Report Urges President-Elect to Forge Shuttle Plan

Government watchdogs have listed the impending retirement of the shuttle among its list of a baker's dozen of issues needing immediate attention from President-elect Barack Obama.

NASA plans to retire the three-shuttle fleet at the end of 2010, and its replacement isn't scheduled to take astronauts back into space until 2015.

"Extending the shuttle may offer the best course for the International Space Station, as it lessens our independence on the only other means to get to the station: Russian-built vehicles, as well as vehicles that may not come online when expected," said Cristina Chaplain of the Government Accountability Office.

She made the comment in a brief introductory video on the issue, one of 13 identified by the GAO as areas the Obama administration and the incoming Congress should address during its first year.

The list, the centerpiece of a new Web site the watchdog agency introduced Thursday, is intended to help smooth the leadership transition across the federal government.

The GAO questioned the wisdom of relying on Russian spacecraft to ferry U.S. astronauts, given recent political strains after Russia invaded the neighboring country of Georgia.

Many congressional lawmakers have expressed opposition to dependence on Russia as well.

However, the GAO also noted that extending the shuttle's life could have "significant consequences" on the future of human spaceflight. Specifically, it could hamper freeing up money NASA needs for Constellation, the program to build the next generation of rockets and space capsules expected to take Americans to the space station and, ultimately, back to the moon.

NASA has been studying the cost of adding more shuttle flights and extending the fleet's service. The agency estimates that keeping the shuttle flying after 2010 would cost at least $2.5 billion per year and require restarting various production lines.

During his campaign, Obama promised to increase the agency's budget by $2 billion a year to reduce the five-year gap in human flights.

Whatever the decision, Chaplain said one must be made soon.

"Why the urgency? Already, shuttle contracts are being phased out and shuttle facilities are being closed or transferred," she said.

During the presidential campaign, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson had pressed Obama and his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, to make a decision about the shuttle's fate as soon as possible.

Nelson continues to talk with Obama aides about extending the shuttle's life, said Bryan Gulley, a spokesman for the Orlando Democrat.

"I'm not surprised this issue made the (GAO) list," he said. "This isn't something that can wait a year or two. NASA has to know now. And the Russian political situation has made the issue more complicated."

Listing the shuttle's future as part of the GAO's "urgent issues" for the Obama administration brings heightened awareness to the fate of thousands of shuttle workers at Kennedy Space Center whose jobs are hanging on decisions made about whether to end the program in 2010.

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