight and say Congress must be more assertive in overseeing the agency's priorities.

"I can't stress enough the importance of Congress returning to a primary function of theirs, which is strong, aggressive oversight," said former representative Tim Roemer (D-Ind.), who led the 1993 fight against the space station. "We're seeing with both the space and intelligence programs that when oversight is not well done, there are huge consequences."

With nearly $60 billion already invested in the shuttle, space station and new spacecraft development, no one is seriously calling for an end to manned space flight. For one thing, NASA is enormously popular with lawmakers because the space agency has awarded major contracts to aerospace and related companies in practically every state. California, Texas, Maryland and Florida are among the biggest beneficiaries of space agency spending.

Days after the Columbia disaster, lawmakers approved a $414 million increase in NASA spending for the current year. With many members worrying that previous budget cuts may have contributed to the shuttle accident, Congress is likely to substantially beef up President Bush's budget request of $15.5 billion for NASA in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, congressional aides said.

"There's a lot of PR and public pressure to continue the manned space program, unless the shuttle [investigative] commission comes up with some radical findings or recommendations," said James Dyer, staff director of the House Appropriations Committee. "At times like this, people tend to rally around the flag."

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In Congress, Support Grows For Unmanned Space Flight