Calling President Barack Obama's NASA budget "unacceptable," U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas joined Rep. Bill Posey in demanding a greater commitment for space exploration from the White House.

Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, and Posey, R-Rockledge, spoke Friday at a congressional forum in Cocoa in advance of Obama's scheduled visit to Florida on Thursday.

With more than 7,000 direct jobs on the line, Florida's space industry has coalesced with state and federal officials to lobby for continued funding of human spaceflight.

"Since being elected, I have prioritized and focused on finding ways to minimize the human spaceflight gap and protect Space Coast jobs," the freshman Kosmas said at the forum sponsored by Florida Today.

"As many as 9,000 direct jobs at Kennedy Space Center are at risk due to the impending spaceflight gap.In addition, every direct NASA job translates into 2.82 jobs created statewide."

Posey, also a first-term congressman eyeing re-election this year, said the president's vision is shortsighted in 10 ways:

"It breaks his promise to close the gap and keep America first in space. It would make the gap eternal.

"It repeats the mistakes of the Apollo program by failing to transition the workforce.

"It does not establish goals, destinations or timetables.

"It does not establish a heavy lift vehicle.

"It relies too heavily on commercial -- placing all our eggs in one basket.

"It is vague and lacks basic details.

"It raises national security concerns.

"It puts Russia in the critical path by outsourcing U.S. space jobs to Russia.

"It makes questionable claims about commercial readiness for launching in 2016.

"It lacks redundancy for commercial flight."

"There has been no study on job losses, as required. The (administration's) decisions are being made in a vacuum," Posey charged.

While praising the president's proposed extension of the International Space Station, Kosmas said the administration should not expect to rely solely on commercial flights for access to space and to service and support the ISS.

"I also feel that the proposal lacks a defined vision for exploration beyond Earths orbit with identified destinations, a NASA-led vehicle architecture, and specific timelines for achieving our goals," Kosmas said.

Kosmas and Posey are co-sponsoring House Resolution 4804, the "Human Spaceflight Capability Assurance and Protection Act," which would extend use of the space station through 2020, allow NASA to continue flying the Space Shuttle, and push to accelerate a next-generation NASA-developed space vehicle.

A companion bill has been introduced by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, in the U.S. Senate.

Our bill takes a critical first step toward closing the (manned spaceflight) gap by extending Space Shuttle flights, Posey said. The Augustine Panel said this was the only way to close the gap from this end and we do that in this bill."

Florida Republican Reps. John Mica and Adam Putnam have signed onto the bill, as well as Democratic Reps. Corrine Brown, Kathy Castor, Alan Grayson, Ron Klein and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Posey and Wasserman Schultz also are co-sponsoring H.R. 1962, the "American Space Access Act," which would expedite the schedule of Orion and Ares 1 rockets.

The Florida delegation is pushing to salvage parts of the Constellation shuttle replacement program and to start a heavy-lift rocket test project at Kennedy Space Center as a way to save jobs.

NASA has announced plans to cancel Constellation and enlist private companies, including SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., to develop spacecraft to carry astronauts to low-Earth orbit.

President Obama plans to discuss the administration's agenda Thursday at KSC. The White House said the president -- who is scheduled to speak at 3 p.m. and depart at 3:45 p.m. -- will focus on "the next steps, the new technologies, new jobs and new industries."

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said Obama's speech would be followed by four panel discussions of invited space experts.

In a prepared statement, the White House defended its NASA budget and its new direction for space ventures:

"After an independent review panel found that the previous program to return astronauts to the moon was fundamentally un-executable, the president included an additional $6 billion for NASA in his FY2011 budget over the next five years.

"After years of underinvestment in new technology and unrealistic budgeting, the presidents plan will unveil an ambitious plan for NASA that sets the agency on a reinvigorated path of space exploration."

Kosmas isn't overly impressed, and she wants more.

Next weeks space summit is a chance for real progress in improving the presidents proposal, but we have a responsibility in Congress to ensure that NASA has a robust human spaceflight program," she said.

Wary of the administration's commitment, Florida's space workers, contractors and politicians are mobilizing.

On Sunday, a "Save Space" community rally will be held at the Cocoa Expo Sports Center.

Speakers will include Kosmas, Posey, U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and Florida Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, and a host of local officials from Brevard County.

County Commissioner Robin Fisher, a Democrat and organizer of the rally, said he is hoping for 5,000 people at Sunday's event, which starts at 4 p.m.

--

Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.