Sen Hutchison Wants SLS Details, House Wants to Un-Ban RIFs
Spotted on Nasawatch-
Sen Hutchison today called for immediate action on the part of NASA to spec out the final design for the SLS. This comes along with concern for losing talent at NASA. Nasawatch also noted that a House budget bill is removing a ban on RIFs.
Hutchison statement from Spaceref.com-
“…NASA has spent the past eight months re-studying options and variations of launch vehicles that have been looked at for years. They finally announced the plan to develop the crew vehicle, using the Orion design, in May. We now have it confirmed that a final technical design decision on the heavy lift vehicle was made three weeks ago, on June 20th. Although the studies leading to that design decision included independent cost estimates, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has deferred endorsing that technical decision until it can see another independent cost analysis for the project…
“…To do so only increases the real human cost that NASA employees and contractors are experiencing in the face of continued uncertainty about the future. Without a decision we will continue to lose skilled workers that we need to build the shuttle replacements. Besides the toll this will take on workers and their families, who have contributed so much to science, our national security, and the economy, it will be difficult and more costly to replace this invaluable human capital. “We have the information to make a decision now, and I call on the Administration and OMB to immediately make public and approve NASA’s technical design decision on the heavy lift vehicle.”
Nice going. NASA has been losing contractors over this since June 2010.
Also on Nasawatch, a link to the House Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2012 (120 page PDF)-
“The bill includes a provision that repeals existing prohibitions on the implementation of Reductions in Force or other involuntary separations.”
Yeah, we don’t want to lose people, but it already happened. We want to know what the SLS is going to look like, but money was held up for 7 months, basically making 2011 a waste. NASA isn’t going to do much until FY 2012 at this point.
Here is a good summary of the House Committee budget markup on Spacepolitics…
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