Should the Astronaut Office be involved with this certification and validation process?

There is the renewed commitment to technology development.

I am simply not prepared to allow the United States to lose its edge in this critical area.

In my opinion, this is a strategic mistake of vast proportions and one that requires the utmost reconsideration and serious attention from all levels of government.

I want to state that with the retirement of the Space Shuttle later this year, and if the Administration's proposal is followed, the United States will no longer be a space-faring nation.

If the President said, 'We're going to go to Mars,' and he laid out a vision, how do you think the American public would respond?

As I have shared privately with various people in the government, including NASA, about trying to take care of the workforce with additional work, such as an emphasis in this budget on research and development, it is my hope that you could…

The agency is going to have to define a process to validate the commercial providers for human requirements.

If you gave me an infinite pocket of money--pot of money, I could not get a human to Mars within the next 10 years.

I have great concern about not having a goal for NASA and canceling existing programs that would put us on a path to get us beyond lower Earth orbit.

If, however, we instead accept the Administration's proposal laid out in this budget request, I have no doubt that it will lead to no less than the ruin of our proud space program.

We have to have a goal, as Senators Nelson and Senator Vitter said, we have to have a target, we have to have a plan.

The $2 and a half billion in the President's budget to cancel the program--instead, use that to continue testing on Rocket X.

I think it's time to--for NASA to get back to that NACA mentality here a little bit.

I think we are still looking at a significant strategic mistake in shutting down the Space Shuttle before we need to.

We need to branch out beyond low-Earth orbit, and that's going to require heavy lift.

there is a great deal at stake here, and it's not only for our employees in our respective states, but it clearly is for this Nation being the leader in technology through its space exploration program.

our program seeks to enable the capabilities we will need for astronauts to meaningfully explore the Moon, asteroids, and eventually Mars.