Not one but two House Congressional Committees will holding simultaneous hearings Wednesday on ensuring the safety of human spaceflight according to various reports by Space News. The politics of safety of human-rating NASA and commercial launch vehicles and spacecraft will be examined with enlightened moments expected from several witnesses.
The House Committee on Science & Technology's Subcommittee on Space & Aeronautics will gather from 10:00AM - 12:00PM, Wednesday, December 2, 2009 in Room 2318 of the Rayburn Building. Meanwhile, at the same date and time, the House Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Aviation will be meeting in Room 2176 of the Rayburn Building. The hearing will be webcast for those unable to attend to hear the testimony of the listed witnesses as they dance under questioning.
While the matter of human astronaut safety is always important, some see the tactic of the hearings to speed the development of the Ares-1 booster to close the gap in American human spaceflight. While human safety should be a well-regulated issue, commercial astronauts should not be subject to NASA-like safety regulations. The states of Virginia, Florida, and Texas have already stated in public policy that individuals may assume certain risks associated with human spaceflight from those states.
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