Mars Society : Capital Hill Forum : Closing Statements

On November 3, 2011, the Mars Society and the Planetary Society united forces to hold a special joint event on Capitol Hill to highlight the crisis facing NASA's planetary exploration and space astronomy programs.

Chaired by Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin, the speakers included Zubrin, Planetary Society President Professor Jim Bell, former NASA Ames Research Center Director Professor Scott Hubbard, and Dr. Heidi Hammel, Executive Vice President of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.

In addition to congressional staffers, those attending the event included representatives from the White House Office of Management and Budget, the NASA Planetary Sciences Division, and members of the public, as well as reporters from the Washington Post, the Gannett Newspapers, the Christian Broadcasting Network, The New Atlantis, Space News, and the Space Review.

A podcast containing the complete audio recording of the event has been posted on the Internet. YouTube video of the event will also be added in the near future.

Leaders of both of the sponsoring organizations were quite pleased with the event, and vowed to continue to work together to defend NASA's planetary exploration and space astronomy missions.

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