Senate Commerce Subcommittee Hearing re Apollo 11 Anniversary and NASA’s Future Exploration Plans, July 2019

The Aviation and Space Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a hearing on July 9, 2019 on “NASA’s Exploration Plans:  Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going.”  The hearing was held a week before the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.  Three icons from the Apollo era were among the witnesses:  Gene Kranz, Apollo 11 and 13 flight director; Homer Hickam, former NASA engineer and author of the Rocket Boys; and Christine Darden, former NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer who was highlighted in the book and movie Hidden Figures.  The hearing also looked out to the next 50 years.  Joining them at the witness table were the presidents of two industry associations:  Mary Lynne Dittmar of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration and Eric Stallmer of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published a summary of the hearing on July 9, 2019: “Senate Committee Working on New, Bold NASA Authorization Bill.”