COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — If NASA waits until 2015 to select a design for a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, it will be extremely important for the space agency to craft an interim program in a way that does not cause irreparable harm to the industrial base for space propulsion technology, said Jim Maser, president of rocket builder Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...