With senior members of the House Appropriations Committee, including Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, having apprised NASA that they do not intend supporting the Obama administration-proposed budget for the space agency, NASA officials have sought the help of several study teams to consider some revisions to the budget.

According to the NASA budget-related proposal by the White House, an allocation of $6 billion has been earmarked for the agency, for a five-year period, for a program that would involve the outsourcing of manned space missions to commercial operators.

However, noting the commercial industry is apparently not capable of fulfilling the requirements of human space transportation, Thomas Young, a highly-respected ex-aerospace executive, said that the “risk” associated with such a move would be too high.

Noting that opposition to the Obama administration’s original budget proposal for NASA “appears overwhelming,” Wolf said in an interview that “there really isn’t any support” for the proposal, with a bipartisan group will block on the appropriations panel and even possibly on the floor of the House.

Meanwhile, in a Monday-released statement, a NASA spokesman said that the agency was pursuing discussions to find a ‘middle ground’; and added: “We are working hard to address the concerns expressed by some members of Congress, and believe they want to support a plan that puts us on a more ambitious and sustainable course for exploration.”