The funding is inadequate to build a timely replacement for the Space Shuttle

If it were 5, that was the original schedule for the Ares I; it was going to be in 2016.

safety is, and always will be, NASA's first core value

Let me ask Ms. Shotwell and Mr. Culbertson--we're going to try to make some decisions on our authorization and work with the appropriators on which way we're going.

I hope, Mr. Chairman, that you and I will be able to begin to work on a plan that is both supportive of commercial.

I would like to continue the Shuttles and am certainly looking for a way to achieve that.

I think this gap is too important to rely on just commercial and not continue our capabilities.

it is imperative that this Congress should carefully consider and understand all of the potential ramifications of the proposed changes

Thank you, Colonel.

Relying on Russia to fill the gap is equally, in my opinion, unreliable and unsupportable.

I am also deeply concerned that this proposal will only widen the 'gap' in our manned space flight capability.