Sen. Cruz Casts Bold, Visionary Agenda for NASA and Manned Space Exploration in Subcommittee on Aviation and Space Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation and Space, today convened a hearing entitled, "NASA Exploration Plans: Where We've Been and Where We're Going." In honor of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Apollo 11 mission, the hearing will examine NASA's past successes and failures, in an effort to better understand how to successfully carry out future human spaceflight missions.

During his opening remarks, Sen. Cruz noted that the next 50 years of American space exploration have the potential to be even more consequential than the past, and announced his intention to author another NASA Authorization act.

"Just a couple years ago I was proud to author the bipartisan NASA Authorization act, signed into law in which every member of Congress in the House and Senate in both parties united to say the objective of space exploration for NASA is to go to the red planet and land on Mars, and that the first boot to set foot on the surface of Mars will be that of an American astronaut," Sen. Cruz said. "The next 50 years in space have the potential to be even more consequential than the last, that's why I am glad to be engaged with Ranking Member Sinema, with Chairman Wicker, with Ranking Member Cantwell on yet another NASA Authorization Act to help continue to lay out a bold, visionary agenda for NASA and manned space exploration so that American continues to lead the world in exploring space and exploring the great frontiers above us."

Sen. Cruz's full opening remarks may be viewed here and below:

"Fifty years ago exactly one week from today, at approximately 9:30 a.m., three astronauts, sitting atop a rocket the size of a Navy destroyer packing 7.5 million pounds of thrust, took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Roughly a million people had gathered on the ground to watch this historic event, including half of the United States Congress. These three astronauts, as one of the newspaper put it at the time, carried with them ‘the hopes of the world.'

"The year was 1969. The year before I was born. The astronauts were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, and the mission was Apollo 11. Armstrong and Aldrin would go on to make history a little more than 100 hours when, with more than a third of the Earth watching or listening live, they became the first humans to ever set foot on the Moon. The Apollo 11 Mission would go on to make history again, a little less than 100 hours after that, as the first mission to not only put men on the Moon, but to bring them home safely as well. Although President Kennedy hadn't lived to see it, the bold goal he had set 8 years earlier had been met. To steal a line from the Flight Director of that mission, we had shown that, ‘What America will dare, America will do.'

"Today, we rightfully celebrate the momentous occasion that is the upcoming 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. As President Nixon said in a phone call to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin while they were still on the Moon, because of what they had done ‘the heavens have become a part of man's world.' Indeed, not only did we succeed in putting men on the Moon and returning them safely to Earth, but we've gone on to put robotic rovers on distant planets, celestial observatories in orbit that can literally peer into the beginnings of the universe, and we've established a human presence in low-Earth orbit that is there still today.

"However, while it is tempting to focus only on the historic achievements that were Apollo 11, as some of our witnesses today will rightly highlight, the Moon landing, and the entire Apollo Program for that matter, didn't happen in a vacuum. It was the result of visionary leadership, national unity, and old-fashioned American tenacity.

"The success of Apollo 11 and our national space program was also due in large part to the tireless contributions of countless women who were working behind the scenes, and whose stories have only recently become household names. One of our witnesses today, Dr. Christine Darden, was one of the famed ‘human computers' at NASA. Without her work and the work of other ‘computers,' many of them African-American women, we never could have sent astronauts into space, let alone brought them home safely. Unfortunately, Dr. Darden's and the other human computers' contributions were hidden, and they remained hidden for far too long, relegated to the background. After the movie Hidden Figures came out, a wonderful, wonderful movie that I commend to everyone, I introduced legislation to rename the street in front of the NASA Headquarters as ‘Hidden Figures Way.' The D.C. City Council in turn took up the idea, and just a few weeks ago, I was proud to join Dr. Darden and the families of those other legendary human computers at the dedication of the new street sign in front of the NASA Headquarters, so that now a decade, or a generation, or a century from now when a little girl or a little boy goes to visit NASA, she or he will say, ‘who were they? Tell me their story.'

"As we look at the space landscape today, we see it's far different from the landscape of 1969. America and the Soviet Union are no longer the only players in space. Government space programs are no longer the only game in town. And our technological capabilities, both in terms of our ability to plan missions and how long these missions are have changed dramatically.

"What do the next 50 years in space exploration look like, and what should we seek to accomplish? We need a bold vision. A vision that sees the commercial space industry thriving. I have long said the first trillionaire I believe will be made in space.

In 50 years, we will have gone back to the moon. Indeed, the United States will return to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, and this time when we return to the Moon, NASA has committed that we will land the first woman on the Moon, an American astronaut. And on behalf of my two young daughters, let me say, thank you and it's about time! From there, we'll move towards having a more permanent presence on the Moon and then ultimately to Mars.

"Just a couple years ago I was proud to author the bipartisan NASA Authorization act, signed into law in which every member of Congress in the House and Senate in both parties united to say the objective of space exploration for NASA is to go to the red planet and land on Mars, and that the first boot to set foot on the surface of Mars will be that of an American astronaut.

"The next 50 years in space have the potential to be even more consequential than the last, that's why I am glad to be engaged with Ranking Member Sinema, with Chairman Wicker, with Ranking Member Cantwell on yet another NASA Authorization Act to help continue to lay out a bold, visionary agenda for NASA and manned space exploration so that American continues to lead the world in exploring space and exploring the great frontiers above us."

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