The orion and sls the vanguard of the program are the key to advancing these interests. I look forward to hearing from mr. Gerstenmaier and ms. Chaplain about the challenges and opportunities facing these important programs. I now recognize the Ranking Member from maryland. Its been a good morning to the witnesses. I want to join the chair man in congratulating nasa, lockheed, United Launch Alliance and the Contractor Team on conducting the exploration test of the orion capsule last week and i think that it was exciting and i know that around the country and around the world there were many of us working on Solution Division for the first time in a long time at the u. S. Space program that is very forwardlooking. They are below the orbits to test and verify the design can reduce technical risk and recover ability operations. Mr. Chairman, i belief that this Shows Americans the tangible progress is in fact being made on returning humans to exploration beyond earths neighborhood in the g
Step as nasa still has low confidence, 30 that it can meet the earlier date. Going forward, we have short and longterm concerns about nasas human Space Exploration programs. In the short term the programs are entering the most risky phases of development. There are still technical hurdles to overcome. Particularly with the orion spacecraft which is addressing challenges with the parachute system and heat shield among others. There is also considerable development and testing ahead for orion in terms of the human support systems. Meanwhile, sos is continuing to pursue the earlier launch dates of december 2017. While nasas urgency is understandable, the schedule for achieving the earlier date mostly with respect to the core stage is very aggressive. Theres little room to address problems. Moreover, it does not appear that orion and the ground system can achieve the earlier date. And the longterm we have concerns about the cost estimating for human Space Exploration programs. Nasas only p
Are entering the most risky phases of development. There are still technical hurdles to overcome. Particularly with the orion spacecraft which is addressing challenges with the parachute system and heat shield among others. There is also considerable development and testing ahead for orion in terms of the human support systems. Meanwhile, sos is continuing to pursue the earlier launch dates of december 2017. While nasas urgency is understandable, the schedule for achieving the earlier date mostly with respect to the core stage is very aggressive. Theres little room to address problems. Moreover, it does not appear that orion and the ground system can achieve the earlier date. And the longterm we have concerns about the cost estimating for human Space Exploration programs. Nasas only produce estimates for sos and ground system through the first flight test and orion through the second flight test. There is still Significant Development ahead for sos after the first flight and significan
That, as part of the steps as we prepare all of those things i just mentioned, eventually to go to mars. Thank you. Going to space is hard. I think we need to remember that there has only been one country that have lower orbit and that is us. We did that a long time ago. The u. S. Is the only country that has been able to figure it out. It is not so easy. It is even harder to go beyond low earth orbit. If we decide to take an inch incremental approach, i think there is a lot to be learned. We can test this big rock that can take us places, test the spacecraft, space is a very hazardous place. There is a lot of radiation and it gets worse as you get further away from the planet. Radiation on hubble was higher than on space stations. Going to the moon is even worse. We need to understand how we can protect our people and we are taking those steps. How are we going to keep them healthy . What are the changes that happen to the body . How will people be able to withstand the journey and la