WASHINGTON, D.C. – Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) today released the following statement on President Bush’s upcoming announcement on space policy, scheduled for next week:
“I’m eager to hear the President’s vision for a revived human space flight program and I look forward to getting the details next week. I applaud the President for focusing on this issue at a critical time in the history of the American space program. I appreciate the meeting we had with Vice President Cheney in the fall, as well as my ongoing conversations with NASA Administrator O’Keefe and other Administration officials regarding the future of space policy.
“I believe the United States needs a new vision for human space flight and that the human space flight program should be continued. I look forward to serious discussion about what the precise nature of that program should be, and I know there are a wide variety of opinions on our Committee and in the Congress about that. Any decisions on the future of manned space flight must be made in the context of budget realities, the continuing need for the reforms called for by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, and the need to keep NASA’s unmanned space programs at the robust and productive level that has borne such remarkable fruits just this past week.”
