A vote by a key Senate panel on Wednesday took a figurative chainsaw to any hope that congress will fully finance NASA's space shuttle replacement program by 2017. The agency has been working toward ending reliance on Soyuz rockets for International Space Station crew trips.
The Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the budget for the space program approved $900 million for the shuttle replacement program, known as Commercial Crew, in fiscal 2016. NASA requested $1.24 billion, according to USA Today.
The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee vote Wednesday on NASA's Fiscal Year 2016 commercial crew budget:
"I am deeply disappointed that the Senate Appropriations subcommittee does not fully support NASA's plan to once again launch American astronauts from U.S. soil as soon as possible, and instead favors continuing to write checks to Russia.
"Remarkably, the Senate reduces funding for our Commercial Crew Program further than the House already does compared to the President's Budget.
"By gutting this program and turning our backs on U.S. industry, NASA will be forced to continue to rely on Russia to get its astronauts to space - and continue to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the Russian economy rather than our own.
"I support investing in America so that we can once again launch our astronauts on American vehicles."
