Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan Call for Bold New NASA Space Program

On September 22, 2011, Apollo Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Gene Cernan testified to Congress on the need for a bold new NASA space program, and opposing President Obama's lack of space vision.

In this video, Armstrong also describes the thoughts and what he was thinking as he landed--to a video of the lunar landing.

The astronauts were joined by Dr. Maria Zuber, who helped direct many planetary probe missions including the GRAIL mission, and head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT; and
by Dr. Michael D. Griffin, former NASA Administrator in the Bush administration.

Hearing info:
http://science.house.gov/press-release/armstrong-cernan-stress-importance-amb...

Text of prepared remarks (does not include questions and answers or additional remarks):
http://science.house.gov/hearing/full-committee-hearing-nasa-human-spaceflight
More information at http://www.SaveMannedSpace.com and
http://www.facebook.com/savemannedspace

House of Representatives video posted as a public service.
The Coalition to Save Manned Space Exploration is a project of The Conservative Caucus.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• neil
• armstrong
• gene
• eugene
• cernan
• nasa
• astronaut
• astronauts
• apollo
• 11
• 17
• man
• on
• moon
• landing
• future
• space
• shuttle
• iss
• station
• house
• congressional
• hearing

[cresidue]

@TheSerho True enough.

[TheSerho]

@cresidue

It is world wide interesting  - to be slaves of $ and consumption. Not only US Govermment as you think.

[cresidue]

The US Government is not interested in inspiring young people, they want us all to be slaves to the machine. If we keep feeding the beast, we will be nothing but pawns of the beast!

[SaveMannedSpace]

1:37:00 Cernan: That sign that said "Moon," hung on every door...

[SaveMannedSpace]

1:35:45 Cernan: (unmanned program, rovers, Hubble vital, but...) "I don't mean to make light of it, but I don't think there's ever been a ticker-tape parade for a robot! Neil's name is the most known name in the universe... for a reason. He's a human being. He can come back and tell you what it feels like, what it looks like, what it was like, to be there."

[SaveMannedSpace]

1:32:30 Rep: Neugebauer (R-TX): "After President Kennedy set the goal out for our nation, that everywhere you went in NASA was little placards that said "The Moon" because that was the goal and it was the focus, and that everybody got up in the morning and said 'what do we do to advance the goal of going to the moon?'" He then said we don't appear to have a clear goal in space.

[SaveMannedSpace]

1:22:00 Cernan: the first thing we've got to do is prove to the rest of the world we're for real... Get the shuttles out of the garage down there at Kennedy, crank up the motors, put it back in service! You want a launch vehicle that will service the ISS? We've got it sitting down there! So before we put it in a museum, let's put it to use.

[SaveMannedSpace]

1:16:30 Cernan: The excitement is there. There is nothing... more than aviation and space that excites kids' minds and hearts; that inspires them to dream, to be one of those...why can't I go to the moon? The kindling is there, we've just got to put a little bit more fire in the pot. We've got to market what we've got. ...

[SaveMannedSpace]

1:16:00  Armstrong continues, quoting the JSC Director: His greatest challenge is the retention of the installation's human spaceflight expertise, in the face of falling budgets and significant personnel losses.

[SaveMannedSpace]

1:15:00 Armstrong: The reality is that people can be highly motivated if there is hope. Right now, the sense that I have is too many young people have the view that there's too little going on in the American space effort in the next decade, which they're preparing for, so they may turn other directions. Having something in the pipeline that gives hope to the young people is key. It's important not only to the young people but the existing people of NASA.