NASA

Latest delay of tests on NASA Mars rocket draws congressional fire

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Key House lawmakers are grumbling about NASA's announcement this week that it's pushing back by at least a year the testing of the heavy-lift rocket that's supposed to take astronauts to the moon and eventually to Mars.

This undated image made available by NASA shows an artist's rendering of the Space Launch System. Still in development, the super-sized rocket is meant to eventually send astronauts to Mars.

"NASA and the contractors should not assume future delays and cost overruns will have no consequence," Texas GOP Rep. Lamar Smith warned at a House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing Thursday on NASA's exploration systems. "If delays continue, if costs rise and if foreseeable technical challenges arise, no one should assume the U.S. taxpayers or their representatives will tolerate this."

Smith chairs the panel.

NASA announced Wednesday that the first launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft together will not take place until at least Dec. 2019 and perhaps as late as June 2020. Earlier this year, NASA had been shooting for a launch window of the unmanned mission, known as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) in late 2018 that would fly around the moon.

The launch was originally planned for 2017.

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NASA officials blamed the latest delay on a variety of factors including problems with manufacturing and supplying Orion’s first European service module, tornado damage at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, and "challenges related to building the core stage of the world’s most powerful rocket for the first time."

Earlier problems with welding of the rocket have been largely resolved but there are "ongoing issues associated with spacecraft command and control software," according to William Gerstenmaier NASA's associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations.

In addition, NASA has deployed staff to the U.S. plant making the high-pressure helium valves that will be used in the European module after production troubles arose.

Gerstenmaier told the committee the latest delays are not expected to have an effect on the timeline of a crewed test flight (EM-2) sometime in the first half of the next decade. Both test flights are precursors to an eventual trip to the moon and a mission to Mars with astronauts around 2033.

Welding is complete on the largest piece of the core stage that will provide the fuel for the first flight of NASA's new rocket, the Space Launch System, with the Orion spacecraft in 2018. The core stage liquid hydrogen tank has completed welding on the Vertical Assembly Center at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Standing more than 130 feet tall, the liquid hydrogen tank is the largest cryogenic fuel tank for a rocket in the world. The liquid hydrogen tank and liquid oxygen tank are part of the core stage -- the "backbone" of the SLS rocket that will stand at more than 200 feet tall. Together, the tanks will hold 733,000 gallons of propellant and feed the vehicle's four RS-25 engines to produce a total of 2 million pounds of thrust. This is the second major piece of core stage flight hardware to finish full welding on the Vertical Assembly Center. The core stage flight engine section completed welding in April. More than 1.7 miles of welds have been completed for core stage hardware at Michoud. Traveling to deep space requires a large rocket that can carry huge payloads, and SLS will have the payload capacity needed to carry crew and cargo for future exploration missions, including NASA's Journey to Mars.

Gerstenmaier suggested earlier timelines on such a complicated program were too ambitious.

"We just need to be prepared as we build schedules going forward to know that these first-time things that we have never done before of a magnitude that's never been done before may need a little bit of extra time that first time through," he said.

Some lawmakers warned NASA against further delays.

In order to meet our nation’s space exploration goals, it will take focus, discipline and continuity of effort going forward, " said Texas GOP Rep. Brian Babin, who chairs the panel's Subcommittee on Space. "Failure to do so could have dire consequences for the program, and there will be no one else to blame. The administration has demonstrated its renewed support. Congress consistently funds the program at healthy levels. It is time for NASA and the contractors to deliver."

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