NASA at 50: Past Accomplishments and Future Opportunities and Challenges

Opening Statement By Chairman Bart Gordon

Good morning.  I will be brief in my opening remarks, because we have a very distinguished panel of witnesses, and I know that we all want to hear from them.  However, I do want to provide some context for today’s hearing.

As many of you know, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Science and Technology Committee.  We were one of Congress’s responses to the Soviet Union’s successful launch of Sputnik 1 in late 1957.  Sputnik led to a national reexamination of America’s educational system, our scientific research infrastructure, and our goals and capabilities for space exploration.  And this committee was given the responsibility of leading congressional oversight of those issues.

1958 also marked the year that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was established.  In fact, yesterday – July 29th – marked the 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower’s signing of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, the legislation that created NASA.  So it is fitting that we take time to look back at what NASA has accomplished over the past 50 years, as well as look ahead to the opportunities and challenges facing the agency over its next 50 years.

We often forget how much we owe to the men and women of NASA who in many ways have helped create the world in which we live today.  They have dramatically advanced our knowledge of our home planet Earth and of the universe at large through an amazing array of scientific spacecraft over the past five decades.  Indeed, it’s no exaggeration to say that NASA’s accomplishments have helped rewrite the science textbooks more than once.

NASA’s men and women have also helped create the technologies that have made possible the commercial aircraft and the aviation system that contribute so much to our nation’s economic vitality – as well as technologies that have helped enable the military aircraft that defend our freedom.

Finally, NASA’s men and women have led the way in helping humanity to move out into the solar system, including putting the first footprints on the Moon almost 40 years ago.  In doing so, they have inspired successive generations to seek to achieve challenging goals in science and technology.

In short, NASA has accomplished a great deal in its first 50 years.

Of course, the agency has also had its share of tragedies and missteps over that same period, and we will continue to address those issues whenever necessary as part of the Committee’s ongoing oversight of NASA.

At the end of the day, however, NASA and its programs are still recognized around the world as a shining symbol of American preeminence in science and technology.  We need to ensure that that continues to be the case.

In that regard, I am pleased that the House of Representatives passed the Committee’s bipartisan NASA Authorization Act by an overwhelming margin, because I believe that bill will help provide positive guidance to the next Administration regarding the importance of investing in our nation’s civil space and aeronautics programs – and investing at a level that is equal to the tasks we have asked the agency to undertake.

I look forward to the Senate completing its work on the bill so that we can send it to the President for his signature before this Congress adjourns.

I also want to express my deep appreciation to the noted physicist, Professor Stephen Hawking, for submitting a prerecorded message that we will play during this hearing.

However, before we hear from our witnesses and Professor Hawking, I would like to recognize some special guests we have in the audience today.  I am very pleased that two former chairmen of the Science and Technology Committee, Bob Walker and Sherry Boehlert, were able to join us today.

In addition, I would also like to recognize NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale who has also joined us today.

Welcome to each of you.

Opening Statement By Chairman Mark Udall (Space and Aeronautics)

Good morning.  I am very pleased that we are holding today’s hearing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  NASA is one of the crown jewels of the nation’s research enterprise, and it has a positive "brand" that is known throughout the world.  As Chairman Gordon has noted, this week marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 – the legislation that established NASA, so it is quite appropriate that we hold this hearing now.  I also want to welcome the very distinguished panel of witnesses that is appearing before us today.  We appreciate your service.

The world is in many ways a far different place than it was a half century ago.  Many of the technologies and capabilities that we take for granted today would have been considered to be in the realm of science fiction back in 1958.  Moreover, I have little doubt that fifty years from now, many of today’s technologies and accomplishments and scientific knowledge will be considered quaint at best.  That is the dynamic reality of scientific and technological advance.  And that advance can lead us to a brighter future, if we take the steps necessary to ensure that we harness the fruits of those advances in science and engineering for the benefit of society.

One of the significant engines of scientific and technological progress in America over the past fifty years has been NASA.  Indeed, investments made in NASA since 1958 have produced achievements that have profoundly affected our daily lives, whether through the practical benefits of NASA’s meteorological satellite R&D and its remote sensing satellites or by means of the innumerable improvements NASA has made to our civil and military aircraft technologies – improvements that have made them safer, faster, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly.

Yet NASA’s impact has been even more profound, leading to extraordinary advances in our understanding of the universe – witness the amazing discoveries enabled by the Hubble Space Telescope – and of our Earth, especially in understanding the complex factors involved in climate change.  NASA’s human space missions have also fundamentally changed our worldview, as people around the world saw Earth for the first time as a bluish-white globe suspended in the inky blackness of space while humans walked for the first time on the surface of another world nearly forty years ago.  That change in worldview has also been one of the fruits of the International Space Station project – a project involving some 16 nations in a complex and challenging cooperative mission.  And it is a perspective that will produce benefits in the future as America leads cooperative efforts to explore our solar system with humans and robots.

As I note the amazing impact of NASA on our nation over the past fifty years, I am of course aware of the times when NASA’s missions have not gone as planned, when missions have ended in tragedy, and when cost growth and technical problems have led to outcomes less successful than we would have liked.  As Chairman of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, I recognize those problems and have worked to help prevent their recurrence.  That is the proper role of congressional oversight, and I take that responsibility seriously.

Yet, that said, I think that as we look back at all NASA has accomplished over the past half century as well as what NASA is seeking to achieve even as we speak, I think we owe a debt of appreciation to all the men and women of NASA, its contractors, and the universities and research institutions that have made it all possible.  So in conclusion, I would just like to say "Happy birthday, NASA – we look forward to many more years of accomplishments from you."

Witnesses

Panel

1 - Hon. John H. Glenn
Formerly a Senator from the State of Ohio
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2 - Mr. Norman Augustine
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer [retired] Lockheed Martin Corporation Lockheed Martin Corporation
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3 - Dr. Maria Zuber
Department Head and E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Depart
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