So long senator Shelby: key architect of SLS rocket will not seek re-election

Nearly two years ago, then NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made a notable appearance before a Senate committee to discuss US leadership in space. He felt the pressure to meet deadlines – something NASA struggles to do given the scope and complexity of its projects. On top of mind Bridenstine remained on track for the June 2020 launch of an unequipped Orion spacecraft to the moon.

“I think that as an agency, we have to live up to our commitment,” he told a handful of senators at the committee meeting. “If we tell you and others that we are going to launch in June 2020 around the Moon, I think we should launch around the Moon in June 2020.” Then, referring to the commercial space industry, he added, “We have an incredible capacity that currently exists that we can use in commerce to achieve this goal.”

It may not sound too dramatic, but in the realm of space policy and congressional hearings it was heresy. Congress created the Space Launch System rocket in 2011 and forced it on a reluctant White House. Now they were being told that the space agency didn’t actually need the big rocket to fly the missions it was created for. Days later, Bridenstine took this heresy a step further by suggesting that SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket could propel humans to the moon.

Shortly after all of this, Bridenstine was called to a meeting with Richard Shelby, the senior senator from Alabama who chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. In fact, the octogenarian Shelby controlled the NASA budget. In addition, the SLS rocket was managed in its state, at the Marshall Space Flight Center. The program was worth thousands of jobs. Shelby was furious. In his southern sleigh, he told Bridenstine he should resign.

The NASA directors are nominated by the White House, and Bridenstine ultimately received support from Vice President Mike Pence in this showdown with Shelby. But never again in the nearly two years remaining in his tenure has Bridenstine spoken of launching the Orion spacecraft on anything other than an SLS rocket. Weeks later, during a hearing before Shelby’s credits committee, Bridenstine was particularly deferential. Only the SLS rocket, he said, could meet the needs of NASA.

Shelby wielded that kind of power over NASA’s manned space flight program for much of the decade as he accumulated power and seniority in the United States Senate. But now he’s in the minority after Democrats took control of the Senate. And this week, Shelby announced that he would not be running for re-election in 2022. So what does all of this mean for NASA and space policy?

“Death march”

Shelby has a legacy of overworked rhetoric as well as the protection of entrepreneurs who helped his campaign and did business in Alabama. He began to flex his power over ten years ago.

In 2009, the Obama administration convened a blue panel, led by Norm Augustine, to examine the future of NASA manned spaceflight. At the start of 2010, they came back with their verdict: the agency’s plan, which called for the construction of a very large rocket, was not viable. This led to the Obama administration canceling this Ares V rocket, which was operated in Alabama.

Shelby became the main bulwark to protect the Marshall Space Flight Center. After all, this is where the Saturn V and Space Shuttle boosters were designed. NASA’s ability to explore deep space “has always been and always will be through the Marshall Space Flight Center,” he said at the time.

When the Obama administration further suggested that NASA should look more toward the commercial launch industry, the Alabama senator stepped up its rhetoric aimed at Obama and NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver. “The budget proposed by the president of NASA begins the death march for the future of American human space flight,” he said. “Congress cannot and does not want to sit back and watch the reckless abandon of sound principles, proven track record, a constant path to the success and destruction of our human space flight program.”

In retaliation, Shelby not only helped lead the Senate’s efforts to develop the space launch system rocket to replace the Ares V, but also actively opposed funding for the Commercial Crew program to use rockets and craft. spacecraft to transport astronauts to the International Space Station.

A decade later, of course, the Commercial Crew program began operating despite years of funding delays. Meanwhile, the SLS program continues to suffer from problems, and after spending $ 20 billion, NASA is still likely at least a year after a test flight for the vehicle – this, for a rocket originally supposed to be launched. in 2016. While Shelby undoubtedly delivered for his constituents, he crippled the space agency.

And after?

Garver, who left NASA in September 2013, said she believed Shelby’s departure could open the door to more space policy negotiations with Congress.

“Senator Shelby’s strong advocacy for NASA programs based in his home state of Alabama has shaped human spaceflight immeasurably – leading Appropriators to oppose commercial crew funding by in favor of a raise for SLS, ”she told Ars in an email. “As the last of four Senators to have fought against the Commercial Crew and asked NASA to build its own rocket, his departure could open up new areas of cooperation between the administration and the Hill in the future.”

The world has changed a lot over the past decade. While large contractors such as Boeing built the SLS for NASA, new space competitors such as SpaceX and Blue Origin have emerged with large, competitively priced rockets. SpaceX has already demonstrated its own privately developed Falcon Heavy booster, and is starting to launch prototypes of its next-generation Starship vehicle.

It seems likely that Shelby’s departure would make it easier for White House Biden to cancel the SLS rocket program if he continues to face technical difficulties, such as the failed hot-shot test of the central floor. It will also make the end of the program all the more inevitable if SpaceX succeeds in launching Starship into orbit on its Super Heavy rocket. Without a powerful backstop like Shelby, the reality of a heavy lift rocket that costs much less than SLS, has greater lift capacity, and is capable of multiple reuses should be impossible to ignore.