spacetoday.net: Congress grills NASA on space policy

Posted: Thu, Sep 11, 2003, 10:34 AM ET (1434 GMT)
Members of Congress used a House hearing on the Columbia accident investigation Wednesday to criticize NASA and the White House for the lack of a visible space policy and a series of secretive meetings on the subject. During the hearing of the House Science Committee, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe revealed the existence of an interagency group that is studying national space policy. While initially reticent to provide any details on the group's activity, he later disclosed that the President, Vice President, White House Chief of Staff, and other key officials are participating in the group. It wasn’t clear if this effort was separate from existing policy reviews on topics such as remote sensing and space navigation that are in progress or have recently been completed. A NASA official also disclosed to the Washington Post that the agency believes that the cost for the shuttle return-to-flight program will not exceed $1 billion, the first reported cost estimate of the effort.