Space Politics

Because sometimes the most important orbit is the Beltway…

Senate spaceflight transition hearing today

March 28, 2007 at 6:30 am · Filed under Congress

The space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing this afternoon about “Transitioning to a Next Generation Human Space Flight System”. Speakers include William Gerstenmaier of NASA, Ron Dittemore of ATK, John Karas of Lockheed Martin, Allen Li of the GAO, Johnny Walker of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and Michael McCulley of USA. The hearing should be webcast on the committee web site.

Permalink

5 Comments »

Ferris Valyn wrote @ March 28th, 2007 at 9:48 pm

does anyone else feel like they forgot to invite some people?
Like the fact that they only focused on gov stuff?

John Malkin wrote @ March 29th, 2007 at 12:39 pm

I didn’t have a chance to watch the hearing. Can someone give a semi-unbiased non-editorialized summary? )

Jeff Foust wrote @ March 29th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

Ferris: since the focus of the hearing was on the status of Ares and Orion, the witness list makes sense. However, Sen. Nelson, the subcommittee chairman (and the only subcommittee member present; not even Sen. Hutchison could make it) did ask the witnesses about COTS, including apparently some problems SpaceX (I believe; he didn’t mention the company by name) is having gaining use of a retired Titan pad at Cape Canaveral.

John Malkin wrote @ March 30th, 2007 at 10:47 am

Was this hearing recorded? I can’t find it anywhere. Why is their a problem with SpaceX getting the Titan pad?

anonymous wrote @ April 3rd, 2007 at 11:14 am

There won’t be any transition if ESMD/MSFC/JSC don’t get Ares I/Orion performance/mass issues under control:

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/04/03/213056/orion-struggles-to-lose-excess-weight.html

“The initial version of NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle, designed for International Space Station transport missions, is still more than 700kg (1,560lb) too heavy, months after its system requirements review… Sources blame ongoing Ares I crew launch vehicle problems for forcing weight-related Orion design changes.”

Sigh… more long-rumored predictions coming true.