S. HRG. 111–984 THE FUTURE OF U.S. HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 12, 2010 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 66–487 PDF WASHINGTON : 2011 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) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 12:33 May 27, 2011 Jkt 066487 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\66487.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas, Ranking JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada BARBARA BOXER, California JIM DEMINT, South Carolina BILL NELSON, Florida JOHN THUNE, South Dakota MARIA CANTWELL, Washington ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey GEORGE S. LEMIEUX, Florida MARK PRYOR, Arkansas JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri DAVID VITTER, Louisiana AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas TOM UDALL, New Mexico MIKE JOHANNS, Nebraska MARK WARNER, Virginia MARK BEGICH, Alaska ELLEN L. DONESKI, Staff Director JAMES REID, Deputy Staff Director BRUCE H. ANDREWS, General Counsel ANN BEGEMAN, Republican Staff Director BRIAN M. HENDRICKS, Republican General Counsel NICK ROSSI, Republican Chief Counsel (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 12:33 May 27, 2011 Jkt 066487 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\66487.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on May 12, 2010 ............................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Rockefeller ........................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Hutchison ............................................................................ 3 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5 Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 8 Prepared statement of Captain James A. Lovell, USN (Ret.), Commander, Apollo 13, submitted by Hon. Bill Nelson .......................................................... 71 Statement of Senator Vitter .................................................................................... 8 Statement of Senator LeMieux ............................................................................... 9 Statement of Senator Brownback ........................................................................... 10 Statement of Senator Johanns ............................................................................... 11 Statement of Senator Pryor .................................................................................... 12 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 12 Statement of Senator Warner ................................................................................. 43 WITNESSES Hon. John P. Holdren, Ph.D., Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President of the United States ........................ 12 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 14 Hon. Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration ..................................................................................................... 17 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 19 Neil A. Armstrong, Retired Astronaut, Former Commander, Apollo 11 ............. 45 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 46 Captain Eugene A. Cernan, USN (Retired), Commander, Apollo 17, Astronaut (Retired) ................................................................................................................ 49 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 52 Norman R. Augustine, Chairman, Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee ............................................................................................................. 54 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 57 APPENDIX Response to written questions submitted to Hon. Charles F. Bolden, Jr. by: Hon. Kay Bailey Hutchison ............................................................................. 75 Hon. Barbara Boxer ......................................................................................... 82 Hon. Amy Klobuchar ........................................................................................ 82 Hon. Mark Warner ........................................................................................... 83 Response to written question submitted to Norman R. Augustine by: Hon. Kay Bailey Hutchison ............................................................................. 91 Hon. Amy Klobuchar ........................................................................................ 93 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 12:33 May 27, 2011 Jkt 066487 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\66487.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 12:33 May 27, 2011 Jkt 066487 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\66487.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE THE FUTURE OF U.S. HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2010 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:35 p.m. in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA The CHAIRMAN. This hearing will come to order. Our space program is clearly at a turning point. Earlier this year, the Obama Administration charted a new course. They had been working on it for a long time. And I know there is a lot of uncertainty and disagreement and all kinds of things about that, particularly when it comes to proposed plans for human spaceflight. This hearing is an important opportunity to take a close look at those plans and others. I have said before in this committee and I have addressed it di- rectly with Administrator Bolden during his confirmation that I be- lieve from my personal point of view that we need a new direction. To many, including myself, defenders of the status quo for NASA, be they many or be they few, seem to justify their views solely based on job impact. I do not think we can afford to do that. Jobs in West Virginia are subject number one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven, and always will be. This is a national and international program that we are talking about. I think we have to strike a bal- ance between economic development, which means jobs, and mod- ernizing our space program so we can remain competitive for years to come. NASA’s first mission must be to do what is best for the Nation. The American people deserve the most from their space program. NASA’s role cannot stay static. The President has challenged the U.S. Government to seek greater international collaboration, en- able commercial services, and develop new exploration tech- nologies, and on top of that, I would include vastly expand re- search. You are doing something up there right now, including medical research on MRSA, which kills thousands and thousands of people every year in this country, broad research, technical re- search, engineering research, all kinds of research. There is no bet- ter place to do it. And I think we have to develop new exploration technologies. (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 12:33 May 27, 2011 Jkt 066487 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\66487.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE 2 So these are good priorities and they should help ensure that in tough fiscal times, we build our space future in a measured, rel- evant, innovative and sustainable way. And this is not going to be easy. One reason it is not going to be easy is because we are under a, more or less, flat-line budget. Most Americans do not know that. I think most of them would welcome it if they did know it, but for those of us who work in Government and want to push programs forward, that is a hard pill to swallow. That does not affect the De- fense Department. It does not affect the intelligence community. It affects only parts of the veterans community. But NASA’s current budget of $18 billion may be a high water mark. We do not know what a soft freeze means. But it may be a high water mark for years to come. So we have to live with that and make the most of it. We cannot assume the agency will have unlimited resources for every mission it wants to undertake. So, therefore, we have to make hard choices. Today I look forward to a robust evaluation of the agency’s plan for human spaceflight, but more than that, we have to measure and shape those goals against our greater national priorities for the years and