Dana Rohrabacher: “I wish to bring attention to the visionary space policy provisions in the fiscal year 1995 Department of Defense…”

“I wish to bring attention to the visionary space policy provisions in the fiscal year 1995 Department of Defense authorization bill and its accompanying report. I am concerned about the Clinton administration's draft space policy recommendations that would diminish the Air Force's role in the development of a new reusable space transportation system. Luckily, this bill keeps Defense in the game. In spite of past technological achievements, we have failed to provide a cheap, routine method of transporting goods to and from space. There are widely divergent views on what's to be done. However, there seems to be a consensus that reusable Single Stage To Orbit (``SSTO'') launch vehicles will provide the cheapest and most reliable form of transportation. We have reusable vehicles for traveling on land, sea, and air, and we need them for traveling to space. Scientists and engineers all over this great Nation tell me the technology is now available to build and fly a reusable SSTO rocket and that it just needs to be demonstrated. Our Nation needs this capability, and the Air Force, NASA, and industry need to press ahead on a cooperative program of ``X-vehicle'' advanced technology flight demonstrators to prove what the scientists and engineers are telling us.”