Sep 18 1997
From The Space Library
U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology Chairperson F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) issued a recommendation that NASA cancel its plan to replace C. Michael Foale aboard Mir with another astronaut. Sensenbrenner issued the bipartisan statement with U.S. Representative George F. Brown Jr. (D-CA), calling on NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin to alter the plan for the next Shuttle mission, retrieving Foale without delivering another American to the station. "I don't think the increased risk is worth the benefit," Sensenbrenner told reporters after a 4-hour hearing on Mir's safety issues. Goldin testified that, despite some setbacks, NASA had no reason to suspect that sending an American astronaut to Mir was more dangerous than any other space exploration. NASA's Shuttle-Mir Program Director Frank L. Culbertson Jr. responded to Sensenbrenner's comments, "I take the safety of my friends [the astronauts] very seriously and would not send anyone on something that I would not do myself." The hearing was the first time that NASA had formally defended the safety of Mir to Congress.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
