Houston Chronicle - Texas on the Potomac

Houston-area House members from both parties are joining forces to persuade the Obama administration to rescue NASA's back-to-the-moon Constellation program.

Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, whose congressional district includes NASA's Johnson Space Center, was joined today by Reps. Gene Green, D-Houston, Michael McCaul, R-Austin, and John Culberson, R-Houston as well as House members from Utah, Virginia and Florida to press NASA to appoint a team of space agency experts to map an alternative to killing Constellation within 30 days.

The lawmakers want the "Team B" members to be appointed by directors of NASA space flight centers at Houston's Johnson Space Center, Florida's Kennedy Space Center and Alabama's Marshall Space Flight Center.

The lawmakers asked NASA administrator Charles Bolden to name a team that would find a way to save key elements of Constellation but stay within the $19 billion budget request submitted to Congress by President Obama.

Obama asked Congress in early February to kill the five year old, $108 billion Constellation program in order to focus NASA resources on extending operations of the International Space Station for five years, expanding earth science missions and contracting with commercial spacecraft firms to develop the capability to ferry astronauts and cargo to the space station.

The lawmakers' effort is designed to rescue the "Team B" approach that Houston JSC director Mike Coats had outlined to colleagues in an internal email.

Bolden publicly rejected that approach by NASA employees, saying that NASA's leadership would stand behind Obama's plan to scrap Constellation.