FAA’s Commercial Space Expansion Encounters Skepticism on the Hill

Space policy analyst Marcia Smith has a detailed account of George Nield’s testimony before a House subcommittee. It seems that the director of the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (ATST) ran into some skepticism from lawmakers when he pitched a 74% increase in his office’s budget.

Under the proposed FY 2012 budget, the office’s budget would increase from $15.2 million to $26.6 million. The additional funds will be used to handle an expected ten-fold increase in the number of commercial launches, to hire 50 employees for the new Commercial Spaceflight Technical Center in Florida, and host of other initiatives required to support the emerging industry.

Smith reports that the request ran into some opposition:

Several members of the subcommittee questioned the increase, including Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL), whose district includes Kennedy Space Center. She lambasted Nield for requesting such a large increase in these difficult budget times. She asked how creating a regulatory regime for commercial human spaceflight based on a lot of unknowns would be helpful. Nield replied that industry leaders are asking for it because they want a “consistent and compatible set of results” that will satisfy both NASA and FAA requirements. Later, ending a harsh interrogation of Nield over how long it took his office to issue the first reentry license and after getting GAO’s [Gerald] Dillingham to reverse himself and say that he did not believe the increase was necessary, she lectured Nield that a “74 percent increase in a time of economic restraint … you’re asking us to increase your budget for what-if. I have great concern about that. I just want you to know that.”

Other members focused on the perennial question of whether there is a conflict of interest between the office’s dual role as both a regulator and promoter of commercial space launch and reentry services. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) and others noted that originally the FAA had a similar dual role for aviation, but as the years passed the two roles became contradictory and Congress removed the facilitator role so the FAA could focus on safety.

Another topic discussed was a provision in the 2004 Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments that prohibits the FAA from taking action to regulate passenger safety until 2012. The restriction was put in place to give the commercial space sector time to develop flight experience that would help in formulating regulations. However, no one has flown suborbital since. Efforts are in the works to extend the ban beyond 2012.