Space race over, but some don’t want to ask Russians for a ride

Aerospace companies are using memories of the Cold War and the prospect of American astronauts having to hitch a ride on a Russian rocket to push Congress to increase NASA’s budget.

Unless lawmakers follow through, there will be a five-year gap in U.S. manned flight capabilities from the time the Space Shuttle is retired in 2010 to when the Constellation rocket program, which will carry astronauts to the moon and Mars, is ready for launch.

{mosads}With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the concern is less about national security and proving which country’s worldview is correct than it is with more terrestrial worries like money and jobs.

With some irony, lobbyists note in meetings on Capitol Hill that America’s former communist foe would have monopolistic powers to charge what it likes to take astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), a program led by the United States and Russia that is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

The campaign to increase NASA’s budget includes some big players like Lockheed Martin and Boeing , the co-owners of the joint United Space Alliance, which operates spacecraft, and some lesser-known companies like SpaceX , which was created in 2002 by PayPal founder Elon Mask.

American astronauts have traveled on Russian-built rockets since 1993. But without any capability to take astronauts on its own, NASA could lose negotiating power. Russia could conceivably raise the prices for the trip after the shuttle is retired in 2010.

“Russians have proven to be quite excellent capitalists,” said Tim Hughes, a general counsel at SpaceX. “Unless NASA gets additional near-term funds, NASA will be wholly dependent on Russia for manned carriage through at least 2015.”

Hughes said the price of outsourcing space flights could easily reach $1 billion. That figure is based on the current contract NASA has with Russia, which is valued at $750 million. For that price, NASA astronauts have scheduled slots on 16 launches aboard the Russian-built Soyuz rockets from 2009 to 2011.

“The less time we are relying on the Russians for human access to space the better it will be for our program and our country,” said Jeff Carr, a spokesman for the United Space Alliance.

Even under the gap, NASA still expects to be able to deliver cargo to the space station. SpaceX is one of two companies under contract to build a rocket to carry supplies to low-Earth orbit and the ISS under a program called Commercial Orbital Transportation Services.

The company is scheduled to be able to deliver cargo starting in 2011.

But SpaceX is urging Congress to pay for a $308 million follow-on program that funds an upgrade to the cargo rockets so they can carry astronauts as well. Not all of that money would have to be appropriated next year.

The Alliance, meanwhile, is lobbying Congress to increase NASA’s topline to accelerate the Constellation’s development by as much as 13 months. Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), the chairwoman of the Appropriations panel responsible for NASA, and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), a member of the panel, have indicated their intent in boosting the space agency’s budget.

NASA has said it would cost an additional $2 billion to accelerate the Constellation program. President Bush requested $17.6 billion for NASA’s entire budget for fiscal year 2009.

Reps. Chet Edwards (D-Texas) and Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) wrote a “Dear Colleague” letter recently urging appropriators to close the five-year funding gap.

The letter notes that Congress codified the recommendation from a NASA report written after the Columbia disaster that killed all seven aboard. The report recommended the Space Shuttle be retired after 2010.

“Congress has a responsibility to address this extended gap and minimize the effect of American taxpayer dollars going overseas and tens of thousands of U.S. jobs lost,” Edwards and Calvert wrote.

As appropriators start to piece together their spending bills for fiscal 2009, space exploration companies have stepped up their lobbying efforts. SpaceX has hired the Podesta Group to lobby for an increase in NASA’s budget this year.

Meanwhile, the United Space Alliance added the Breaux-Lott Leadership Group to its roster of outside lobbyists, which already included Van Scoyoc Associates .