|
An October 16 hearing on the future of NASA's human space flight program revealed areas of consensus,
and areas of disagreement, among the witnesses on directions for the U.S. space flight program.
The panel of witnesses at this House Science Committee hearing brought a tremendous depth http://www.nike-free.ch/ - nike free of
expertise covering manned and unmanned space science and exploration, military technology, and the history
of technology. Several were former NASA officials. While the witnesses saw little value in the current space
shuttle and space station programs, there was not a clear consensus on what NASA's goals for its human
space flight program should be.
Although they believed a more ambitious http://www.nikefree.ch/ - http://www.nikefree.ch / program of exploration could be done without a
massive increase to the NASA budget, the witnesses did not fully agree on whether more funding was needed
and where it should come from.
The panel concurred with Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert's (RNY) statement that NASA's current
manned space flight program is "not moving us toward any compelling objective" and the nation "should
transition out of" the shuttle and space station programs as soon as possible.
"Three http://www.ralphlaurenisverige.org/ - ralph lauren outlet decades of wishful thinking and building...on an inadequate funding basis has led
the nation into a dead end, a blind alley," stated Wesley Huntress of the Carnegie Institution.
"There is no point in the long run in doing what we're doing now," added Bruce Murray of the California
Institute of Technology. Huntress and Murray, along with In-Q-Tel President Michael Griffin, recommended that the long-term goal of the human space flight program be sending humans to Mars and beyond, for a broader
human presence throughout the solar system. The other witnesses were less certain of this objective.
"It's hard to see what the payoff of exploration is," remarked Duke University's Alex Roland.
Matthew Koss of the College of the Holy Cross worried that emphasis on such an ambitious
undertaking http://www.nike-free.ch/ - nike schuhe günstig might damage NASA's current science programs.
"NASA right now has a vibrant program in materials physics" and other scientific fields,
he said, and "I'd hate to see [an exploration initiative] injure or destroy the physical science going
on right now."
|