Human Space Flight Safety and Auditing NASA Topics of Two Hearings Next Week

This week is dead quiet for space policy-related events due to the Thanksgiving holiday — Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Next week, though, the pace picks up with two space hearings before subcommittees of the House Science and Technology Committee.

On Wednesday, December 2, the Space and Aeronautics subcommittee will hold a hearing on “Ensuring the Safety of Human Space Flight” at 10:00 am in 2318 Rayburn House Office Building. Witnesses are Brett Alexander of the Commercial Space Flight Federation; Joseph Fragola, Valador, Inc; Jeff Hanley, Program Manager of NASA’s Constellation Program; Bryan O’Connor, former shuttle astronaut and NASA’s Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance; and former Apollo astronaut and retired Lt. Gen. Tom Stafford. Gen. Stafford is a legend in the space business, especially on human space flight safety issues.

On Thursday, a joint hearing between the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee and the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee will be held on “Independent Audit of NASA” at 2:00 pm in 2318 Rayburn. Witnesses are Thomas Howard, NASA’s Acting Inspector General; Daniel Murrin, Ernst & Young (the company that audit’s NASA’s books); and Beth Robinson, NASA’s Chief Financial Officer (and a former staffer for the House Science and Technology Committee before going to OMB and now to NASA). The financial management challenges NASA has faced for a decade or more and its inability to get a clean financial audit have been well documented by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).