This Thursday—April 1, April Fool’s Day—the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on NASA’s proposed FY2005 budget. NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe is the only announced witness. Given that Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), who chairs the subcommittee, is also a co-sponsor of the Senate version of the Hubble resolution (S. Res. 324), one can expect the topic to come up during the hearing. The hearing will be at 2:30 pm in Russell 253, and will be webcast on the committee’s web site.
Since Senator Brownback has also announced his desire for hearings on whether the orbiter should be retired sooner rather than later, April 1st might be very interesting.
Also, with new reports that the ISS “safe haven” may not be all that safe, I find myself wondering whether the X-38 might have been a useful acquisition after all.