Robert Lightfoot, Marshall Space Flight Center Director, talks about the flight of Atlantis and the last flight of the shuttle program outside the KSC press centerFriday, July 8, 2011 at Kennedy Space Center, FL(The Huntsville Times/Eric Schultz)WASHINGTON, D.C. - The long wait to get a new manned rocket program under way brought new togetherness to NASA's competitive field centers, a Senate panel heard today. "We decided early on we were going to stick together on this," Marshall Space Flight Center Director Robert Lightfoot told a Senate oversight committee.
"We" referred to Lightfoot; Michael Coats, director of Johnson Space Center in Houston; and Robert Cabana, director of Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"This" referred to the period of uncertainty and transition that followed a 2010 decision by President Barack Obama to cancel NASA's only manned rocket program in favor of crew transport by commercial companies. That decision led to a year-long fight with Congress that ended just this September with an administration decision to go forward with a new NASA manned rocket.
That rocket will be developed at Marshall, launched on remodeled facilities at Kennedy and carry a crew capsule developed by Johnson.
"It's easy in a time of uncertainty to circle the wagons and become Marshall, Johnson and Kennedy," Lightfoot said. Instead, he said, the directors decided "early on to stay in contact." The result, Lightfoot said, was "these two guys have stuck by me and we've stuck with each other through this process. It's one of the biggest things that has gotten us through the transition."
For decades, NASA centers have engaged in legendary competition for projects and the jobs and budgets that come with them. Now, when it comes to human space flight, there is one manned rocket project, and Lightfoot said things have changed. "And we've tried to transfer that over to our teams," he said.