Members of Colorado’s congressional delegation have asked President Barack Obama to continue fiscal year 2011 funding for NASA’s next-generation human- spaceflight projects, saying it would save aerospace jobs.
On Feb. 1, Obama proposed a $19 billion NASA budget that seeks an end to putting humans on the moon by 2020 and cancels a crew vehicle designed and built by more than 450 Colorado employees of Lockheed Martin Space Systems.
In a letter released Thursday, Reps. Ed Perlmutter, Doug Lamborn, Betsy Markey and Mike Coffman note: “In fiscal year 2008, over $780 million was obligated to the Colorado aerospace industry, in addition to $85 million going to educational institutions.”
Lockheed’s Orion crew-exploration-vehicle work creates about 1,000 high-tech and high- paying jobs in Colorado, the letter said, and supports 22 companies across the state.
