spacetoday.net: Congressmen ask NASA to put OSP on hold

Posted: Tue, Oct 28, 2003, 2:37 PM ET (1937 GMT)
Orbital Space Plane illustration (NASA)

Two leading members of Congress have asked NASA to stop further work on the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) program until the nation's space policy is better outlined. In a letter to NASA Administrator Sean O’'Keefe, dated October 21 and released to the public Monday, Reps. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and Ralph Hall (D-TX), the chairman and ranking minority member, respectively, of the House Science Committee, asked O'Keefe do defer any additional work on OSP. They reached that conclusion because of the combination of a lack of clearly-defined goals for NASA after the completion of the International Space Station, as well as a realization that a previous five-year budget plan for the program is "no longer credible." They asked NASA to wait until an interagency review of national space policy, currently underway by the White House, is completed and then reviewed by Congress before deciding if and how to proceed. A NASA spokesman said that the agency is working on a response to the letter.