By Eric Berger

Amid uncertainty about its future and that of human spaceflight in general, Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas, celebrated its 50th anniversary, last week.

With NASA moving beyond the Houston-based space shuttle program earlier this year, the sprawling Clear Lake center will see its budget cut by about 25 percent, to $4.5 billion next year.
"That's a very significant cut, and it's painful," said Mike Coats, Director of Johnson Space Center.

As a result of the cuts the Houston space center will shed several thousand jobs.

The golden anniversary comes as NASA announced plans to develop and build a heavy-lift rocket and spacecraft to allow humans to fly beyond low-Earth orbit. Test flights could begin as early as 2018.

Although the rocket-building program will not bring new jobs to Houston, it should preserve existing jobs.

Perhaps most importantly it provides a future purpose, beyond controlling the International Space Station, for a space center originally designated as the Houston Manned Spacecraft Center. The Houston facility was created to design spacecraft, train astronauts and conduct missions.

Hopes ride with Orion: If NASA follows through on construction of the heavy-lift rocket and Orion spacecraft, Coats said Johnson Space Center will be able to retain key people needed to fly spacecraft.

But he acknowledged that's a big if.

"To be honest with you, I'm very concerned about sustainability," he said. "We've canceled something like 25 programs in the last 25 years. That's not a record to be terribly proud of. Sustaining programs, which by definition are multiyear programs, across multiple administrations and multiple congresses, is just hard."

There are other concerns as well.

In 2009, an independent committee led by space industry executive Norm Augustine reviewed NASA's human spaceflight program, and its essential recommendation was to not ask NASA to do too much, with too little funding.

'Formula for disaster': There are those who worry NASA is not being given enough money to build the heavy-lift rocket, and there are concerns that the space program won't be fully funded in a tough economy.

"I'd love to see us have a really strong space program," Augustine said in an interview. "But rather than have a space program with great ambitions and inadequate money, I'd rather have a lesser space program with adequate money. Most everyone will say that, until push comes to shove, then they will say, 'Well, we'll do our best.' That's a formula for disaster." For now, NASA will have to hope that Congress and the White House provide the funding they've promised.

Looking ahead Coats said he envisions a NASA that has not only sent humans to Mars in the next 50 years of exploration, but also built a permanent presence there, and even traveled to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

"I hope I'm right," he said.

Other nations poised: But if not Americans, Coats said that China, India and other countries around the world are eager to pursue exploration goals, and that whether as individual countries or as part of a global enterprise, he believes humans are destined to explore.

Indeed, even back in 1961, NASA was looking beyond the moon.
When the Houston space center opened its doors the special assistant to then-director Robert Gilruth, Paul Purser, issued a "questions and answers" letter to the media. Among the questions was whether the moon was the "ultimate goal" of the exploration program.

"No, the moon is not the ultimate goal of our space exploration program," Purser said. "It is actually a stepping-off point to outer space, sort of a stepping stone to the planets. Probably the next generation will look on our efforts over the next decade as only the baby steps in the space program."

[Eric Berger wrote this report for Houston Chronicle.]