U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said Wednesday, the economic woes created by the government shutdown are also grounding the nation’s space agency, threatening an unmanned mission to Mars.
Nelson, a former astronaut, expressed his concern about the far-reaching effects of the two-day old shutdown and cited reports that there is only a narrow window ending mid-December for the planned launch of the unmanned MAVEN spacecraft. Today, Nelson talked with committee staff about the possibility of an exemption. If the schedule is thrown off beyond that because of the shutdown, then it could be 2016 before another launch window.
“A handful of extremist lawmakers are starting to do an awful lot of damage, from the interruption of vital government services to a reduction in anti-terrorism intelligence gathering to the grounding of NASA,” Nelson said. “Their behavior is irresponsible and reckless.”
On the Senate floor, Nelson decried the fact that more than 97 percent of the space agency’s civilian workforce is being furloughed.
Nelson, who is chairman of a Senate subcommittee overseeing, coauthored and passed a NASA plan that involves building a spacecraft to travel to deep space after being launched aboard a new monster rocket.
