Us House Subcommittee Rejects Upgrade Of Existing Hypergolic Fueling Facility At Wallops

The US House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA funding has rejected the agency's request to upgrade an EXISTING HYPERGOLIC FUELING FACILITY AT THE NASA WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY, VA., where Orbital Sciences Corp. plans to launch its new Antares commercial cargo carrier to the International Space Station, according to "AVIATION WEEK". The work would have come at the expense of designing a new combined hypergolic fueling and spacecraft processing facility. Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va)"WHILE UPGRADING AND EXPANDING THE HYPERGOLIC FUELING FACILITY IS NOT OBJECTIONABLE, THE COMMITTEE DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT IT SHOULD BE PURSUED AT THE EXPENSE OF EARLY PLANNING FOR A NEW PROCESSING FACILITY, CONGRESSMAN FRANK WOLF (R-VA), chairman of the House subcommittee, told NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "IF NASA WISHES TO PROCEED WITH THE HYPERGOLIC FUELING FACILITY UPGRADES, A NEW REPROGRAMMING REQUEST IDENTIFYING A DIFFERENT SOURCE OF FUNDS MAY BE SUBMITTED TO THE COMMITTEE," Wolf said.Recently, ORBITAL SCIENCES CORPORATION placed the blame for their launch delays squarely on the VIRGINIA COMMERCIAL SPACE FLIGHT AUTHORITY, which is responsible for preparing the launch pad for Orbital's Antares rocket - formerly named Taurus 2 - and its Cygnus space station cargo module, noting propellant and pressurization equipment glitches at the launch site on Wallops Island.