DEFINING NASA’S MISSION AND AMERICA’S VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF SPACE EXPLORATION HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND OVERSIGHT HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MAY 9 AND 19, 1997 Serial No. 105–84 Printed for the use of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 46–559 CC WASHINGTON : 1998 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate jul 14 2003 13:41 Jan 14, 2004 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 W:\DISC\46559 46559 COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND OVERSIGHT DAN BURTON, Indiana, Chairman BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York HENRY A. WAXMAN, California J. DENNIS HASTERT, Illinois TOM LANTOS, California CONSTANCE A. MORELLA, Maryland ROBERT E. WISE, JR., West Virginia CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut MAJOR R. OWENS, New York STEVEN SCHIFF, New Mexico EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York CHRISTOPHER COX, California PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida GARY A. CONDIT, California JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York STEPHEN HORN, California THOMAS M. BARRETT, Wisconsin JOHN L. MICA, Florida ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, Washington, THOMAS M. DAVIS, Virginia DC DAVID M. MCINTOSH, Indiana CHAKA FATTAH, Pennsylvania MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland JOE SCARBOROUGH, Florida DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, Illinois STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois MARSHALL ‘‘MARK’’ SANFORD, South JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts Carolina JIM TURNER, Texas JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire THOMAS H. ALLEN, Maine PETE SESSIONS, Texas HAROLD E. FORD, JR., Tennessee MICHAEL PAPPAS, New Jersey ——— VINCE SNOWBARGER, Kansas BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont BOB BARR, Georgia (Independent) ROB PORTMAN, Ohio KEVIN BINGER, Staff Director DANIEL R. MOLL, Deputy Staff Director WILLIAM MOSCHELLA, Deputy Counsel and Parliamentarian JUDITH MCCOY, Chief Clerk PHIL SCHILIRO, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE J. DENNIS HASTERT, Chairman MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana THOMAS M. BARRETT, Wisconsin CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut TOM LANTOS, California STEVEN SCHIFF, New Mexico ROBERT E. WISE, JR., West Virginia ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida GARY A. CONDIT, California JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, Illinois JOHN L. MICA, Florida CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio JIM TURNER, Texas BOB BARR, Georgia EX OFFICIO DAN BURTON, Indiana HENRY A. WAXMAN, California ROBERT CHARLES, Staff Director and Chief Counsel IANTHE SAYLOR, Clerk MARK STEPHENSON, Minority Professional Staff Member (II) VerDate jul 14 2003 13:41 Jan 14, 2004 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 W:\DISC\46559 46559 C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on: May 9, 1997 ....................................................................................................... 1 May 19, 1997 ..................................................................................................... 151 Statement of: Aldrin, Buzz, astronaut, Apollo 11; Walter Cunningham, astronaut, Apol- lo 7; Ron Howard, director, ‘‘Apollo 13’’; and Story Musgrave, astronaut and scientist .................................................................................................. 11 Carpenter, Scott, Mercury 7 astronaut; Captain Eugene Cernan, Gemini 9, Apollo 10, and Apollo 17 astronaut; and Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 astronaut ....................................................................................................... 152 Glaser, Peter, vice president, Arthur D. Little, Inc.; Richard Berendzen, professor of physics, American University; David Criswell, director, Institute for Space Systems Operations, University of Houston; and David Webb, consultant, Space Science and Engineering ......................... 58 Ouellette, Joshua, student, Academy of Science and Technology; Seth Potter, professor of Applied Physics, New York University; Bob Zubrin, president, Pioneer Astonautics; Tom Rogers, Near-Term Commercial Space Transport Opportunities; and John Lewis, astrogeologist .............. 189 Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by: Aldrin, Buzz, astronaut, Apollo 11, prepared statements of ....................... 17, 165 Berendzen, Richard, professor of physics, American University, prepared statement of ................................................................................................... 70 Cunningham, Walter, astronaut, Apollo 7, prepared statement of .............. 27 Glaser, Peter, vice president, Arthur D. Little, Inc., prepared statement of ..................................................................................................................... 60 Hastert, Hon. J. Dennis, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, prepared statement of ................................................................ 4 Potter, Seth, professor of Applied Physics, New York University, ‘‘Applica- tions of Thin-Film Technology in Space Power Systems,’’ and ‘‘Energy and Information from Orbit: Technologies for the Greenhouse Century’’ 206 Rogers, Tom, Near-Term Commercial Space Transport Opportunities, pre- pared statement of ........................................................................................ 199 Webb, David, consultant, Space Science and Engineering, prepared state- ment of ........................................................................................................... 82 Weldon, Hon. David, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, prepared statement of .................................................................... 9 (III) VerDate jul 14 2003 13:41 Jan 14, 2004 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 W:\DISC\46559 46559 VerDate jul 14 2003 13:41 Jan 14, 2004 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 W:\DISC\46559 46559 DEFINING NASA’S MISSION AND AMERICA’S VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF SPACE EXPLO- RATION FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1997 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL SECURITY, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM AND OVERSIGHT, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 8:30 a.m., at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Sixth and Independence Ave- nue, Washington, DC, Hon. J. Dennis Hastert (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Hastert, Souder, and Portman. Also present: Representative Weldon. Staff present: Robert Charles, staff director and chief counsel; and Ianthe Saylor, clerk. Mr. HASTERT. The hour of 8:30 having arrived, the Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice will come to order. Good morning and welcome. We have a very exciting hearing be- fore us today with some dedicated and thoughtful and generally ex- traordinary witnesses. Let me say on behalf of the entire sub- committee and all those assembled here, it’s a real privilege to have such a spectacular group of witnesses appearing before us today. So gentlemen, thank you very much for giving us your time. I want to thank everyone involved in making this hearing possible, especially the Smithsonian Institute of Air and Space Museum, NASA, and the special witnesses who sit before us this morning. I’m going to keep my opening statement brief this morning in deference to our distinguished panels. I do want to say a little bit about why we are having this hearing, why we are having it here in the space museum, and why the topic of space and exploration and NASA oversight is a matter of American importance. This na- tional security subcommittee is part of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. As such, we share oversight responsibility over a number of national security issues and also over NASA. Let me say that the Science Committee in the U.S. House, under the chairmanship of Congressman Sensenbrenner, and the hard- working Space Subcommittee, chaired by Congressman Rohra- bacher, have been and continue to be exceptional leaders in the oversight of NASA. Their work is critical in defining NASA’s mis- (1) VerDate jul 14 2003 13:41 Jan 14, 2004 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 W:\DISC\46559 46559 2 sion, keeping costs down, and keeping NASA on track—as a matter of fact, just passing out the authorization on NASA recently. We are trying to move forward through a series of hearings on NASA’s vision and America’s vision for the future. I believe we may be holding joint hearings on some of these topics, possibly with the Committee on Science. Let me talk about a vision for a moment. In a time of tight budgets, the American Congress and NASA must be ever-conscious of the costs and the benefits of investments made. We also must struggle to truly understand that there are benefits, short-term and long-term, direct and indirect, that come from affordable space science, human space exploration, space-re- lated technologies, aeronautical engineering breakthroughs and, really, the basic education and inspiration of our kids. These issues, so often forgotten in the public dialog, are a part of what has made this Nation great in the 1960’s and 1970’s. I can remember as a kid growing