NASA's Moon Program Slowdown Within the Law, Report Finds

by James Dean, Florida Today

Date: 30 July 2010 Time: 10:29 AM ET

NASA Poised for 2nd Try to Launch Landmark Rocket Test

As the sun rises over Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the rotating service structure and the arms of the vehicle stabilization system have been retracted from around the Constellation Program's 327-foot-tall Ares I-X rocket, resting atop its mobile launcher platform, for an Oct. 27, 2009, launch try.
CREDIT: NASA/Kim Shiflett

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. ? NASA did not violate federal law or congressional guidance by taking actions that would prematurely kill the Constellation program, according to a legal opinion released Monday by the government's watchdog agency.

U.S. Government Accountability Office attorneys found "no evidence" that NASA was holding back Constellation funds or "taking any steps to terminate or end the Constellation program."

They also said NASA wasn't wrong to ask contractors to set aside nearly $1 billion to cover the cost of terminating contracts, but took no position on whether past contracts had established different expectations. [NASA's New Direction: FAQ]

The opinion responded to a request from members of Congress who criticized a June 9 letter from NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden as a back-door effort to kill Constellation, the return-to-the-moon program that President Barack Obama wants to cancel.

The letter announced a new set of priorities for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, giving "low priority" to projects that could only be used by Constellation.

"We were doing the things we needed to do to stay within appropriations law and believe the GAO opinion supports our actions," said Bob Jacobs, a NASA spokesman.

U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, said Monday that "while NASA may have complied with the letter of the law they certainly failed to follow the spirit of the law."

Despite controversy over the letter, it has not had a major impact. Work continues on the Ares I rocket and the Orion spacecraft.

Pending NASA legislation in the House and Senate would preserve some key Constellation elements in a restructured human spaceflight program.

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