S. HRG. 113–694 FROM HERE TO MARS HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND SPACE OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION APRIL 9, 2014 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 95–839 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 06:59 Aug 17, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\95839.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND 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 MARK PRYOR, Arkansas MARCO RUBIO, Florida CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota DEAN HELLER, Nevada MARK BEGICH, Alaska DAN COATS, Indiana RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut TIM SCOTT, South Carolina BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii TED CRUZ, Texas EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts DEB FISCHER, Nebraska CORY BOOKER, New Jersey RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin JOHN E. WALSH, Montana ELLEN L. DONESKI, 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 RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut DAN COATS, Indiana EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin JOHN E. WALSH, Montana (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:59 Aug 17, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\95839.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on April 9, 2014 ................................................................................ 1 Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 1 Statement of Senator Rubio .................................................................................... 31 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 9 Prepared statement of Dean Cheng, Senior Research Fellow, The Herit- age Foundation .............................................................................................. 31 WITNESSES William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator, Human Exploration and Operations, National Aeronautics and Space Administration ......................... 3 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5 Susan Eisenhower, Chairman Emeritus, Eisenhower Institute, President, Ei- senhower Group, Inc. ........................................................................................... 10 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 12 Dr. Leroy Chiao, Former NASA Astronaut; Commander, International Space Station Expedition 10; Special Advisor for Human Spaceflight, The Space Foundation; and Chairman, National Space Biomedical Research Institute User Panel ............................................................................................................ 15 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 18 Jeffrey Manber, Managing Director, NanoRacks, LLC ........................................ 20 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 22 APPENDIX Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Bill Nelson to: William H. Gerstenmaier ................................................................................. 49 Dr. Leroy Chiao ................................................................................................ 50 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:59 Aug 17, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\95839.TXT JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:59 Aug 17, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\95839.TXT JACKIE FROM HERE TO MARS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND SPACE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m. in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Bill Nelson, Chair- man of the Subcommittee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA Senator NELSON. Good morning. Thank you all for coming. We have held, in this committee, a number of hearings on space exploration. We’ve highlighted how the technologies developed benefit our lives here on Earth. We’ve discussed the potential dangers of near-Earth objects. We’ve heard about the growing commercial space industry. We’ve explored how NASA’s efforts will eventually allow us to put an American on Mars. We even heard last year, via downlink, from the ISS about some of the amazing work that is going on up there. And all of that means that we have plenty of chances to share the excitement about the space program. But, look. It’s an empty dais. And it’ll just be Senator Rubio and me when he arrives. And he’s filling in for Senator Cruz who un- derstandably is in Texas today for the memorial service at the Army base there. So we need to generate some excitement, again, among the American people. And, of course, things give us a problem. Now we have the tensions with Russia. Is it going to impact the space pro- gram? As we’ve seen before, the exploration of space has been the one area in times of geopolitical conflict that we can rise above that. So NASA’s success is not only a product of tremendous investments in technology, but also in international cooperation. And I believe that we need to continue that tradition. Geopolitics may or may not affect the nation’s exploration mis- sion. It certainly affected it back at the dawn of the Space Race, because of the launch of Sputnik. NASA was designed, in part, to demonstrate to the world the power of the American way of life. NASA’s 1958 Organic Act signed by the grandfather of Susan Ei- senhower, President Eisenhower, stated that U.S. space activities should contribute to international cooperation. When Secretary of Defense McNamara and NASA Administrator Jim Webb proposed (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:59 Aug 17, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\95839.TXT JACKIE 2 a lunar mission to the Kennedy administration in 1961, they ar- gued that ‘‘Our attainments (in space) are a major element in the international competition between the Soviet system and our own.’’ And yet, NASA was a vehicle for working with the Soviets in the midst of the Cold War with all of the ICBMs pointed at each other with nuclear weapons. In 1975, we had Apollo-Soyuz, the first link- up between a Soviet and U.S. spacecraft, which President Nixon viewed as important in pursuing de´tente. General Tom Stafford, the leader of that mission, with General Alexei Leonov, they ren- dezvoused a Soviet space craft and an American space craft. They docked and they lived together in space for 9 days. And you talk about a role model for international cooperation. Look at the friendship today between Tom Stafford and Alexei Leonov. And General Stafford testified here. He called it ‘‘The shin- ing light during the Cold War Era in our relationship with the So- viet Union.’’ That’s what Tom said here. And so, today, the ISS, a stunning example of engineering and cooperation, combines the contributions of 15 partner nations and the famous NASA-Mars Curiosity Rover carries instruments pro- vided by France, Canada, Germany, Russia and Spain. So our lead- ership in space is a result of decades of strategic investment. If we want to maintain that position, then the investments that we’re making today have got to be strategic. And yet, we’re in an era of limited budgets. The space arena now includes new players like China, India, and the private sector. So as we look to the future, there are a few questions that I would like to propose. What do we get out of our investment in being pioneers in space? Number two, how will each mission such as the Asteroid Redirect Mission, help meet our space exploration goals and benefit American interests? And Bill Gerstenmaier is going to speak to that. Number three, when and how will we co- operate with international and commercial partners? And which partners will we exclude, and why? Following so many decades of advancement in space and given the high cost and amazing benefits of exploration, there’s no room for rash actions but only for very careful decisionmaking. Those leading exploration efforts will realize it is a truth: those that lead will realize the economic scientific and political benefits. And so, it’s my pleasure to introduce today’s witnesses. Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Explo- ration and Operations. Susan Eisenhower, President of the Eisen- hower Group, author of Partners in Space, which details U.S.-So- viet cooperation. She will discuss lessons learned.