How Does Wallops Island Figure Into Mikulski’s Decision on NASA’s Commercial Space Plan?
Launch complexes on Wallops Island, Virginia
The Orlando Sentinel reports that a key senator has still not made up her mind as to whether to support the President’s new commercial focus for NASA:
The reluctance of U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland could prove problematic for Obama. She heads the Senate panel with oversight of NASA’s budget and could block his plan to rely more on commercial rocket companies to send astronauts into orbit.
“Right now I feel like a deep-space probe; I’m in reconnaissance,” said Mikulski, after a Thursday hearing of the commerce, justice and science appropriations subcommittee. A key issue, she said, was whether commercial companies would be held to the same safety standards as NASA.
“We’re not sending cases of Tang into space. We’re sending our astronauts and the astronauts from other countries that they provide to us,” she said.
As part of her recon, the honorable senator had 13 pages of questions for NASA officials about the new policy. So, whatever she decides, it won’t be from a dearth of data. Mikulski is certainly doing her due diligence on this one.
However, I’m wondering if there’s not more to this story beyond a wholly legitimate and sincere concern over astronaut safety.
Mikulski’s state includes NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, whose primary focus is on space and Earth science. Those areas seem to do well under Obama’s proposed budget. What is often overlooked is that Goddard operates NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, a launch range located not far across the border in Virginia that employs a number of Maryland residents. This is where the story gets really interesting.
Mikulski helped to persuade Orbital Sciences Corporation – a major employer in nearby Northern Virginia — to launch its new Taurus II commercial rocket from Wallops Island instead of Cape Canaveral in Florida. Taurus II is being funded under NASA’s COTS program to haul cargo to the International Space Station. That program is a forerunner for the much larger expansion of commercial space proposed by the Obama Administration.
Virginia has been seeking to capitalize on the effort by expanding the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops into a full commercial launch facility. The state has increased its funding for the effort over the last couple of years. Maryland also provided a smaller amount of funding for MARS last year.
Those efforts could pay off. In addition to Taurus II launches, Bigelow Aerospace is considering Wallops Island for Atlas V missions. The Las Vegas company wants to use the ULA-produced rocket to support a series of private human space stations it hopes to begin launching in 2014. Bigelow is projecting a very high flight rate, and it is looking at using multiple types of rockets.
So, we’ve got a very interesting situation here. We have a launch complex that has suddenly found itself at the forefront NASA’s commercial space efforts due, in part, to a powerful senator who now holds a key vote as to whether that approach will be broadly expanded, with potentially major benefits flowing to two key states.
Interesting. Very interesting indeed.
I don’t blame Mikulski for having a lot of questions. If I were Maryland’s senior senator, I would have a lot of questions, too. NASA has pledged to spend a lot of money to upgrade the infrastructure and facilities at Cape Canaveral. I’d be wondering whether the space agency had a little money to spend on the little spaceport that could over on the Eastern Shore.
It should be interesting to see how this plays out.
5 responses to “How Does Wallops Island Figure Into Mikulski’s Decision on NASA’s Commercial Space Plan?”
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Interesting observation. It is also interesting to note that the 2010 Virginia General Assembly passed resolutions favoring the Obama commercial space plan last month prior to the presidential space conference.
Welcome to “Space Island.” It is a FAA-licensed spaceport with proven launch capability; the home of the very first commercial space launch attempt in the 1990’s; and the spaceport where the MOST rockets have been launched since WW2.
Thanks Jack. I’ve been enjoying your coverage of events in Virginia.
Supporting Obama’s commercial efforts is a no-brainer for people in Richmond. Langley does well under the budget. And it gives credibility to commercialization efforts already under way for Wallops. Then there’s the boost for Orbital. The benefits for Maryland are a bit less direct, but they could still be substantial in terms of its role in commercial space and employment.
If NASA succeeds in its plans and Bigelow’s space station gets off the ground, then Wallops could be a major launch center. I’m not sure that even an upgraded Cape Canaveral could handle the project flight rates on its own. Nor would it necessarily make sense to be dependent upon one launch center.
Doug,
Good article, and Mrs. Mikulski needs to know her support is critical to the success of what we are now calling Space Island.
Mrs. Mikulski was the Guest of Honour at a fundraiser for her campaign held at the Embassy Suites in Huntsville Alabama back in March (articles.baltimoresun.com/2… an event heavily influenced by Richard Shelby – one of the leaders of the old school defenders of the pork. I would urge you to follow the money and dig out those stories.
I actually like Mrs. Mikulski, and am not inferring that she could be bought by those trying to scuttle the new Vision, or that she would abandon support for a huge new future for the Mid-Atlantic Spaceport her state supports and support old jobs in ALabama over new jobs in a venture Maryland is a part of. But she and her staff need to know they are being watched.
Now if she had given several pages of questions to the people in Alabama who hosted her and gave her those big checks I would be impressed…and if she moves strongly to support this new and exciting vision rather than trying to keep the dead end Constellation program alive I will be immensely impressed with her character – and she will have a new and vocal fan on her side.
Thank Rick. Those are good points. Mikulski has pressures from multiple sides and there are benefits to staying the course for her.
I think her 13 pages of questions really come down to a basic issue:
Is this thing for real?
Or, more broadly: Can this work? Can it be done safely? Will the commercial market actually develop as promised? And how will this benefit my state?
Answer those questions,and it will be easier for Mukulski to trade the existing program for something else.
Best of luck.
Doug and Rick,
When one looks at the history of ‘Space Island’ and the association with NASA Goddard, there is reasonable political possibility that the commercial spaceport will continue to enjoy the support of Senator Mukulski. She has demonstrated that commercial support in the past along with the legislature and governors of her state; and the economic benefit the Delmarva region attains with space technology investment is significant — if the space launch assets are fully utilized, of course. http://spaceports.blogspot….
Generally speaking, and risking the sound of being too critial or passionate, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport has been given too little popular media measure when compared to those of Florida and New Mexico. When one looks to the spaceport’s history, it should be noted that the first commercial rocket attempted launch from there in 1995. In my judgment, it merits the support you both are affording it, as should the good Senator Mikulski in her Senate deliberations. She has a reasonable-sized pro- ‘space constituency.’
Pleasure networking with you both with a ‘hat tip’ to Rick for the moniker ‘Space Island.’ We shall see if we can make it stick. You have managed to ‘sex-it-up’ – as the British would say.