Rep. Mo Brooks (AL-5) on Wednesday thoroughly questioned NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate Bill Gerstenmaier about ensuring commercial crew safety during a House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Space Subcommittee hearing marking NASA’s 60 year anniversary.
Brooks, who is vice-chair of the subcommittee, also officially welcomed newly appointed Marshall Space Flight Center Director Jody Singer to Capitol Hill.
“Mr. Gerstenmaier, the controversial load and go procedure appears to expose NASA astronauts to unnecessary additional risk,” Brooks said, opening his questioning.
He continued, “In that vein, I’ve got three questions. Is load and go an additional launch risk? Question number one. Question number two, is load and go necessary because of performance challenges in getting to the international space station? And then question number three, if it’s a cost-saving measure, is the added risk to astronauts appropriate to help save money?”
Brooks was also able to bring some levity to proceedings later when speaking with his fellow Alabamian, Singer.
“Director Singer, the chairman couldn’t say it but I will, Roll Tide,” Brooks said. “Welcome to the Hill as Marshall Space Flight Center’s Director, and congratulations, being from the Tennessee Valley, you’ve made us all proud.”
“The Marshall Space Flight Center’s first director, Dr. Wernher Von Braun, began his tenure in 1960 with a vision of taking humanity to the moon. This year as we celebrate NASA’s 60th anniversary, we are once again embarking on a mission to the moon with the intent of proving the technologies that are need for our next celestial achievement, taking humanity to Mars. As the Marshall Space Flight Center’s 14th center director, what is your vision for Marshall and what technical roles do you foresee as Marshall writes its future history?” Brooks asked.
Singer thanked Brooks for the warm welcome and answered his important question for Alabama and NASA.
“Thank you so much for that question, and thank you for the nice recognition,” Singer responded. “I would say that from my vision as the Center Director at Marshall Space Flight Center it’s probably very similar to the vision that many center directors have, it’s to definitely deliver on our commitments and our missions and making sure that the assignments that we do have, we’re able to execute them, and making sure that our infrastructure is in place to do that.”
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Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
