Prepared Remarks by the Hon. Mark Udall for the Space Transportation Association
Good afternoon.
I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to join you folks, and I’d like to extend my thanks to Rich Coleman for inviting me to participate in today’s event.
It's nice to see some familiar faces, and I look forward to getting to know the rest of you over time.
As you may know, I currently serve as Ranking Member of the House Science Committee's Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee. I also serve on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Resources Committee.
In carrying out my responsibilities on those Committees, I have been struck by the important role that the nation's commercial and governmental space activities can and do play in advancing knowledge, improving the quality of life here on Earth, spurring economic development, and protecting our nation's security.
In short, you all can take pride in the contributions you make to our nation's welfare through your involvement in space activities.
Now in the limited time available today, I'm not going to pretend to address the range of issues Members of Congress are facing in the 109th Congress relative to civil, military, and commercial space. Instead, I'd like to focus my remarks on some of the challenges that NASA faces in trying to turn its Exploration goals into reality from a congressional standpoint.
I do this because I want to see NASA's Exploration Vision succeed. It is part of humanity's nature to want to push back the frontiers, to seek out the unexplored, and to understand the previously unknown. At its best, NASA is in the vanguard of our country's efforts to do just that - and to continually "push the envelope" across a range of scientific and technological fronts. However, the benefits to the American public go beyond simply traveling farther and farther into our solar system.
Exploration can lead to new technologies for use here on Earth in a variety of important applications. It can also inspire the next generation of Americans to dream big dreams and to work hard to achieve those dreams. As some of you may know, I have long been a mountain climber. As a result, I know the value of challenging goals - and the rewards of working hard to achieve them. Challenging goals bring out the best in us as a people.
Yet I also learned in my mountain climbing that it was important to do all I could to increase my odds of success - and survival - before I set out, both by ensuring I had allocated sufficient resources to the undertaking and by planning for contingencies. And I think that space exploration is a bit like mountain climbing in that regard.
With one dramatic difference - there is no ultimate "summit" to be achieved in space exploration. There will always be another destination beckoning to us once we have achieved a foothold on the Moon, on Mars, and so forth. And in my opinion, that's a good thing. That said, we shouldn't fool ourselves.
It's not going to be easy to carry out the program advocated by President Bush in January of 2004. In particular, one of the key challenges is how to make the Exploration Vision sustainable. There are at least two key factors that will go a long way towards determining the Exploration Vision’s sustainability.
The first is the nation’s willingness to commit the needed resources. Let’s face it - it will do none of us any good if the Vision turns out to just be a "flash in the pan" or an exercise in Presidential and congressional rhetoric that ultimately is not backed up with sufficient resources for it to succeed.
In that regard, the congressional support for NASA evidenced in this year's appropriations bill - and hopefully soon in the NASA Authorization conference report as well - is a bit misleading. The budgetary "crunch" has not yet arrived in full force - but it's coming.
Let me give you three data points to illustrate my concern:
- First, when Administrator Griffin testified before the Science Committee last month, he conceded that NASA is facing a multi-billion dollar budgetary shortfall in its human space flight programs over the next five years.
- Second, although NASA has estimated the cost of Katrina-related rebuilding at Stennis and Michoud to be approximately $760 million, the White House has sent over a supplemental funding request for less than half that amount.
- Third, even if one sets aside the looming liens on the NASA budget imposed by the first two items I mentioned, the fact is that the current outyear funding plan for the Exploration Vision is dependent on NASA making ill-advised cuts in other important NASA missions like aeronautics over the same period of time.
Administrator Griffin has described NASA's approach to the Exploration Vision to be one of "go as you can pay".
When my congressional colleagues ask me:
"If the President’s exploration plan is going to be carried out on a 'go as you can pay' basis, isn’t the logical implication of that statement that the Vision should be deferred until NASA gets out of the multibillion dollar hole it is in at present?"…
…I think we are going to need a better response than "Exploration is important" or "America needs to be preeminent in space".
My colleagues are likely to respond that "We agree. Exploration is important. And a strong national defense is also important; clean air and water are also important; affordable health care is also important; energy independence is also important - but they all need to be paid for."
In short, I believe we are at a critical point. If the Administration truly wants to make the Moon/Mars mission a national priority, the White House must advocate for it by requesting the funding required to successfully achieve the Exploration goals without jeopardizing NASA’s other important programs.
Unless their actions match their words, we will not only fail to gain and sustain the support of Congress for the Exploration Vision, but also the support of the American public. The Vision has received Congressional endorsement in the 2006 appropriations act and in both the House and Senate NASA Authorization bills. And I believe most members of Congress truly support a renewed commitment to human space exploration.
However, without a realistic and credible funding plan, this support is likely to seriously erode over the coming years. It’s that simple. We shall soon know whether the Administration is serious about the Exploration Vision - the FY 2007 budget request will be submitted to Congress just two months from now.
As a supporter of NASA, I hope the Administration will back its rhetoric with the needed resources. We shall see.
Now before I close, I’d like to touch on a second key factor that will affect the sustainability of the Exploration Vision. Namely, its perceived benefits. The President has described the Exploration Vision as "a journey, not a race." I agree. Yet the nation’s willingness to continue on that journey will be determined in large measure by the benefits that are realized along the way.
In that regard, the current trends are worrisome:
- The funding for long-term technology development is being diverted to support the near-term needs of the Exploration Vision.
- The fundamental life science and physical science research planned for the International Space Station is being eliminated.
- And Administrator Griffin has publicly stated that NASA’s “presently foreseeable fiscal resources” will not be sufficient to allow it to carry out any kind of robust program of lunar exploration once it has returned astronauts to the Moon late in the next decade.
That does not bode well for the willingness of future congresses and Administrations to continue to invest in the Vision. However, that reality should be a wake-up call rather than grounds for despair by NASA and its supporters. It simply means that NASA has its work cut out for it. Namely, if NASA wants to sustain support for the Vision, it is going to need to figure out how to maximize the overall technological, scientific, and societal return on the nation’s $100-plus billion dollar investment in the Exploration Vision over the next 13 years.
In short, if the Vision is to have lasting value, it has to deliver more to the nation than simply another set of astronaut boots on the Moon…
…Especially since those boots will be setting foot on the Moon nearly a half century after NASA did it the first time.
Well, at this point you may be thinking: "Gee, this isn’t much of a pep talk." Fair enough. However, as a strong supporter of NASA, I think straight talk is more important than a pep talk. We do NASA no favors if we simply sweep the looming problems under the carpet and pretend that nothing is amiss. Instead, we need to take the time in these early days of the Exploration Vision to meet the problems head-on and seek solutions.
In sum, it is important to recognize the challenges ahead for NASA, and ensure that the decisions that are made now will not result in costly consequences down the road. We have a worthy goal ahead of us; it is now our job to ensure it is done the right way. That is going to be our challenge in next year’s congressional session, and I look forward to working with all of you to craft a productive way forward.
Thanks again for having me here today, and I want to wish you a happy holiday season.
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