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Challenges and Opportunities for Human Space Exploration

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Challenges and Opportunities for Human Space Exploration S. HRG. 113–624 CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND SPACE OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 23, 2013 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 94–152 PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:51 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\94152.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman BARBARA BOXER, California JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Ranking BILL NELSON, Florida ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi MARIA CANTWELL, Washington ROY BLUNT, Missouri FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey MARCO RUBIO, Florida MARK PRYOR, Arkansas KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri DEAN HELLER, Nevada AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota DAN COATS, Indiana MARK WARNER, Virginia TIM SCOTT, South Carolina MARK BEGICH, AlaskaS TED CRUZ, Texas RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut DEB FISCHER, Nebraska BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin WILLIAM COWAN, Massachusetts ELLEN L. DONESKI, Staff Director JAMES REID, Deputy Staff Director JOHN WILLIAMS, General Counsel DAVID SCHWIETERT, Republican Staff Director NICK ROSSI, Republican Deputy Staff Director REBECCA SEIDEL, Republican General Counsel and Chief Investigator SUBCOMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND SPACE BILL NELSON, Florida, Chairman TED CRUZ, Texas, Ranking Member BARBARA BOXER, California ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi MARK PRYOR, Arkansas MARCO RUBIO, Florida AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota DEAN HELLER, Nevada MARK WARNER, Virginia DAN COATS, Indiana RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin WILLIAM COWAN, Massachusetts (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:51 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\94152.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on April 23, 2013 .............................................................................. 1 Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 1 Statement of Senator Cruz ..................................................................................... 3 Statement of Senator Blumenthal .......................................................................... 33 WITNESSES William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations, National Aeronautics and Space Administration ......................... 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5 Thomas P. Stafford, Lieutenant General, United States Air Force (Ret.); As- tronaut (Ret.) ........................................................................................................ 9 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 10 Stephen A. Cook, Director, Space Technologies, Dynetics, Inc. ........................... 12 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 14 APPENDIX Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Amy Klobuchar to William H. Gerstenmaier ................................................................................................... 37 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:51 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\94152.TXT JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:51 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\94152.TXT JACKIE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND SPACE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:38 p.m. in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Bill Nelson, pre- siding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA Senator NELSON. Good afternoon. Welcome to the second hearing of this subcommittee in the 113th Congress. Today, we are going to focus on the challenges and the opportunities for human space exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. Human space exploration, we want to get back in that business. It is vital to our space program. It is vital to the science commu- nity. It pushes America’s best and brightest to the limits of their creativity, and all of us on Earth benefit from it. The allure of ex- ploration keeps our students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Just look what the Apollo program did, creating a whole generation of young scientists and engineers and mathe- maticians. And, of course, it helps our country in our leadership in aerospace basic research and other high-technology areas. In the authorization bill from two and a half years ago, we re- quired NASA, ‘‘to expand permanent human presence beyond low- Earth orbit,’’ calling on the agency to explore beyond LEO for the first time since the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, beyond low-Earth orbit. Under the guidance of that authorization bill, NASA has been working with the Nation’s space industry to sustain a human pres- ence on board the International Space Station. It is designated as a national laboratory, one component of it. And with NASA’s guid- ance, one U.S. commercial company has already delivered cargo to the station. And just this past Sunday, another commercial com- pany successfully tested its new rocket, and that rocket will deliver cargo to the station later on. Efforts to enable commercial crew de- livery capabilities are also well under way, and we look forward to those successes. And so NASA sits at the nexus of the public and private space sectors, and these partnerships enhance what we can accomplish in space. (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:51 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\94152.TXT JACKIE 2 For exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, LEO, NASA is currently building and testing hardware for the new Space Launch System and the Orion crew capsule. These technologies will carry our as- tronauts further into space than ever before. In 2014, a test of Orion will fly the capsule 15 times higher than the ISS before returning it to Earth at speeds near those that Gen- eral Stafford, who is one of our participants today, reached in his reentry in the Apollo 10 mission. And that Orion capsule is now undergoing final construction in the O&C building at the Kennedy Space Center. Its heat shield, the largest ever built, is on its way from Massachusetts. And following this test, the heavy-lift rocket and the capsule will fly together for the first time in 2017 and then carry its first crew in 2021. NASA is also preparing its people and infrastructure to support this space exploration. To ensure that future missions have ade- quate ground support, of course, what they are going through is the upgrades of all of the ground support equipment and launch infra- structure. And those will enable us in NASA, the military, and also the operations in the commercial space sector. So where do we go with these capabilities? Mars is the goal. With the right technology, SLS and Orion will be able to enable a wide range of human missions and destinations, which describe, going back to the authorization bill, include, ‘‘the surface of the Moon and near-Earth asteroids.’’ Two weeks ago, NASA announced its plan to capture a small as- teroid and redirect it to a stable orbit around the Moon. And the concept is still being studied, but if NASA can find a suitable aster- oid and redirect it with a robotic mission in time, our astronauts could visit and study the asteroid during a 2021 SLS-Orion flight. And so we are going to hear about that today. Research is also under way to better prepare astronauts for the dangers of exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. The Johnson Space Center in Texas, the hometown of this subcommittee’s Ranking Member, Senator Cruz, houses NASA’s Human Research Program. Many who have traveled into space participate in an annual phys- ical at the Johnson Space Center. NASA is going to continue to learn about the effects of micro- gravity on the body when an American and a Russian start their 1-year stay on board the International Space Station. We are learn- ing a lot about the effects of zero-G and bone loss as a result of zero-G. We are going to learn at the Johnson Space Center all of the effects that we possibly can on radiation on the human body and how to protect us when we are going all the way to Mars, and what are the kinds of shields that we have to have in case there is a solar explosion on the way to those planets, or, in fact, if we are on a Moon base, what do we have to protect human life. So NASA’s exploration efforts are strong, and they are well under way. And there are a lot of challenges, particularly in this fiscal climate that we find ourselves. But with the leadership that we have seen, with the creativity, with the dedicated contractor force and the civil service workforce, then we would have reason to believe that NASA can achieve the goals. VerDate Nov 24 2008 10:51 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\94152.TXT JACKIE 3 And
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