The Legacy of Apollo Hearing Committee on Science
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THE LEGACY OF APOLLO HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JULY 16, 2019 Serial No. 116–37 Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 37–034PDF WASHINGTON : 2020 COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas, Chairwoman ZOE LOFGREN, California FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma, DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois Ranking Member SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California, BILL POSEY, Florida Vice Chair RANDY WEBER, Texas CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania BRIAN BABIN, Texas LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas ANDY BIGGS, Arizona HALEY STEVENS, Michigan ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas KENDRA HORN, Oklahoma RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas BRAD SHERMAN, California TROY BALDERSON, Ohio STEVE COHEN, Tennessee PETE OLSON, Texas JERRY MCNERNEY, California ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida PAUL TONKO, New York JIM BAIRD, Indiana BILL FOSTER, Illinois JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington DON BEYER, Virginia JENNIFFER GONZA´ LEZ-COLO´ N, Puerto CHARLIE CRIST, Florida Rico SEAN CASTEN, Illinois VACANCY KATIE HILL, California BEN MCADAMS, Utah JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia (II) CONTENTS July 16, 2019 Page Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 2 Opening Statements Statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chairwoman, Com- mittee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .... 8 Written statement ............................................................................................ 8 Statement by Representative Frank Lucas, Ranking Member, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ..................... 9 Written statement ............................................................................................ 11 Written statement by Representative Kendra Horn, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .................................... 12 Witnesses: Mr. Charles Fishman, Author, ‘‘One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us to the Moon’’ Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 14 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 16 Dr. David W. Miller, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, The Aero- space Corporation Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 20 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 22 Dr. Peter Jakab, Chief Curator, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 26 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 29 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 33 Appendix I: Additional Material for the Record Letter submitted by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chairwoman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representa- tives ....................................................................................................................... 64 (III) THE LEGACY OF APOLLO TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2019 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, Washington, D.C. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Eddie Bernice Johnson [Chairwoman of the Committee] presiding. (1) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Chairwoman JOHNSON. The hearing will come to order. And without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare recess at any time. Good morning, and welcome to today’s hearing on ‘‘The Legacy of Apollo.’’ I want to thank each of our distinguished witnesses for their participation, and I look forward to your testimony. As some of you may know, today really is the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, and this hearing is starting about the time the three astronauts reached Earth’s orbit before landing on the Moon. It is fitting that we hold this hearing. Our Committee was established in direct response to the challenge of Sputnik, and our predecessors on this Committee played an important role in au- thorizing and maintaining support for the Apollo program. What is the legacy of Apollo? It is a question to which there has been multiplicity of responses over the years, and our witnesses will be offering their own thoughtful perspectives for our consider- ation. As the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing approach has drawn closer, there have been numerous stories and historical anecdotes that have captured the media’s attention, which is a tes- timony to the enduring fascination Americans have with this unique moment in our history. Each of these stories have shone a light on different aspects of the Apollo program’s impact, whether it be something as specific as helping speed the development of widespread use of integrated circuits, to something as broad as the positive geopolitical image that the United States gained aftermath of the Apollo 11 landing. To me, these are all important legacies of Apollo. But I think there are also more intangible impacts that need to be recognized when we think of Apollo. Namely, there is the often-cited inspira- tional value that Apollo and our space program overall has had on inspiring a generation to seek careers in STEM (science, tech- nology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. They may not have wound up working at NASA, but they made meaningful contribu- tions across a range of disciplines in the following decades. And most fundamentally, there is the proof that the Apollo pro- gram offered this Nation is capable of great accomplishments when we share a common goal and a willingness to commit the resources needed to achieve it. Apollo was a unique accomplishment at a unique time in our Na- tion’s history. We should take great pride in it, but we should also take it as a demonstration of what we are capable of doing as a Nation. If we work together to harness the spirit and inspiration of Apollo to address the other daunting challenges that we face as Americans, that may be the best and most consequential Apollo legacies of this generation. [The prepared statement of Chairwoman Johnson follows:] Good morning, and welcome to today’s hearing on ‘‘The Legacy of Apollo.’’ I want to thank each of our distinguished witnesses for their participation, and I look for- ward to your testimony. As some of you may know, today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, and this hearing is starting about the time the three astronauts reached Earth orbit before heading off to the Moon. It is fitting that we hold this hearing. Our Committee was established in direct response to the challenge of Sputnik, and our 9 predecessors on this Committee played an important role in authorizing and main- taining support for the Apollo program. What is the legacy of Apollo? It is a question to which there have been a multi- plicity of responses over the years, and our witnesses will be offering their own thoughtful perspectives for our consideration. As the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing approach has drawn closer, there have been numerous stories and historical anecdotes that have captured the media’s attention, which is a testimony to the enduring fascination Americans have with this unique moment in our history. Each of these stories has shone a light on a dif- ferent aspect of the Apollo program’s impact, whether it be something as specific as helping speed the development and widespread use of integrated circuits, to something as broad as the positive geopolitical image the United States gained in the aftermath of the Apollo 11 landing. To me, these are all important legacies of Apollo. But I think that there are also more intangible impacts that need to be recognized when we think of Apollo. Name- ly, there is the oft-cited inspirational value that Apollo and our space program over- all had on inspiring a generation to seek careers in STEM fields. They may not have wound up working at NASA, but they made meaningful contributions across a range of disciplines in the following decades. And most fundamentally, there is the proof that the Apollo program offered that this nation is capable of great accomplishments when we share a common goal and a willingness to commit the resources needed to achieve it. Apollo was a unique accomplishment at a unique time in our nation’s history. We should take great pride in it, but we should also take it as a demonstration of what we are capable of as a nation. If we will work together to harness the spirit and inspiration of Apollo to address the other daunting challenges that we face as Amer- icans, that may be the best and most consequential of Apollo’s legacies to this gen- eration. I am entering two letters for the record. One is from Margaret Hamilton, who led the team that developed the Apollo on-board flight software for both the Command Module and Lunar Module. The other letter is from the Aerospace Industries Asso- ciation, an association of aerospace