The space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing Wednesday morning titled “Contributions of Space to National Imperatives”. The hearing was formally announced by the committee only last Friday, the 13th, and the list of witnesses for the hearing was not posted as of Tuesday morning, making this hearing at least a little mysterious.
Update 5 pm: The list of witness has since been posted by the committee:
Mr. Elliot Holokauahi Pulham
Chief Executive Officer
Space FoundationMr. Frank Slazer
Vice President of Space Systems
Aerospace Industries AssociationDr. Christopher F. Chyba
Professor of Astrophysics and International Affairs
Director, Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton UniversityCapt. Frank L. Culbertson Jr. (U.S. Navy, ret.)
Commander
International Space Station Expedition 3, Astronaut (ret.)
Chyba also served on the Augustine Committee and Culbertson is now a senior vice president at Orbital Sciences responsible for its human spaceflight programs.
> the Senate Committee Committee
I’m not altogether sure the Senate actually has a Committee Committee, but it certainly should have.
My guess is either the senate porkers are fighting to keep their money for SLS by showing some of the great things NASA has done for the common man or people who want to defund NASA want to show how little they’ve done for the common man to justify the price we pay. Sadly, both sides have a case to make but the later probably won’t be the case since the porkers are the ones who organize the hearings.
If ANYBODY during the meeting ever asks the question “and what contributions does the 2.5 billion per launch vehicle being suggested with no payloads make to national imperatives?” I’ll do a strikeout (bong load, shot, chug a beer, exhale) in addition to whatever other drinking rules I come up with, stay tuned.
“I’m not altogether sure the Senate actually has a Committee Committee, but it certainly should have”
So long as there is a Subcommittee on Subcommittees. Maybe more than one.
If ANYBODY during the meeting ever asks the question “and what contributions does the 2.5 billion per launch vehicle being suggested with no payloads make to national imperatives?†I’ll do a strikeout…”
Ha! I look forward to seeing your drinking rules!
@ Bennett
so sorry… didn’t drink or tweet. gotta work on “commitment” to these hair brained schemes of mine. I was prepared to do the strikeout though… but I didn’t hear anyone criticize of the SLS for not having any funded payloads… instead I heard praise for it’s potential role in the flexible path framework.
I got the feeling a few of the witnesses were trying too hard not to “oppose” the porkers.
It happened, and the Chairman said,
Caught the hearing on CSPAN. More free drift.
And the ranking minority member said,