House Hearing on Human Flyby Mission to Mars in 2021, February 2014

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee held a hearing on February 27, 2014 on “Mars Flyby 2021:  First Deep Space Mission for Orion and the Space Launch System?”   The hearing discussed the concept of send two people on a flyby mission to Mars — via Venus — in 2021.  Witnesses were:   Scott Pace, George Washington University; Gen. Lester Lyles (Ret.), consultant; Doug Cooke, consultant; and Sandy Magnus, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).  Pace and Cooke are former NASA officials; Magnus is a former astronaut.   Lyles chairs the National Research Council’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and has served on or chaired several studies on the future of human spaceflight.    SpacePolicyOnline.com published a summary of the hearing on February 28, 2014.