Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – On Monday, Oklahoma Astronaut General Thomas P. Stafford announced his endorsement of the bipartisan NASA Authorization Act (H.R. 5666) introduced by Congresswoman Kendra Horn (OK-5). Congresswoman Horn’s bill takes a comprehensive approach to supporting NASA’s work as a multi-mission agency, emphasizing the importance of balanced exploration, science, aeronautics, technology, and education portfolios. The bill also moves deep space exploration efforts forward by outlining a framework and plan to meet the ambitious goal of being the first nation to set foot on Mars.  The Act directs a crewed mission to the lunar surface by 2028 and a crewed mission to orbit Mars by 2033 as interim goals that will demonstrate the capabilities required for sending humans to the surface of Mars.

General Stafford, a NASA Astronaut and Oklahoma native, was the first U.S. general officer to fly in space. Gen. Stafford also performed the first rendezvous in space as well as a world record number of space rendezvous over the course of his career.

General Thomas P. Stafford releases the following statement in support of H.R. 5666:

“I commend Rep. Horn’s Committee on the insightful construction of the bipartisan 2020 NASA Authorization Bill, H.R. 5666, which closely follows the recommendations of Tom Young and myself and the earlier testimony of Doug Cooke. In directing the use of the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) enhanced Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to deliver an integrated Human Landing System (HLS) lunar lander and to deliver an Orion spacecraft, all for the purpose of safely landing astronauts on the Moon, while separating this operation from the Gateway, this bill ensures the earliest possible lunar landing capability with the highest probability of mission success.

“This is significantly simpler operationally than the published NASA approach using SLS, multiple smaller launchers and the Gateway aggregation of flight elements that would have low probability of success. The Gateway can separately be useful in preparation for Mars, but not on the critical path for a lunar first landing with Astronauts. I applaud the direction for a U.S. government-owned lunar lander, avoiding an experiment in procurement in the NASA acquisition of this most important capability, as stressed by Tom Young. This bill’s attention to leadership and organization of the Moon and Mars program is appropriate in ensuring effective and timely program execution for the earliest possible exploration achievements.

“As a pioneer in rendezvous and docking going back to the first successful rendezvous demonstration in space on the Gemini 6 mission, I stress the need to identify the appropriate orbit for docking Orion and the HLS. Over the intervening 54 years the U. S. has consistently utilized co-elliptic, co-concentric orbits for the successful rendezvous of spacecraft. We have never missed a successful rendezvous using the techniques that we developed. The NRHO is highly elliptic with characteristics that make rendezvous unnecessarily difficult, hazardous, and with lengthy days between opportunities to rendezvous. The resulting delays could put the crew at unnecessary risk if there is a problem that requires an expeditious return, like Apollo 13. The rendezvous orbit selection is critical in setting requirements for Orion and the HLS.

“I thank Congresswoman Horn and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology for their hard work in sorting out and identifying the key points in defining a successful Moon and Mars architecture and program structure.”

Cosponsors of the NASA Authorization Act include Chairwoman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (SST) Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30), Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas (OK-3), and Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Ranking Member Brian Babin (TX-36).

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