PRIVATE SPACE STATION PROPOSAL DELAYED BY HOUSE OPPOSITION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89T00234R000300320017-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 8, 2013
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: April 2, 1988
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/04/08: CIA-RDP89T00234R000300320017-2
co
Science/Technology
Defense Bill Plugs Project:
Private Space Station Proposal
Delayed by House Opposition
An administration plan to help a
private company put a mini-space sta-
tion in orbit has been sidelined, at
least temporarily, by critics on
NASA's key House oversight subcom-
mittee. But the proposal has received
a boost from the chamber's Armed
Services panel.
After a heated hearing on the plan
before the Science Committee's Sub-
committee on Space Science and
Applications March 30, the NASA offi-
cial in charge of the plan ? the center-
piece of the administration's space-
commercialization policy ? said he
would delay issuing a crucial document
needed to move the project forward.
The document, a request for pro-
posal (RFP) that would be sent to
companies interested in developing
such a facility, had already been de-
layed more than a week, until March
31, by congressional opposition.
(Weekly Report p. 788)
"It sounds to me like we're going
to have to wait a little bit," NASA
Deputy Administrator Dale D. Myers
said in an interview. "They're not go-
ing to support us, and I'm not going to
put the RFP out without their sup-
port."
Had the agency's administrators
issued the RFP ? as they had insisted
they were about to do for two weeks ?
Rep. Buddy MacKay, D-Fla. said,
"they'd be asking for trouble, let me
put it that way."
Meanwhile, lobbyists for Space
Industries Inc., the Houston-based
firm pushing the project, were success-
ful in getting support for the idea in-
serted into the report language of the
Armed Services Committee's Depart-
ment of Defense fiscal 1989 authoriza-
tion bill.
The report, approved by the com-
mittee March 29, recommends that
the Air Force use $20 million to ex-
plore options for using a commercially
developed space facility (CDSF). (Re-
-By Phil Kuntz
PAGE 890?April 2, 1988
lated story, p. 872)
"This has been a parallel track for
a long time," a Space Industries lob-
byist said. "We just want to move [the
CDSF concept] farther along."
Subcommittee Reservations
For now, however, the company's
crucial concern is getting the Space
Science Subcommittee to at least give
the RFP its blessing. The chairman of
the full Science, Space and Technol-
ogy Committee, Robert A. Roe, D-
N.J., demanded in a letter to NASA
Administrator James C. Fletcher
March 15 that he not issue the RFP
unless the plan is authorized by Con-
gress. Subcommittee markup of
NASA's fiscal 1989 authorization is
scheduled for April 12. (Weekly Re-
port p. 730)
NASA has been unable to con-
vince the subcommittee that the idea
is a worthwhile, interim research alter-
native to the $20 billion-plus manned
space station the agency wants to have
in orbit by the mid-to-late 1990s.
Most on the subcommittee seem
firmly opposed to the idea because it
may use up scarce space-budget dol-
lars needed for the manned space sta-
tion. Only its ranking Republican
member, Robert S. Walker, Pa., has
voiced strong support for the plan,
which calls for government spending
of up to $700 million over five years to
lease room on the facility. Questions
directed to NASA officials by most
other members have been hostile.
"It doesn't look optimistic right
now, given the tone of the members,"
said a subcommittee aide.
A Space Industries lobbyist coun-
tered, "I suspect it will be a lot closer
vote than what you're seeing at this
point."
Subcommittee Chairman Bill
Nelson, D-Fla:, said in an interview
after the hearing, "I'm going to let you
infer from my questions my doubts,
and I'm not going to give you any con-
clusions."
Copynght 1988 Congresvonol Qt. ower ly In,
Reproduchoo prohlboed to whole or In pow excepl by ed.t000l dooms
Nelson asked Myers March 30,
"If it comes to the unpleasant choice
that we can have one or the other, but
not both ? a CDSF or a permanent,
manned space station ? you're saying
to us that NASA would recommend
that we have a space station?"
Myers said, "Yes, that is correct."
Doubt on the subcommittee
stems from NASA's staunch opposi-
tion to the idea prior to Feb. 11, when
the administration's space-commer-
cialization policy was released.
The plan was favored by other
agencies, including the Department of
Commerce, represented on the White
House Economic Policy Council,
which drafted the space policy.
NASA has since come out strong-
ly in favor of the idea; officials say
they are identifying ways to use such a
facility that they hadn't thought of
before.
Pressures Within Administration
Congressional aides working for
members opposed to the idea said
they had been told that NASA is un-
der heavy pressure from Commerce
and the Office of Management and
Budget to release the RFP quickly.
Asked when the RFP was going
out, Gregg Fawkes, director of Com-
merce's Office of Commercial Space
Programs, said March 31, "It will
probably go out the middle of next
week." He backed off, however, when
told of Myers' statement.
"It's their decision," he said. "We
have a strong preference" that the
RFP go out quickly because "you can't
be showing [the industry] confusion in
the government."
The administrator in charge of
drafting the RFP for NASA said it
was unlikely the document will be is-
sued the week of April 4 because the
House is not in session, and Nelson is
expected to be out of town.
"We're on hold," NASA's Lee Til-
ton said.
He added that neither he nor My-
ers knew about the language in the
Armed Services Committee report.
Apparently, few, if anyone, on the
Space Science Subcommittee were
aware of the language, either, until af-
ter it had been approved. It was un-
clear what, if any, impact the report
language would have on release of the
RFP.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/04/08: CIA-RDP89T00234R000300320017-2