NASA Bill Puts O.C. Contracts in Jeopardy

WASHINGTON —  In another blow to NASA’s Space Station Freedom, the House Appropriations Committee on Monday approved a spending bill that eliminates nearly all funding for the controversial program, a move that could cost an Orange County aerospace company at least $3 billion.

The decision follows a similar subcommittee action and sets the stage for a major battle on the floor of the House of Representatives later this week. Senior White House aides have said they will recommend a veto of the NASA appropriations bill unless it includes money for the space station.

“What it came down to was, we could fund space station, and virtually nothing else, or we could cancel station,” said Rep. Bob Traxler (D-Mich.), chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that three weeks ago unexpectedly slashed the space station budget.

The fight over Space Station Freedom is critically important to McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co. of Huntington Beach, which holds station contracts valued at $3 billion. If NASA orders additional work, the station could be worth as much as $4 billion to the aerospace giant.

About 2,000 of the company’s 12,000 employees are directly involved with the space station project. Of those, about 1,200 are employed at the Huntington Beach plant.

Congressional supporters of the program, which NASA estimates will cost $30 billion through the year 2000, said they will introduce an amendment Thursday on the House floor that would restore most or all of the $2 billion that the Appropriations Committee cut from NASA’s fiscal 1992 space station budget.

“NASA has stated in the strongest possible way that manned space flight is the priority for the future,” said Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego), one of three members of the appropriations committee who will lead the fight to save the station on the House floor.

“If we abandon (the) station, we would put off and risk the entire manned space program, put it into jeopardy,” he added.

Lowery said he and his associates--Reps. Jim Chapman (D-Tex.) and Joseph M. McDade (R-Pa.)--did not move to restore space station funding in the Appropriations Committee because they believe that they have a better chance of prevailing in the full House.

“I think we can win on the floor outright,” Lowery said, “or if not, show we have some really strong support.”

That might be enough to help persuade the Senate to approve funding for the station and then get the appropriation through a House-Senate conference committee, Lowery explained. “When we get to conference, I believe there will be funding for space station,” he said.

Critics argue that in difficult economic times, Congress must spend more on social programs and less on “Big Science,” including the space station and a giant atom-smasher known as the super-conducting supercollider. They also cite scientific reports that have concluded that the latest version of the space station, pared down last year to meet congressional cost-cutting goals, no longer can fulfill the scientific mission originally set for it when the program was first announced in 1984.

“The science purpose of the space station is a little like Alice in Wonderland’s Cheshire Cat,” said Rep. Bill Green (R-N.Y.), who voted to eliminate station funding. “There’s not much left other than the grin. And (at) $30 billion, that’s a lot of grin.”

But Lowery and others say America will lose its lead in manned space exploration if the nation abandons the space station. Furthermore, supporters argue that the foreign governments who are partners in the project--Canada, Japan and members of the European Space Agency--will never again cooperate in major international scientific efforts if the United States proves to be unreliable with the space station.

Thomas E. Williams, a spokesman for McDonnell Douglas, said Monday that he was heartened by support for the space station expressed Monday by some members of Congress, particularly members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, which oversees NASA. Nevertheless, Williams said McDonnell Douglas officials expect a close vote on Thursday.

“I think everyone in Washington is just hoping,” Williams said.

McDonnell Douglas is under contract to provide the station’s propulsion, navigation, communications and other key systems, in addition to the 353-foot-long metal truss that will act as the station’s backbone.

The budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which includes the space station program, is part of the $80.9-billion appropriations bill that funds the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and a host of independent federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency. The bill was approved by the Appropriations Committee by a voice vote.

When Traxler’s subcommittee cut the funds for the space station, its members increased proposed spending for veterans’ medical care, public housing programs, and other NASA science programs.