Senate Proceeding on Oct 21st, 2009 :: 5:22:25 to 5:29:55
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5:22:21 to 5:22:38( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: voted in the motion is not agreed to. mr. shelby: mr. president? the presiding officer: the se recognized. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the pending

5:22:25 to 5:29:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Richard Shelby

5:22:48 to 5:23:09( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: business. the clerk: conference report to accompany h.r. 2647, an act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year and for other purposes. mr. shelby: mr. president? the presiding officer: the mr. shelby: i ask that that be trail set to spe business for about 10-12 minutes -- 10 minutes. the presiding officer: is there objection?

5:23:10 to 5:23:30( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: without objection, so ordered. shell mr. president, i would like to take the opportunity -- mr. shelby: mr. president, i would like to take the opportunity to expand upon some of my earlier comments and those of other members of the senate in relation to nasa and the future of human space flight. the augustine commission's

5:23:31 to 5:23:53( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: report that add credibility to far-reaching options for furthering our manned space flight program. if congress and the public are to be asked to spend more or change, then it should be change that will give us the best chance to succeed and to continue to lead the world in the human space exploration field.

5:23:54 to 5:24:15( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: the chairman of the review of u.s. human space flight plans committee, norm augustine, announced that safety would be paramount here. yet, mr. president, from reviewing the preliminary information, there is only one area where mission safety was examined in the report. the augustine report contained no safety comparison for the

5:24:16 to 5:24:36( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: various vehicles considered by the panel and no risk assessment based on each option. mr. president, the only safety issue identified was an many of -- quote -- "how hard the panel thought each overall mission would be to achieve." but not the safest means to

5:24:37 to 5:24:57( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: complete the mission successfully. since safety, the most important issue, these omissions are startling to some of us. when making comparisons on the safety and perform various options, fundamental design differences cannot be to be equal.

5:24:58 to 5:25:19( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: without an honest and thorough examination of the safety and reliability aspects of various designs and options, the findings of this report are worthless. i would like to know why this blue-ribbon panel did not examine these safety mr. president, constellations vehicles have been planned and

5:25:20 to 5:25:40( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: scrutinized by multiple stakeholders, all with a single goal in mind: to provide a safe and reliable human space flight system for our nation. flashy powerpoint presentations and boycesterous claims by commercial providers about their

5:25:41 to 5:26:01( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: easy and simple science solution to human travel into space sound like the answer to all of our problems. what sounds too good to be true, mr. president, usually is. are these proposals subject to the same safety standards and testing that have resulted from the investigation board ask?

5:26:02 to 5:26:23( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: is there any evidence that the cargo rockets promised to execute their first service mission sometime in 2010 will better that have been under development for over four years? what do the experts say? nasa's own aerospace safety advisory panel issued a report in april of this year that

5:26:24 to 5:26:44( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: stated -- and i quote -- "commercial orbital transportation service vehicles are not proven to be appropriate to transport nasa personnel." mr. president, will the current administrator, mr. boln, who helped write these words, now contradict his statement six months after putting his name to

5:26:45 to 5:27:05( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: them? mr. president, further,'d ask, what happened to the april report findings in the augustine commission recommendations? have there been findings since april that were available to the augustine commission that the aerospace safety viesry panel was not priefe -- advisory panel was

5:27:06 to 5:27:26( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: and if so, i would look forw to reviewing these new data. the augustine commission states in their own report that while human safety can never be absolutely assured, it is -- quote -- "not discussed in extensive detail because any concepts falling short in human safety have simply been

5:27:27 to 5:27:47( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: eliminated from consideration." end quote. yet, mr. president, we see the vehicles currently deemed unsafe for our naughts being used in the augustine commission's report as a viable option to go to low-earth when asked on september 15,

5:27:48 to 5:28:10( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: 2009, about the readiness of emerging space contractors to provide manned space flights, former nasa administrator mike griffin said, and i quote, "to confuse the expectation that one day a commercial transport crew will be there to confuse the expectation with the assumption of its existence today or in the

5:28:11 to 5:28:31( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: near term, i think, is risky in the extreme." current and forr nasa administrators are on record registering their doubts regarding the safety of these new commercial contractors companies that are new contractors within the aerospace community have been provided a pathway that could potentially

5:28:32 to 5:28:52( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: lead to billions in government funding to pursue opportunities to support international space station operations starting with cargo. the contractors wishing to pursue human launches below earth orbit should prove, i believe, that they can establish a reliable record of mee cargo and trash hauling

5:28:53 to 5:29:14( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: responsibilities to support station, mr. president, before we turn over the nation's human space flight future to them. pretty slides and unproven promises will not show us you have the right stuff to be trusted with the responsibility for the lives of our astronauts. if these companies can be successful -- and there is no

5:29:15 to 5:29:36( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: reason to doubt that eventually someday, somehow they will be -- then nasa, the congress, and the public might be willing to hand over launches below earth orbit. that day is not today, mr. president. and it will not be for years to come. but until that day arrives, mr. president, i believe we should follow the

5:29:37 to 5:29:56( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: the safest manned vehicle, the vehicle furthest along in development and, as mentioned several times by the augustine commission itself, the program that given appropriate funding will successfully provide a system that cannot only go space station but to the moon