[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 52 (Wednesday, April 14, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H2510-H2511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FUNDING THE CONSTELLATION PROGRAM

  (Mr. BISHOP of Utah asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the President moves to 
Florida to salvage or to attempt to salvage a deteriorating political 
situation caused by accepting NASA Deputy Director Garver's poor 
decision to cancel Constellation.
  Constellation consists at least of two parts: the Orion capsule for 
the astronauts designed to be 10 times safer

[[Page H2511]]

than the space shuttle, and the Aries rocket to send into space. But 
the alleged savings are more than offset by unintended consequences, 
because the industrial base that builds the rocket to put people 
towards the moon also builds the rockets to shoot down incoming 
missiles from North Korea, Iran, and other bad guys. And if you take 
the space component away, the defense side costs doubles, triples, 
maybe even more. And the Augustine report, which this administration is 
not following, noted this potential industrial-based problem, but NASA 
either refused to pay attention or chose to ignore the warning.
  Regardless, the solution to escalating defense costs and to 
maintaining the dominance in space will be dependent upon fully funding 
the Constellation program. And, Mr. President, anything less than that 
is totally unacceptable.

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