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Lead by Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge), Florida’s Congressional Delegation has joined together to send a letter to the President expressing the delegation’s deep concerns over his proposed FY 2011 budget for NASA. With the Administration’s decision to retire the Shuttle at the end of this year and an announcement that they are cancelling the Constellation program, the U.S. would be left with a lengthy human space flight gap, no heavy-lift vehicle to launch astronauts and cargo into space, and no clear vision for future exploration.
 
“The Administration’s budget proposal leaves both our state and our nation lacking,” said Congressman Posey. “This plan would relinquish our leadership in space, render the U.S. incapable of independently launching Americans into space, compromise our access to the Space Station, devastate our world-class workforce and industrial base that will be difficult to reassemble, and deprive Americans of the economic benefits of a robust space program.  The rest of the world gets it and is investing in space, but this plan represents a major retreat.”

In the letter, Florida delegation Members say they are concerned that “the plan NASA has laid out fails to provide a manageable transition of the workforce” and “is likely to repeat the mistakes that plagued Florida at the end of the Apollo program” which resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs and serious adverse economic hardships for the state.

Rep. Posey has been an advocate for closing the human space flight gap by extending the Shuttle program until Constellation or commercial vehicles are on line.  He introduced bipartisan legislation, H.R. 1962, last April that would authorize this policy and is preparing to introduce additional bipartisan legislation with Rep. Kosmas next week. 
 
To read the Florida Delegation’s full letter to the President, click here.