spacetoday.net: White House releases space transportation policy

Posted: Thu, Jan 6, 2005, 8:23 PM ET (0123 GMT)
The Bush Administration released Thursday a long-awaited new national space transportation policy that largely maintains the status quo. The policy, officially authorized by President George W. Bush on December 21 but not released until Thursday, maintains the current policy of keeping the two EELV programs, Atlas 5 and Delta 4, in place at least through the end of the decade. The new policy also keeps in place a requirement that US payloads use US launch vehicles except under special circumstances. The policy requires NASA and the Defense Department to submit to the president a recommendation on development of heavy-lift launch vehicles. The policy had been in development since 2002 and was reportedly nearly complete when the shuttle Columbia was lost, after which the policy was set aside to deal with the aftermath of the accident and the development of the space exploration policy released a year ago.