Policy-heavy NASA Authorization Bill Easily Passes House

摘要

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act of 2014 June 9, sending the Senate a policy-heavy bill that would ease spending restrictions on certain big-ticket programs, block the White House's proposal to ground an airborne astrophysics observatory and direct the agency to work with the Pentagon to develop a new liquid-fueled rocket engine. The bill passed the House only after one of its major policy prescriptions, which would have allowed contractors building NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, Orion crew capsule and Space Launch System rocket to spend money currently reserved to cover the potential cost of canceling those programs, was watered down heavily.