Relations between the United States and Russia are at a crisis point over the Crimean annexation, the nations are flinging insults at and imposing sanctions on each other, and America’s dangerous dependence on Russia for crew transportation to the International Space Station and engines for the Atlas V launch vehicle have been exposed as never before.
But, what is the House Subcommittee on Space most worried about in this time of international crisis? There’s apparently not enough money in the budget for the Space Launch System and Orion deep space exploration vehicle.
A bi-partisan coalition of 32 House members sent a letter to President Barack Obama supporting SLS and Orion “as part of prioritizing human space exploration within NASA’s budgets.”