Transcripts For CSPAN3 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20160818

The moon. So its actually fairly flimsy in some areas. The legs are obviously strong and mount for the rocket engine is strong but the craft itself and particularly the crew module or crew cabin was really fairly spartan. It had two windows. Neil armstrong had command of the craft during the final descent to landing. Both of them were standing. They were fully suited in their space suit and they pretty much filled that interior volume in that position with those space suits on. It was not really designed for comfort. It was designed for the purpose of landing, giving the crew an exit so they could spend a couple of hours on the surface of the moon and then launching again along with their precious cargo of lunar soil and rocks to bring back home to demonstrate that they had been there and to have those materials for scientists to begin analyzing and better understand the moon. Its also amazing to think that the Computing Power required in that day to send these craft to the moon and program them for the descent and launch, was done with fairly primitive computer programs and memory was minuscule compared to the memory we have now. Its often said that the Computing Power we hold in our hands every day with our smartphones is vastly more than it took to send people to the moon and back. It gives you a sense of the ingenuity of the engineers in that day to device the solutions to get people to the moon and back safely. So we have seen the iconic artifacts from the heroic age of space flight in the 1960s. Our next stop will be sky lab and were going to look at that, because it is one of the original arti facts on display here since before this opened. It was so large it was brought into the museum before the building was closed out. Now im standing in front of a model of sky lab thats as tall as i am but the real sky lab orbital work station behind me absolutely dwarfs the model and me. It reaches from the floor up into the sky lights of this building, two stories tall. Sky lab was the United States first space station, placed in orbit in 1973 and in 1973 and 74, three different nasa astronaut crews spent time aboard it. Three men at a time, one group was there for one month. Another group for two months, and the third group for three months. The whole point of the sky lab missions was to get some experience in living and working in space. When the Apollo Program came to an end, there was still some hardware left over. And nasa thought, what can we do with this . We developed this tremendous capability to launch spacecraft all the way to the moon. We still have a couple of powerful rockets on hand. Can we repurpose them and do Something Else . So the decision reached was to take the third stage of the gigantic saturn five rocket that powered the spacecraft away from earth on a trajectory to the moon and turn that into a habitable module, a sort of miniature space station that crews could live in while they were getting this experience of living and working in space. The actual element thats behind me is the full cylinder that is marked by this wide white band here. You can see from the cutaway there that its two stories on the inside. Those were two floors where the astronauts could actually live. In the missions to the moon and earth orbit, they had been in spacecraft that were essentially cockpits and had no more room than a sports car. But sky lab was like having a house, it actually had rooms. There was a galley ward room where they could prepare food, meet around a table, eat together. They still were eating out of plastic bags and tin cans, but at least it was more home like and more sociable. They had sleeping quarters, three bunk areas about the size of closets but each member had a private area to retire for some solitary time and some sleep without being confined to the flight seat in a capsule and most important it had an actual bathroom. It had an actual toilet. In all of the previous missions, the little known dirty secret is that the astronauts were using plastic bags to collect their waste. But finally they had a toilet and didnt have to deal with the mess of taking care of their bodily functions. It had a sink where they could wash up and shave. It even had a shower, it was essentially a tunnel like sheath that an astronaut pulled up around him and then could use water from a sprayer inside that container, but then the trick after the shower was all of the water had to be wiped off, wiped off the body, wiped off the little enclosure. They finally decided it took it was more trouble than it was worth. They would just take sponge baths. But there was also room for them to have an exercise bicycle and to have some experiments set up and then they had a huge attic above the living area where their extra supplies were stored and a lot of the systems elements were there. It was so big that they could run track around the perimeter of it and do tumbling around the perimeter of it, just running and tumbling across the tops of the lockers. That was for fun but they used that space for serious reasons too and they were testing out a jet backpack that might be used on space walks and they were able to operate that in that attic space that was so commodious. Then below their living deck floor, there was the remainder of one of the propellant tanks and that became their big trash can. There was a hatch and they could put their trash through the hatch and it would go down to that lower level. The orbital workshop then was the largest part of the sky lab space station but above it there was an air lock module that enabled them to go outside and service this big observatory the solar observatory, which was a wonderful scientific facility attached to the orbital workshop. And using the instruments, variety of cameras and detectors on what was called the apollo telescope mount, we got our first really detailed views of activity on the sun. And we understood for the first time how dynamic our sun is and how its just roiling with activity all the time and spewing out big explosions of matter and it has holes in it and it has storms on it. It was an amazing thing to get this new information through the telescopes on sky lab. Then here at the top, one can see the docking port for the apollo command and service module, which was essentially the shuttle craft to bring the astronauts to sky lab and bring them back home again. This whole thing is 22 feet in diameter. And again, when you think of the ingenuity of turning a stage of a rocket which is basically a big fuel tank into a home that people can live in and provide them with plumbing and comfort and room to move around, a window to look out and enjoy the views of the earth, this was a kind of turning point in our Space Program. Sky lab was the test run for what the next big thing was supposed to be. And from the late 1950s and early 1960s on, planners in the United States had foreseen an eventual space station. In fact, the original plans were to build a space station in earth orbit first and then go to the moon, but president kennedy reversed that and decided to send the United States to the moon first as part of the cold war competition with the soviet union. In the back of everybodys mind there was still a space station. Sky lab was the first step toward what now has become the International Space station, a huge new facility in earth orbit. This behemoth behind me is actually the backup sky lab space station. It is flight ready. Nasa built two of them in case they wanted to do two sky lab missions or in case there was some hardware problem with the first sky lab orbital workshop. We did make a modification to it. Ordinarily we dont modify flight ready hardware but in this case, we cut a passage way two doors into it, and laid down a sort of hallway right through the middle of this living quarter so people who visit the museum can walk inside sky lab, they can see the living quarters, they can look into the bathroom, they see a mannequin at the table with some food out on the table. The shower is set up there, the exercise bicycle in plain view, they can see the trash air lock right there. If they look up, they can just be wowed by the amount of free space there is. I mentioned that sky lab was occupied in 1973 and 74, the last crew to leave sky lab, buttoned it up and put it in sleep mode with a view towards a future crew possibly coming back. And then nasa got busy developing the shuttle. So what happened to sky lab . Well, gradually over time its orbit began to deteriorate somewhat and started dropping lower and lower. There was an early plan to use the Space Shuttle to go up and rendezvous with it and boost it back up to a higher altitude so that it could still be available for use. But the shuttle wasnt yet ready to fly. So what happened is after the orbit diminished, nasa had to bring this back in a controlled reentry. In 1979, sky lab was brought back down and it streaked into earths atmosphere like a meteor and broke up over the indian ocean. And a few pieces fell into parts of australia and were recovered. But fortunately no one was hit, no one was injured, no property was damaged. Now i paused here at sky lab because this was still news in 1976 when this Museum Opened. People streamed in here literally by the millions that first year. They were thrilled not only to see the old aircraft but to see the new spacecraft, to see what had been happening in space that they had seen on the news and heard about. And this is one of my favorite parts of the museum because this is where we display the three rovers that have been doing Major Research on the planet mars over the last 20 years. The first rover to land and operate successfully on mars was one identical to this one. It was part of the Pathfinder Mission of 1996, and a little rover named sojourner was put down on the surface of mars, and it operated long beyond its expected lifetime, exploring around in the vicinity. You can see it has six wheels, and theyre a kind of wheel called rocker wheels that will enable it to go over rocks without tipping over. Its about the size of a microwave oven, if you imagined a microwave oven having wheels. It has solar panels on top to keep it powered. It was really a little geologist that was put down on the surface of mars to do some of the kinds of investigations that a human geologist would do. Its equipped with a device to touch up against a rock and determine what chemical elements are in that rock. It had a camera for guidance. It could also pick up information about the ambient environment of mars. So you can think of marie curie is the name of this one. And sojourner as the first geologist to step foot on mars and to go roaming around so they could explore a broader area. This is actually the backup to the Pathfinder Mission. This one could have gone to mars itself. Ten years later, after the Pathfinder Mission, we had another mission that landed a somewhat larger rover on mars. And this is a model of spirit and opportunity. This is an engineering model, though, and isnt really ready to go to mars. You can see the growth since the first rover. This one is more like the size of a golf cart, perhaps. Again, it has the special wheels so that it can operate well on the uneven terrain. And its equipped not only with the solar panels to keep it powered up, but with larger and more sophisticated instruments. It has a robotic arm that extends out. It has almost a head here at the front, at the top of this long neck. And thats where the cameras are for its movement around, enabling scientists here on earth to see where its going and to see what its seeing. And it has various other scientific devices on it, and again, a kind of mars weather station to determine whats the ambient environment like, what is the wind like, what are the temperatures at different times during the martian day. What is it like when a dust storm blows up . And passes through. So again, this is a more capable geologist now thats on the surface of mars. But one that is mimicking some of the capabilities that a human being has. Spirit and opportunity were launched to mars in the year 2004. And opportunity is still operating, still roaming around on mars, sending out good data, again, outliving its life. So now well have a look at the third rover thats on the surface of mars. And this one landed in 2012 and is still working today. This is a model of curiosity. Curiosity has just grabbed public attention because first of all, its so big. Its like having a car on mars. And this is the one that had the very dramatic landing sequence where it was dropped from a crane that was descending from the orbital spacecraft. And it was called seven minutes of terror to get it down to the surface of mars without it being damaged. But it was a very successful landing. And curiosity has been roaming for kilometers on the surface of mars. Its studying planes. Its on the rim of a crater. Its going down into the crater to have a look at what the surface geology is like there. And the main mission of curiosity is to follow the water. Scientists have a lot of evidence that at some point in the past mars had a lot of water. And the evidence is in sedimentation on mars and in portions of land that look as if they have been washed over by water which then evaporated. And so the thrust of the curiosity rover is to investigate sites that seem to have had an abundance of water at some time in the past. Once again, this is a surrogate for a human geologist, much larger in scale than the pathfinder and the spirit and opportunity rovers. Much sturdier structure. A chassis that really is the size of a compact car. Again, a suite of cameras and weather station instruments on board. And this one is also a chemistry lab. There are several devices on here that can do analysis of the chemicals in the soil and in the rocks. Its really being a very exciting mission. And it has no end in sight. I think the public has become very fond of these rovers because they sense that they are surrogates for us and maybe pathfinders for us. Theyre doing the initial reconnaissance of the surface of mars so that if in the future humans actually go there, theyll know a lot more about the terrain and also know a lot more about sites that might still harbor moisture, if not actual water. And this pattern replicates what we did when we went to the moon. We started with missions that first flew past the moon. But one of the next things we did is set a lander on the moon just to determine how strong is the soil. Can something land there, or will it sink in . If humans are going to land, will they be able to walk on the moon . And i think were quite confident about mars that humans will be able to move around on the surface of mars very well. The rovers have demonstrated how easy it is to do that. One other thing about the rovers is they dont operate alone and preprogrammed. There are whole teams here on earth that are charting out their itineraries and scheduling their activities. And when they are working on the mission, in their heads, they are on mars with the rover. And they even wear watches where they set their watch to martian time. The martian day is 24 hours and 39 minutes. So their day is just enough longer than ours that for the people working on earth, each day they start work 39 minutes later. The days creep ahead for them. So when this Museum Opened in 1976, we were wrapping up a golden age of human exploration with the Apollo Missions to the moon, and we were launching into the first golden age of planetary exploration with the missions of the 1970s to mars and to the outer planets. Were now in another golden age of planetary exploration, particularly on mars with curiosity rover so actively exploring there. So were right in the present moment here when were with the mars rovers. And i wonder what we might see here in 10 years or 20 years as planetary exploration continues, with great success, we hope. And there is much talk about having a Human Mission to mars by about 2030 or so. If that should happen, that will probably be the stellar attraction in the museum by the time the next major anniversary rolls around. Were back live now at the Smithsonian National air and space museum where the museum today is celebrating its 40th birthday. It was 40 years ago today that president gerald ford dedicated this museum. In about a half hour, well bring you live coverage of the events celebrating that anniversary. In the meantime, we want to hear from you. Our phone lines are open. 2027488900 for those in the eastern or central time zones. If you live out west, 2027488901. Send us a tweet at cspan history or join us on facebook at facebook. Com cspanhistory. As we move outside to inside, one of the displays, and there are so many inside this fabulous museum, is moving beyond earth. And an example of the evolution of americas Space Shuttle program. And joining us again is valerie neal. We saw you just a moment ago in the tape portion. You are the curator, the chair of the Space History Department here at the museum. And lets talk about the shuttle program. No other country had Something Like that. Well, briefly, the soviet union did. They built a craft called buran that mimicked our Space Shuttle. But it was several years later. They flew one test flight and then retired it. They didnt really have a need for a shuttle craft. But they were very worried about what we might use ours for. And they thought they should have one too, just in case. But really, in the annals of space history, the u. S. Space shuttle is unique. Its the only operational craft thats reusable. Its the only craft that was the size of a cargo freight hauling truck out on the highway or an air freight carrier. It was much more capable than any other spacecraft has been, and very likely any other spacecraft ever will be. Not enough room here for one of the Space Shuttles. The enterprise, correct, is at the dulles facility . Well, we now have discovery at our center near Dulles Airport. We have the Space Shuttle enterprise for a number of years. The prototype Space Shuttle. But when it came to an end we requested a shuttle and we were fortunate to receive discovery the oldest of the Space Shuttles. And we turned enterprise back over to nasa and nasa placed it at the intrepid sea, air, and space museum in new york city. So it has a new home there on an Aircraft Carrier of all places. You study the Space Shuttle. So lets go back into history. How was it developed . Why was it developed . And whats its impact on americas Space Exploration . Well, the Space Shuttle signaled a turn in americas Space Program from destinationfocused program, lets get to the moon and get there before the russians do. Lets put humans on the moon. And once that was done, nasa and the nation reoriented to trying to use space as a place to do useful work. To make space a normal part of what americans do in science and technology. So the philosophy turned from these throwaway vehicles that you use one time, very expensive way to going into space and tried to develop a spacecraft on the model of an airline, a craft that could be flown again and again and again, could carry more passengers and could carry more cargo into space. And so the Space Shuttle was a vehicle that would then enable the construction of a space station. And with a space station, people could really begin to live and work off the planet. In the display just down the hall, moving beyond earth, what is your take away . What will people learn and see . We hope people learn a couple of things about the Space Shuttle era. One is that its harder to get into space and to stay in space and do it economically than anybody ever imagined. It turns out the airline wasnt really a good analogy for how to do space flight. And then the other is that people who work within the space flight industry, the space flight endeavor really keep encountering the same challenges over and over again, finding new solutions to them. The space entrepreneurs who are working today are all trying to find a less expensive way to go into space. And theyre looking at reusable rockets where the rocket itself comes back down and lands so that it can be used again. There also are the same questions about what happens to the human body in space and how do you keep a crew healthy and fit and productively employed in space, particularly as the durations get longer and longer. So same questions, new solutions, new challenges. The evolution in part behind you from the mercury and Gemini Program to the Apollo Program to the Space Shuttle program. Looking back, all a Natural Evolution in our Space Exploration . Well, it didnt actually have to happen that way. So its definitely an evolution, but it could have happened in the reverse. And in fact, wernher von braun and some of the early space pioneers imagined the first step being just to get into orbit and to build a space station and to establish a rhythm of life on a space station and then go to the moon. And then after the moon, then go to mars. And president kennedy kind of flipped the order of things. And so thats why we started with that sequence of vehicles. But had it not been the cold war, had we not been in this competition with the soviet union, it might have been a much different evolution. Everyone we have talked to here at this museum talks about their job with smiles and enthusiasm and excitement. Whats going on here . Well, its just a fantastic place to work. It really is. Mainly because this museum is beloved by millions of people. And so its a real privilege to work here at a place that people always say is their favorite museum, or they always say they envy us. But tonight especially everybody is smiling because weve reached the culmination of a twoyear effort to totally renovate our central hall and a make it much more visitorfriendly, make it much more hightech, and really put the objects on display with some new shine, some new sparkle. If youre watching friday july 1st come on counsel, fully staffed until tomorrow morning when it opens again for the public. As always its free admission as well. Mike joins news virginia. Thank you for waiting. Go ahead with your question with valerie nea will the the museum. I understand the nro donated a Spy Satellite to the museum. What satellite was that and when do you expect that to go on display . Thanks. You may have stumped the curator here because i dont know that theyve actually donated one yet of the Newer Versions of Spy Satellites. But we do have on display here the camera system from the corona, which was one of the earliest Spy Satellites in the late 1960s and early 70s. It went under a code name of discoverer. But we have that camera on display in the film return bucket as well. We have another satellite called grab and another one called solrad. And they also were used for secret purposes masquerading under names that led the public to believe that they were simply scientific satellites. So those are the ones that i know of that are small and early. We are hoping some day to have a more recent one and a much larger one. But to my knowledge, that agreement hasnt been reached yet. Sorry to disappoint you. John glenn, neil armstrong, mike collins the first director of this museum, and many who have died as well in search of Space Exploration. Why were they such pioneers . Well, the early astronauts were pioneers because space was this great unknown. And people referred to it as the new frontier or the next frontier. But in fact until you get to another planetary body, space is a vacuum. Its filled with harsh radiation. Its a very forbidding and unfriendly place. And no one knew quite what was going to happen out there. No one knew at the time if the technology would prove to be safe and reliable. They didnt know if the human body could withstand the difference of being in a microgravity environment. They didnt even know such simple things would you be able to see clearly . Would you be able to swallow normally. So everything was new. And the fact that these test pilots were already proved and proved to be brave and courageous and bold, they loved flying and they were accustomed to pushing aircraft to their outer limits i think made them heroes. And the fact that we were in this cold war environment, and they became symbolic of americans. They became the knights that were going to do this cold war battle with the other side, with the soviet union. Coincidentally, they all looked like boy scouts, you know, with their crew cuts and their crisp clothing. They just sort of looked like they represented the best of america. And all of those things together i think made them heroes in the eyes of the public. You have been here 25, 26 years. Among the astronauts who have come through, who have you met . Well, ive been fortunate to meet a number of the Space Shuttle astronauts. Because thats the particular period of time i work in. But just two weeks ago we had Michael Collins here, the first time he has been here in a few years. Our original director. And weve met buzz aldrin, neil armstrong, john glenn, scott carpenter, pete conrad used to come here. Owen garriott back from the early period, john young and the bob cripin the first crew from the first Space Shuttle mission. Eileen collins has been here and pam melbourne, the two commanders of the shuttle mission. And again in may, we had astronauts who had just returned from the International Space station. So whenever they come to washington, they like to come here too. Many of them spent hours here when they were children. And they say that this museum was partly responsible for their love of aviation and their passion to become astronauts. Let me just make the point, for those of you listening on cspan radio, of course watching on cspan3s American History tv, we are live at the national air and space museum in washington, d. C. Our next caller is john joining us from New Hampshire with valerie neal. Go ahead, please. Good evening. I just want to ask if youre going to show the uss enterprise at all during the programming. I know other people involved in the restoration. And ive been looking forward to seeing it. Also, i want to thank the national air and space museum for preserving Human History for future generations. I see lots of planes i used to work on there. So again, thank you very much. Thank you. The Starship Enterprise which actually never flew. Right. Though it appeared to fly. And you asked whether well be showing it here at the museum, certainly, and i assume cspan will be showing it also. It is on display here tonight, and will be on display here for the foreseeable future. I mean possibly forever. I dont think we will renovate this hall again for another 20 years or so. So you have a good chance to see it. It has been very carefully restored to look exactly as it looked in 1969, i think. At the time of the episode of the trouble with tribbles, which was a key turning point in the history of that show and the history of that model. And it has been very carefully wired up with l. E. D. Lights. And three times a day on the hours of 11 00, 1 00 and 3 00, the lights are activated and you can enjoy seeing enterprise as it appears on screen with flashing lights in red and green and white. See all the windows. Its quite a striking sight. I hope youll come down and see it. What did Gene Roddenberry have in mind when we developed star trek . And 40, 45 years later, were still talking about it. Initially it wasnt that popular. Exactly. It wasnt that popular to begin with. But it had a very devoted fan club early on, a very devoted audience. But he really wanted to do a kind of mythical show set in space, but he wanted to deal with contemporary issues. And thats what made it so interesting that almost every story was a kind of veiled reference to something that was going on in the world around us, whether it was cold war, antagonisms, the conflict in vietnam, womens rights, racial tensions in the United States, conflicts between science and the humanities, conflicts between liberal and conservative points of view. And so he was drawing all his subject matter from the present, but then projecting it out into the future. And that gave people a new lens to look at current affairs. We are about 15 minutes away from the ceremony that will take place not far from where were at outside at 8 30 eastern time. Lets go to tim joining us in iowa. Thanks for your call. Go ahead with your question. Caller hello. Hello . Good evening. Hello, good evening. Caller good evening. I know that the museum only has so much space. How many artifacts are kept in storage . And how do you store them . Oh, thats a great question. All together the museum has about 50,000 artifacts that range in size from full aircraft and spacecraft to small things that you can hold in the palm of your hand, things like Mission Patches or lapel pins or medals and medallions that people in the military services wear. We have i believe we have about 20 of our collection on display in the museum here on the mall. Another 20 of our collection on display near Dulles Airport in our second facility, which is called the udvarhazy center. And another 20 that is out on loans in museums around the country and even abroad. And the objects that are in storage are in two locations right now. One in maryland and one out at the udvarhazy center near Dulles Airport that is stateoftheart storage. Its beautiful, air conditioned, brandnew Storage Facility where things are packed in boxes and on shelves and in very good climate controlled conditions. The place in maryland has been our storage site since oh, the 1940s. And its in need of being vacated. And thats what we are doing quite gradually is moving things from maryland to the new facility in virginia. Just recently, we completed the move of all of our aircraft engines. Before that we moved some of the most fragile objects, our leather and fur collection. And you might not think the air and space museum would not have much fur, but a lot of those early aviation jackets and caps were furlined. So were taking categories of objects from the old facility to the new facility. And before long, were afraid the new facility will be full again. And well have to build more storage space. Born in arkansas. Where did you study all of this . I studied space history by doing it, really. Not by studying it in college or in graduate school. But i had the good fortune to work with nasa throughout the 1980s. And that was the dawn of the Space Shuttle era. And i was working with scientists and engineers who were involved in those early Shuttle Missions up to the challenger tragedy. So there were six years there of space flight, preparing for missions, executing missions. So i really learned space history on the job. Other than the fact that i was a child in the 1960s and i was fascinated with alan shepard and john glenn. I remember like everybody who was alive then remembers exactly where i was the night we landed on the moon. July 1969. Exactly. So it was part of my cultural background, but it wasnt at all what i thought i would make my career in. And that really became a matter of serendipity, of kind of being in the right place at the right time. Im not an engineer. Im not a scientist. Im a historian and a writer. You mention maryland. Our next call can be appropriately, from Andrews Air Force base not too far away. Patrick, you are on the air. Are you in the air force . What do you do at Andrews Air Force base . Caller im in the security forces. Thank you. Go ahead with your question. Caller all right. My question is was the landing of the reusable spacex, does the smithsonian plan on getting any and displaying at any of the museums . You know, i couldnt hear the question, patrick. If you could repeat it one more time there. Is a lot of noise behind us. Caller i said with the landing of the spacex rocket, does the smithsonian plan on getting any of those rockets and displaying them at the museum . Thank you. The spacex rocket. Yes, yes. As a matter of fact, we have been watching spacex with a great deal of interest, and also blue origin. And we have opened a conversation with spacex not yet to acquire an entire rocket, but were very much interested in acquiring one of the engines that has been used. And then as we watch their history, as they move into a more frequent pace of operations and evolve their technology, were going to be watching that. And i think well eventually bring something larger into the museum. But right now we think an engine would be a perfect acquisition. Why mars . And will we see that . Well, mars has been on the horizon for as long as people have been dreaming of space flight. I think its the planet that is most familiar to people, the one that seems most like earth, even though its very much different from earth. And its just far enough away to be this beckoning challenge. Nasa is gearing up for a mission to mars in terms of the technology theyre developing and the astronauts theyre recruiting. But they dont yet have an approved mandate to go to mars. And thats really a matter of political will on the part of the congress, the president , and the american people. I would say for the last decade there has been interest in going to mars eventually, but there has not yet been a Successful Program that has caught on and gained the political commitment that will be required. Its going to be an expensive endeavor. It probably will need to be done internationally so that the costs can be borne by various economies, various countries. And also just to involve other people, other nations who want to be part of space faring. The International Space station is kind of the proof test of whether a major endeavor like that can be carried out internationally. Well, from your vantage point, youre a historian, youre a researcher. Your focus is the Space Shuttle program. But why space in general . Why should we spend the billions of dollars to continue these type of programs . Well, the arguments for going into space and staying in space and spending that money in space are varied. And they have to do with intangible reasons as well as very practical reasons. Had we not ventured out into space, we would not be living the modern life were living. We are so dependent now on satellites for almost everything we do in the world of communications, navigation, weather forecasting. From the research that scientists are doing in space, weve had a number of breakthroughs and benefits that have accrued to our knowledge of the practice of medicine or the understanding of how the body malfunctions. More esthetically and intangibly, its one of those questions of, well, its there, and we want to go wherever we think we can go. But i think the big misunderstanding is that were spending fortunes going into space or doing things in space. If you look at absolute dollars, that seems like a lot of money. But if you look at the pie chart of how the United States spends its money, its public money, thats not even a sliver on that pie chart. Its such a small amount out of everything that we spend for human health and welfare, education, national security, and all of the social benefits, social programs we have like social security, medicare, medicaid. So in absolute dollars it sounds like a lot, but out of the whole menu of things that a government can do, its one of the smallest things that the u. S. Does. And donald is next. He is joining us from florida. Go ahead, donald. Caller im a Nuclear Weapons instructor in the early 60s. And i taught Nuclear Weapons and reentry vehicles mach ii which is solid copper, mach iii, iv, v, vi. Thats the end of it but i wonder if they have any black numbers with the Nuclear Weapons with it. Mach vi a nineton nuclear weapon. We have a very early reentry vehicle. Its in the space hall behind me. We have a minuteman three Intercontinental Ballistic Missile on display, and we also have a pershing intermediate range Nuclear Missile. Right over there . Is that it over there . The green, yes. The green one with the conical top is our minuteman iii. We have a soviet ss20 intermediate range Nuclear Missile as well. The reentry canisters, the reentry vehicles are still on those. But theyre empty, of course. Any weapons and the Electronics Inside those have all been removed. Karen, youre next, joining us from pennsylvania. Good evening. Caller hi. Good evening, valerie. Happy 40th anniversary. Thank you. Caller i just have a simple question. I know when they first opened the hazy center, you could actually get a shuttle from the air and space museum down to there. Are they still offering that . We are no longer offering a Shuttle Bus Service between the Downtown Location in washington and the udvarhazy center. But the metro center has been extended out to reston, virginia. And there is a shuttle bus that you can catch at the end of the line, the silver line metro. Or you can catch a shuttle bus at Dulles International airport. And it makes a quicker trip. Youre less affected by traffic if you ride the metro and that shuttle bus than if you take a shuttle from downtown washington. So its easier, and it will get easier yet when the silver line is completed all the way out to the airport. My final question is somebody who has spent so much time here, what has intrigued you the most . What is most interesting to you on display that the public can see . Oh, gee, that is a hard question because we have relationships with every object here. I would say that one of the intriguing things to me is on display in our space race area just behind me. And we have two slide rules. A slide rule that belonged to wernher von braun, who was the father of rocketry here in the United States. The father of the saturn v launch vehicle. And a slide rule used by his counterpart in the soviet union, Sergei Korolev who was the father of their cold war Space Program. And theyre exactly the same. Theyre both made by the same manufacturer in germany. And to me, those objects that were held in the hands of two very influential men working on opposite sides of the globe, working against each other but using the very same tool to solve the very same problems puts a human face on the space race to me. And i like the human scale objects that give you some sense of who the people are and how they accomplished these tremendous feats. These great vehicles wouldnt have existed without hundreds if not thousands of people using their hands and their brains to bring them into being. We need to come back. Weve only scratched the surface. Valerie neal, thank you very much for your time here at the national air and space museum. We appreciate it. Sure, its a pleasure. And general jack dailey is the person who began our coverage. He will kick off the 40th anniversary celebration. Were going to take you back outside. Well also hear from mike collins in a video presentation, former astronaut and first director of this museum as it celebrates its 40th birthday. American history tv airs on cspan3 every weekend telling the american story through events, interviews and visits to historic locations. This month American History tv is in primetime to introduce you to programs you could see every weekend on cspan3. Our features include lectures in history, visits to College Classrooms across the country to hear lectures by top history professors. American artifacts takes a look at treasures at u. S. Historic sites, museums and archives. Reel america revealing the 20th century through archival films and news reels. The civil war where you hear about the people who shaped the civil war and reconstruction. And the presidency focuses on u. S. President s and first ladies to learn about their politics, policies and legacies. All this month in prime time and every weekend on American History tv on cspan3. American history tv continues friday during this congressional recess with a look at some of our american artifacts programs. At 8 00 eastern, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell takes you on a tour of his suite in the u. S. Capitol. Then a look at an exhibit of africanamericans in congress in the 19th century. Also, political cartoonist Nina Allender and a library of congress and the museum of the city of new york exhibit on the life of social reformer and photographer jacob reese. Coming up this weekend on American History tv on cspan3, as the National Park service prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary, well take a look at the development of californias national and state parks. Saturday at 10 00 eastern the 1935 u. S. Interior Department Film the land of the giants that documents the efforts of the civilian conservation corps and the daily life in the work camps. Clearing dense undergrowth from the big redwood for Fire Prevention and freer growth provides number for practically any kind of construction job that may be desirable. The conservation corps boys make everything from heavy bridge timbers to park signs. Sunday morning at 8 00, a panel of scholars examines the musical hamilton, the history that is depicted in the musical and the relationship between academic history and the history portrayed in popular culture. Then at 10 00, on road to the white house rewind, incumbent president bill clinton and former kansas senator bob dole face off in their first debate of the 1996 president ial campaign. The bottom line is we are the strongest nation in the world. We provide the leadership and were going to have to continue to provide the leadership. But lets do it on our terms, when our interests are involved, and not when somebody blows the whistle at the united nations. I believe the evidence is that our deployments have been successful, in haiti, in bosnia, when we moved to kuwait to repel saddam husseins threatened invasion of kuwait. When i sent the fleet into the taiwan straits, when we worked hard to end the north Korean Nuclear threat. I believe the United States is at peace tonight, in part, because of the discipline, careful, effective deployment of our military resources. At 6 00 p. M. Eastern on american artifacts, well take a tour of arlington house with National Park Service Ranger matthew penrod. Built by George Washingtons step grandson, it was the home of robert e. Lee who had married into the family. He declared this house a federalist house. This was to represent all the beliefs and ideals of george washington, and that included, once again, the idea that this nation would exist forever and that no state had a right to leave it. So how ironic is it that that mans daughter would marry robert e. Lee who became the great confederate general and perhaps the man who came closest than any other man in history to destroying the nation that was created in the american revolution. For our complete American History tv schedule, go to cspan. Org. For campaign 2016, cspan continues on the road to the white house. We need serious leadership. This is not a retail tv show. Its as real as it gets. We will make America Great again. Ahead, live coverage of the president ial and Vice President ial debate on cspan, the cspan radio app and cspan. Org. Monday, september 26th is the first president ial debate live from Hofstra University in hempstead, new york. And then on tuesday, october 4th, Vice President ial candidates governor mike pence and senator tim kaine debate at Longwood University in farmville. And sunday, october 9th, Washington University and st. Louis host the second president ial debate, leading up to the third and final debate between Hillary Clinton and donald trump taking place at the university of nevada las vegas on october 19th. Live coverage of the president ial and Vice President ial debates oven cspan. Listen live on the free cspan radio app, or watch any time on demand at cspan. Org. Three years after a Supreme Court ruling overturned part of the Voting Rights act, courts across the country have struck down a number of state laws saying they discriminate against specific groups of voters. Saturday night, cspans issue spotlight looks at Voting Rights and the impact on the 2016 election. Well feature part of the 2013 oral argument in shelby versus holder. Plus a discussion on whether the Voting Rights act is necessary. Here is what the president ial candidates have to say. And you know, all this voter id nowadays a lot of places arent going to have voter id. Now what does that mean . What does that mean . You keep walking in and voting . What is happening is a sweeping effort to disempower and disenfranchise people of color poor people and young people from one end of our country to the other. Watch our issues spotlight on Voting Rights saturday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan and cspan. Org. The Smithsonians National air and space museum in washington, d. C. Celebrated its 40th anniversary july 1st. American history tv was there as the museum marked the occasion, and next well show you owl three hours of our coverage. Youll hear from the museums director, general jack dailey as well as air and space historians as we tour some of the one of the kind artifacts in the museums collection. Well also show you the museums signature event celebrating the anniversary