John Glenn wants to extended Space Shuttle Operations

Glenn pushes for money to extend shuttle operations

By STEWART M. POWELL Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

July 30, 2008, 8:15PM

WASHINGTON Legendary NASA astronaut John Glenn tried to shape the
spacefaring agenda of the next president on Wednesday by urging the
White House and Congress to come up with enough money to extend
shuttle operations for five years until delivery of the next
generation of manned spacecraft.

Glenn, 87, said the country could not risk relying on the Russian
Soyuz program to ferry astronauts to the international space station
during the suspension of U.S. manned space flight.

"I just thought I'd never see the day when we'd be relying on a
Russian system to get our people to our space station," Glenn told the
House Science and Technology Committee on the day Congress marked the
50th anniversary of NASA. "I just think that's the wrong way to go for
the world's greatest spacefaring nation."

Glenn, who rode his fame as the first American to orbit the Earth into
a political career as a senator from Ohio, warned that the expected
five-year gap in manned U.S. space flight could be extended if
problems arose developing, producing and delivering the Orion moonship
by 2016.

"That five years is dependent on our new equipment working out
perfectly and being delivered at a certain time," Glenn said. "If we
have any delays, it will extend our dependence on the Russians."

Glenn, who flew in space for nine days aboard a shuttle in 1998 while
he was a senator, said it would cost about $3 billion a year for each
of the five years to extend operations by the three shuttles.

NASA has signed an initial $750 million contract with the Russians to
ferry astronauts and gear to the orbiting outpost during part of the
period after retirement of the shuttle in 2010. A second contract is
being negotiated to cover the years between 2011 and 2016 when manned
U.S. flight will resume.

Glenn, a Democrat who became close to President Kennedy after his 1962
three-orbit mission, offered his remarks as Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.,
and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., pressed their bids to become the
nation's next president.

Obama and McCain did not mention President Bush or the direction of
NASA in statements issued Tuesday to mark the 50th anniversary of the
day in 1958 when President Eisenhower signed legislation to create the
space agency.

Obama, who has not yet detailed plans for the agency, said unspecified
officials in Washington had "failed to give NASA a robust, balanced
and adequately funded mission."

Obama said that if he won the presidency, he would provide the
leadership to "revitalize NASA's mission to maintain America's
leadership and recommit our nation to the space program."

McCain noted the projected five-year gap in manned spaceflight,
without offering a solution. Presidents have "remained steadfast in
guaranteeing U.S. leadership in space," McCain said, noting that the
United States would lose its own manned space capability after
shuttle's retirement.

"I will act to ensure our astronauts will continue to explore space,
and not just by hitching a ride with someone else," McCain said. "I
intend to make sure that the NASA (manned) Constellation program has
the resources it needs so that we can begin a new era of human space
exploration."

Glenn, a longtime proponent of the shuttle, pointedly faulted Bush for
wreaking budget havoc on NASA in 2004 by ordering the space agency to
shift gears without warning to focus on returning Americans to the
moon by 2020 and to have astronauts on to Mars by 2030.

The White House blueprint, Glenn said, forced NASA to "cannibalize"
existing programs such as the shuttle to finance the new direction.

Chris Shank, a senior official at NASA, acknowledged in a telephone
interview that NASA had not received additional funding to cover the
president's blueprint. NASA also had shouldered unforeseen
return-to-flight costs after the loss of the shuttle Columbia on
re-entry in 2003.

Shank declined to discuss the agency's reaction to Glenn's appeal for
additional funds or the former astronaut's apparent effort to shape
the space agenda for the next administration.

"That is really not for NASA to comment on," said Shank, a former
director of strategic investment for the agency.

'''We follow the direction provided to us by the president and the
Congress, regardless of who are the occupants of the White House or
the Congress."

But Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford, a member of the House science
panel, said Glenn's testimony ought to help lawmakers to underwrite
additional shuttle flights.

"I think that he is someone who is thought of as an icon now," said
Lampson, whose congressional district includes the Johnson Space
Center. "He has a great deal of respect. Clearly, if he is saying that
these are things we need to be emphasizing and putting money into,
hopefully it will make a difference for members of the House and the
Senate."

NASA has about 20,000 employees and contractor employees in the
greater Houston area, making a sizable contribution to the area economy.

stewart.powell@...