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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