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'Plan B' Could Be on the Table for NASA

Internal e-mails seem to suggest this

Mar 5, 2010 07:30 GMT  ·  By
NASA chief Charles Bolden talks with other mission managers in Firing Room Four of the Launch Control Center as they monitor the countdown of the launch of the space shuttle Endeavor
   NASA chief Charles Bolden talks with other mission managers in Firing Room Four of the Launch Control Center as they monitor the countdown of the launch of the space shuttle Endeavor

According to an email obtained by Space, it would appear that officials at NASA are developing a new plan for space exploration that would most likely include a host of compromises. Opposition for the new budget proposal is fierce in Congress, especially as far as the space exploration program goes. Representatives and senators from both parties are not exactly thrilled by President Obama's decision of shutting down Project Constellation, and fear the America may lose its leading role in space on account of this.

The retrieved email is dated March 2, and it has been exchanged between the director of the NASA Johnson Space Center, Michael Coats, and Stephen Altemus, who is the chief engineer at the Center's manned spaceflight center. The top official requested the scientists to draw up a “Plan B” for space exploration, that would feature a host of compromises to appease politicians and other critics. The document also shows that Charles Bolden plans to discuss these points with the House Science and Technology Chairman, Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.).

But the NASA Administrator says that he did not call for any of his staff to draw up such a plan. "The President's Budget for NASA is my budget. I strongly support the priorities and the direction for NASA that he has put forward. I'm open to hearing ideas from any member of the NASA team, but I did not ask anybody for an alternative to the President's plan and budget. We have to be forward thinking and aggressive in our pursuit of new technologies to take us beyond low-Earth orbit, and the President's plan does this,” Bolden said in a statement.

“ After years of underinvestment in new technology and unrealistic budgeting, we finally have an ambitious plan for NASA that sets the agency on a reinvigorated path of space exploration,” he added. But the email contained some claims that Bolden may have indeed participated in the exchange. “Steve[,] Robert and I talked to Charlie and he agreed to let us set up a 'Plan B' team (my term, since Chairman Gordon asked Charlie about his 'plan B' at the hearing) to look at what a potential compromise might look like,” Coats wrote in the message.