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Panel hears more about commercial rockets

Current and former NASA officials reminded a Senate panel Thursday that sending people into space is risky and costly, and could be a tough goal for commercial rocket companies to achieve.

But commercial industry officials assured the Senate science subcommittee on space they could safely carry people to the International Space Station by 2015.

Congress is mulling President Obama’s budget proposal to rely on commercial rockets to ferry astronauts to the space station. Obama proposed an additional $6 billion over five years to support commercial vehicles.

The proposed shift has upset lawmakers from Florida, Texas, Alabama and Utah who support the Constellation program to return people to the moon. Obama wants to cancel the program. He has scheduled an April 15 space summit in Florida to explain his plans.

“Obviously there should be no compromise on safety,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who heads the subcommittee.

Bryan O’Connor, chief of NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, said manned rockets are so complex that safety issues still arise on the shuttle after 130 flights. New risks will emerge with development of the next rocket certified to carry people and a capsule that allows astronauts to abort a mission.

“Validating the right set of requirements for a new crewed flight system is not a simple cookie-cutter or checklist task, nor is it expected to be a one-time task,” O’Connor said.

George Nield, the Federal Aviation Administration’s associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said safety has been “excellent” for 201 commercial cargo missions the agency has regulated since 1989.

But as the FAA gears up to regulate “space tourism,” he said, a half-dozen companies are projecting possibly hundreds of launches per year in a few years.

“Certainly, the process will not be easy,” Nield said.

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas Stafford, a former astronaut, noted that 88 percent of NASA’s budget already flows to commercial companies. But he asked who would bear the burden of any fatal accidents.

“Flight in space is very, very hard to achieve,” Stafford said.

Malcolm Peterson, a retired NASA controller, questioned whether commercial companies could afford the enormous costs to ensure safety while seeking profits on their investments.

“I have my doubts about commercial crews,” Peterson said.

But he also predicted the commercial cargo industry “will succeed.”

Despite the risks, industry officials expressed confidence they can get people to space safely, and soon.

Michael Gass, chief executive officer of the United Launch Alliance between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, said Atlas and Delta rockets, which have made 1,300 launches, could be adapted to carry people.

“The simple answer is: absolutely,” Gass said. “ULA believes changes to the rocket are minimal.”

Frank Culbertson, senior vice president of Orbital Sciences Corp., which was developing Constellation’s abort system for the Orion capsule, predicted commercial rockets built to carry people could arrive by 2015.

Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, said a commercial manned rocket could be available within three years of NASA awarding a contract. SpaceX already has 20 flights scheduled from now to 2015 for development of its Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule.

“The notion that ‘unproven commercial rockets’ would carry astronauts is an unrealistic concern by the critics of the new NASA approach,” Shotwell said.