Space Station Spending Bill Clears Panel but Faces Battle in House
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WASHINGTON — A House committee turned back attacks on NASA’s proposed space station Wednesday, but congressional opponents of the controversial orbiting laboratory vowed to take the fight to the House floor, perhaps as early as next week.
After a daylong session, the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology approved legislation that calls for direct spending of about $1.9 billion a year on the space station program over the next six fiscal years.
Related spending in other programs run by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, including space science and the space shuttle, would bring the total authorized spending on the space station to about $2.2 billion a year.
The future of the space station is being watched closely in Orange County, where the McDonnell Douglas Space Systems unit in Huntington Beach has about 3,000 employees working directly and indirectly on the project. One of three prime contractors, McDonnell Douglas holds space station contracts worth more than $4 billion.
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