House committee holds hearing to protect its Artemis pork
The space subcommittee of the House science committee yesterday held a hearing which appears to have been mostly designed to protect the Artemis pork that both parties have been funding for decades, designed not to get us into space but to funnel tax dollars into their districts.
The hearing had only two witnesses, one pro-SLS (Dan Dumbacher) and one only very slightly skeptical of it (Scott Pace). Both these men have been deep members of the Washington swamp for decades, and both made it clear that funding should continue for SLS, at a minimum through the third Artemis launch, presently scheduled for ’27, a launch date so uncertain no one should believe it.
NASA had been invited to send a witness, but it apparently declined to do so.
Pace, the supposedly skeptic of SLS, has actually been a big supporter for years. As executive secretary for Trump’s National Space Council during Trump’s first term, he consistently advocated big space and NASA-built rockets, showing continuous skepticism of commercial space. Even now, his suggestion that SLS be reconsidered after that third launch was very hesitant.
Essentially, this committee hearing was called by these congress critters to advocate the status quo, which is likely why NASA declined to send a witness. Why give them a chance to blast any potential or major change in Artemis and have the propaganda press savage NASA and the Trump administration with negative soundbites?
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The space subcommittee of the House science committee yesterday held a hearing which appears to have been mostly designed to protect the Artemis pork that both parties have been funding for decades, designed not to get us into space but to funnel tax dollars into their districts.
The hearing had only two witnesses, one pro-SLS (Dan Dumbacher) and one only very slightly skeptical of it (Scott Pace). Both these men have been deep members of the Washington swamp for decades, and both made it clear that funding should continue for SLS, at a minimum through the third Artemis launch, presently scheduled for ’27, a launch date so uncertain no one should believe it.
NASA had been invited to send a witness, but it apparently declined to do so.
Pace, the supposedly skeptic of SLS, has actually been a big supporter for years. As executive secretary for Trump’s National Space Council during Trump’s first term, he consistently advocated big space and NASA-built rockets, showing continuous skepticism of commercial space. Even now, his suggestion that SLS be reconsidered after that third launch was very hesitant.
Essentially, this committee hearing was called by these congress critters to advocate the status quo, which is likely why NASA declined to send a witness. Why give them a chance to blast any potential or major change in Artemis and have the propaganda press savage NASA and the Trump administration with negative soundbites?
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Yes, the choice of witnesses is…telling.
I think Eric Berger may be right, however, that Babin and Haridopolis may have been caught off guard by Scott Pace’s shift to a moderately critical posture on keeping SLS.
Dumbacher, however, sang from the proper script.
No one at NASA, of course, is going to go anywhere near a hearing like this until the new NASA administrator and his team are firmly in place. Hard to blame them.
Okay, I am 100% in favor of new space and efficient use of resources. But how to proceed? Someone please enlighten me if I am incorrect here, but does this imply that the national human space program will shift to contractors? Or is the plan to keep the program and all spacecraft certification requirements which are necessary for astronaut occupancy? Or is there going to be a relaxation of these requirements? Because from what I have heard they are quite stringent and difficult to meet.
Any comment would be met with gratitude.
Cluebat: I have been arguing for decades that the worst thing American needs is a “space program.” The very words imply supervision and control by the government, a top-down Soviet-style communist approach that generally doesn’t work, and when it does, it does so inefficiently.
Sadly, we have been trying to copy the Soviets now for more than a half century, which explains SLS and the failures of the shuttle program.
What we must want is a free, very chaotic, and competitive aerospace industry, with many companies following their own path to profit and exploration. Within that mix the federal government should be a player, buying what it needs from that private sector to do the exploration and research it considers important for national prestige and security. It however should run as little as possible, with the best option being it runs nothing.
Almost all the legal government “spacecraft certification requirements” are generally a hindrance and a problem. They are not written with the quickly evolving technology in mind, and in fact act to discourage that innovation. Moreover, it must be emphasized again and again that there is no one in the federal government qualified to set those requirements. The people who know are in the private sector who are actually doing the work. They know what they need to provide viable and safe transportation. They have to do it right, for if they don’t they won’t get any customers.
I hope that answers your questions.
Thank you sir. It sounds like a great plan and I would be all for it. It also sounds like the beginning of a cat fight.