Business As Usual For SOFIA As Congress Works Out Budget

Business As Usual For SOFIA As Congress Works Out Budget. Space News (6/6, Klotz, Subscription Publication, 481) continued coverage of how NASA and the DLR, Germany’s space agency, are still pressing ahead with their plans despite the Obama Administration cancelling funding for the project in its proposed budget. SOFIA program spokesman Nicholas Veronico of the Ames Research Center said, All the big money has been spent. Now all we have to do is go get science. With both the House and the Senate Appropriations Committee approving funds for the program, Veronico said that it currently is business as usual with us until the final budget is signed by President Obama. Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division, has said, We’re working closely with DLR to make sure that during the current year we continue to operate SOFIA and to maintain the observatory so that we can operate next year should we receive the appropriations required to do so. The Roll Call (6/6, Kim, 76K) Technocrat blog also covered the story. Blog Coverage. Jeff Foust at Space Politics (6/7) wrote that last week, before Senate appropriators passed their bill, Erick Young, Science Mission Operations Director for SOFIA, said that operators were hopeful about SOFIA’s prospect. He credited advocacy from those outside the federal government.