[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 112 (Wednesday, September 20, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8814-S8816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SPACE TRANSPORTATION
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I rise today with two purposes in mind.
The first is to compliment the men and women who labor on behalf of the
nation at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama on the occasion of Marshall's 40th Anniversary. My second
purpose is to share some thoughts on the importance of Space
Transportation in light of the VA/HUD Appropriations Bill that will
come before this body in the not too distant future. These two issues
are inextricably linked in that Marshall Space Flight Center is the
world leader in space transportation yet ever dependent on the funding
that the VA/HUD appropriators provide. For that reason, I compliment
Senator Kit Bond, and his superlative staff in advance of the bill
being debated for all they continue to do on behalf of NASA and the
nation. Their foresight will ultimately make the difference as we
continue to move forward as a nation of explorers.
In September, 1960 President Dwight Eisenhower dedicated the Marshall
Space Flight Center which soon began making history under the
mentorship and direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun. From the Mercury-
Redstone vehicle that placed America's first astronaut, Alan B.
Shepard, into sub-orbital space in 1961, to the mammoth Saturn V rocket
that launched humans to the moon in 1969, Marshall and its industry
partners have successfully engineered
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history making projects that gave, and continue to give, America the
world's premier space program.
We in Alabama and across America have so much to be thankful for and
in a small way Marshall and its scientists, engineers and support
personnel have carved out a niche of excellence that brought history to
the community, state and nation. From Skylab, to the space shuttle to
the lunar roving vehicle, America has looked to Marshall for experience
and leadership. They were the right stuff, and they continue today to
be the best with over 30 world-class facilities and test facilities. As
NASA's Center of Excellence for Space Propulsion the men and women of
Marshall are not simply dreamers of what may be, but are working hard
in research and development to provide the propulsion systems that will
enable NASA to provide the nation safe, reliable, low-cost access to
space, rapid interplanetary transportation, and the hope of exploration
beyond the solar system. This is not folly, Mr. President, this is
reality.
These initiatives require us to make new investments in Space
Transportation and this is what I believe Senator Bond and his
committee are trying to do. Investments are being made and must
continue to be made in the years to come in the Space Launch
Initiative, the Third Generation technology program, and in Shuttle
upgrades if we are going to achieve our collective space destiny.
I would like to take a few moments today to discuss these initiatives
and the promise they hold for our country. I would also like to talk
about some of the technology spin-offs these investments will yield for
other parts of our economy.
The Space Launch Initiative is intended to dramatically reduce the
cost of access to space by an order of magnitude over the next 10 years
and to increase the reliability of space launch vehicles.
This initiative will result in the creation of a ``highway to space''
that will enable increased commercial activity in Earth orbit and
beyond. The impact for our nation's economy will be dramatic, I
believe. We need only to look at the past to understand the
possibilities associated with opening new frontiers. Throughout our
history, commerce and growth have been fueled when boundaries have been
pushed back.
Let me briefly describe the elements and the purpose of NASA's Space
Launch Initiative. The Space Shuttle remains the world's only reusable
launch vehicle and continues to be a workhorse for NASA and the
American public. You may have been watching the recent activities in
space surrounding STS-106 (which landed this morning in Florida), our
first shuttle mission to the International Space Station since the
arrival of its newest component, the Russian supplied service module--
Zvezda. The Shuttle is the first generation of reusable launch systems,
but it has its faults and we must improve on this system. It is a very
expensive system to operate and requires thousands of people and months
of work to prepare the system for launch. In order to meet the goals of
the Space Launch Initiative, NASA and its partners must develop systems
that only require around 100 people and about one week for turnaround.
The Space Launch Initiative will focus on reducing technical and
programmatic risks as well as the business risks associated with the
development of new space launch technologies. While the goal will be to
develop a Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle that increases crew
safety by a factor of 10 and decreases cost by the same amount, the
technology we develop along the way will only serve to enrich the
economy. Let me provide an example--its NASA's X-33 program.
The X-33 is a sub-scale flight demonstrator designed to test many
technologies that will drive a full-scale Second Generation vehicle.
Like many developmental programs, the X-33 has had its share of
setbacks. However, even with setbacks the X-33 program has actually
spun off technology that will improve the lives of many newborn
children.
Let me explain. The X-33's original composite tank contained fiber
optic sensing technology embedded along the edge to monitor the health
of the system. Realizing the potential of this technology could be far
reaching, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center partnered with Dr. Jason
Collins of the Pregnancy Institute in Slidell, Louisiana and with
Prism, a San Antonio manufacturer of medical products, to improve
obstetric forceps used to position an infant in the mother's womb prior
to delivery, and in some cases used to assist with the delivery.
Obstetrical forceps have been in use for over 300 years with more than
700 variations of the design, however, none of these allowed the
physician to assess the force the instrument placed on the infant. An
improvement was definitely needed that would minimize the risk to
newborns delivered by forceps. NASA's solution: forceps made of
polymeric material which flexes under pressure with fiber optic sensors
from the X-33 program embedded in the material during the manufacturing
process that indicate strain.
It is predicted that the fiber optic forceps will reduce the number
of cesarean section deliveries, reduce the risk of injury to the
mother, and significantly lower the occurrence of fetal injury caused
by ordinary forceps, thus reducing overall health care costs.
Another part of the Space Launch Initiative is a program called the
Alternate Access to the Space Station. This is an extremely important
part of the Initiative for several reasons. The Alternate Access to
Space Station effort will provide our country with more than one way
service to the Space Station. As you may recall, Mr. President, in the
aftermath of the Challenger disaster, the Shuttle program was down for
several years. However, once the International Space Station is on
orbit with a permanent crew on board, we cannot afford to face a time
in which the Shuttle or any one launch vehicle is out of service for an
extended period of time.
We must have a very robust method of keeping the Station re-supplied.
We cannot afford to be tied to one or even two launch systems, but must
have access to several launch vehicles. The Alternate Access program is
designed to develop some of the most innovative launch vehicle concepts
that exist today in industry for the purpose of providing resupply
capability to the Station. This effort will give many up-and-coming
aerospace companies and entrepreneurs the ability to break into the
market by using NASA's requirements as the baseline on which to build
their business case and attract investors.
While the Space Launch Initiative is designed to reduce the cost of
access to space from $10,000 a pound to $1,000 a pound, in order to
make space travel truly routine for the average citizen, we must do
more. NASA is also planning to invest in Third Generation technologies
to further reduce the cost of putting a pound of payload in orbit. The
goal of the Third Generation activities is to get launch costs down to
$100 a pound within 25 years. At that point, routine access to space
for a variety of activities will become possible.
NASA's Third Generation program has been dubbed Spaceliner 100--the
idea being that the technology advancements would result in a launch
vehicle with commercial airliner reliability and again, a cost of
around $100 a pound for launch. I was pleased last year to jump-start
this investment. In a bipartisan effort, I along with Majority Leader
Trent Lott, Senators Shelby, Breaux, Landrieu, Voinovich, DeWine, and
Cochran pressed for the inclusion of $80 million dollars in the FY 00
VA-HUD bill for Spaceliner 100.
I am glad to see that this action did not go unnoticed by the
Administration. In this year's FY 2001 budget submission, the White
House included $1.2 Billion for NASA's Third Generation effort over the
next five years. This funding will support research in earth-to-orbit,
in-space, and interstellar transportation technologies.
Earlier in my comments, I mentioned the Space Shuttle and the
tremendous contribution it has made and will continue to make to our
nation's space program. As we move towards these advanced launch
vehicles, NASA must not take their eye off of the launch vehicle we
depend on today. I am pleased to see that this is not the case, in fact
the agency is taking steps to ensure that the Shuttle continues to be a
robust vehicle. In fact, NASA is actually advocating upgrades for the
Shuttle and the Administration proposed to
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spend $1.4 Billion dollars over five years in upgrades to the Shuttle.
However, in light of the investments in Second and Third Generation
technologies, you might wonder if Shuttle upgrades are worth it. The
answer is yes and here's why:
First, we are dealing with a crew safety issue. Today the Shuttle
performs on the edge of its capabilities. Statistically speaking, the
Shuttle system will encounter a catastrophic failure once in every 450
launches. However, with the proposed upgrades, the Shuttle would have a
much better safety margin.
With the upgrades, for every launch of the Shuttle, the catastrophic
failure rate would be one in every 1,000 launches. Although this is not
even close to the one in 2 million safety margin we enjoy on commercial
airliners, it is a vast improvement. And when you are dealing with
human lives, every little bit helps.
Second, every upgrade proposed for the Shuttle will be a candidate
for use on Second Generation systems. In other words, not only is NASA
improving safety for Shuttle crews, they are getting the opportunity to
``road test'' many new technologies.
I have briefly described NASA's Space Launch Initiative as well as
the Agency's Third Generation efforts. I have provided an example or
two of spin off technologies we are receiving and will continue to
receive from this significant investment. These efforts are important
to our nation's economic future as well as our continued National
security. I believe these efforts will amount to a defining moment in
our nation's space program in the day's ahead.
I am proud of the lead role NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Alabama is taking in these efforts. But as anyone at
Marshall will tell you, this will take the combined efforts of many of
NASA's other Field Centers, along with the full participation of
America's aerospace industry, and the help of many academic partners.
I began my remarks today by describing the 40 year effort at Marshall
and the hard work that we have witnessed by Senator Bond's committee.
We should not be lured into a false sense of security that we will
always have the talent in our field centers we have today, or the great
support we enjoy from the authorization and appropriations committees.
As we look into the future, access to space will be as important to us
as civil aviation is today. However, we all have a lot of work ahead of
us, and this is an endeavor we must educated ourselves on and monitor
closely that it doesn't stray off course. There is simply too much at
stake to allow that to happen.
In the mid-1970's, the U.S. dominated the worldwide commercial space
launch market. Today, we launch only 30 percent of the world's
commercial payloads. Our re-emergence into the commercial market place
will depend on bold investments, and on the boldness of our leaders who
wish for America to remain a Nation of Explorers.
I urge my colleagues therefore to study carefully the upcoming NASA
appropriation bill and suggest to them that they support the VA/HUD
Appropriations Bill, and the investments in the Space Launch
Initiative, Third Generation technologies, and Shuttle upgrades. These
investments will truly be the keys to our future success in space and
in the future global marketplace.
They also guarantee that the men and woman at the George C. Marshall
Space Center have the tools to unlock the technological mysteries that
lie before us, and in doing so make planet Earth a better place to
live.
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