Thornberry shoots down Air Force space launch plan

Published April 25, 2016 8:26pm ET



The House Armed Services Committee chairman shot down the Air Force’s request to develop a new commercial launch system to get to space, instead forcing the service to focus on an American-made rocket engine to end reliance on Russia.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, released his draft of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act on Monday. The bill authorizes the Air Force to use taxpayer dollars to design a new rocket engine to replace the RD-180 made in Russia, but not an American launch system more broadly.

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