Charles Bolden

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. tells reporters in Huntsville, Ala., on May 20, 2016 that he considers the Space Launch System being developed in Huntsville a "protected program" regardless of who wins the presidential election. (Lee Roop/lroop@al.com)

The Space Launch System (SLS) being developed by NASA in Alabama is "a protected program" the next president won't be able to cancel, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. said Friday in Huntsville.

"It's a protected program because the Congress - you know in our system of government, the president proposes and the Congress disposes," Bolden said. He noted that Congress "roundly opposed" terminating the Constellation program, SLS's predecessor, when President Obama ended its funding in 2010.

Constellation, like SLS, was also being developed by Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, and several thousand aerospace workers lost their jobs when the president canceled it. Bolden defended that decision Friday.

"We were running into significant problems, design problems with Ares 1 and the vehicle Orion for the crew," Bolden said. Ares 1 was the first and smaller of two boosters in the Constellation plan, but Bolden said NASA had vibration problems when it joined a test capsule to the booster.

David Brock, Marshall Space Flight center's small business specialist, speaks on May 20, 2016 while accepting the NASA Administrator's Cup for having the best program in the agency for bringing small businesses to NASA work and supporting them after they start. (Lee Roop/lroop@al.com)

"We decided - I, consulting with the president - decided it was a bridge too far to hope we could bring the Constellation program from where it was to an operational program," Bolden said.

Congress didn't agree with America having no big space rocket and forced the White House to accept the Space Launch System in exchange for funding President Obama's personal priority: developing commercial space companies like SpaceX to carry cargo and eventually astronauts to the International Space Station.

Many aerospace workers were rehired to design and build SLS, and Congress has kept money flowing to it. Bolden's point was that Congress is committed to the big rocket and will continue funding it regardless of who wins in November and that person's position on SLS.

Bolden was in Huntsville to present Marshall Space Flight Center with its fifth Adminstrator's Cup for excellence in working with small business. Bolden called David Brock, Marshall's small business specialist, a "national treasure." Brock credited his team with the program's success.