I’m listening to the Senate hearings on the future of the space program. O’Keefe and Gehman testified earlier, at which the administrator continued to talk about how hard it is to build launch systems, and how OSP is the best we can do right now. Unfortunately, some of the senators were sympathetic to this, and there was a threat of a battle with the House over the issue.

As I type, Bob Zubrin is laying out his usual rapid-fire description of how to go to the obvious (to him) destination of Mars. He doesn’t like, or think that we need, nuclear propulsion. Nothing new.

[a few minutes later]

Now a risk management guy is talking about how to set up a safety organization at NASA.

[a few more minutes later]

Rick Tumlinson is calling for a cancellation of the Orbital Space Plane, and end to the Shuttle program, and encouraging the entrepreneurs via prizes and service contracts. He’s talking about the bounty of orbit, and the opportunity for freedom.

Now McCain is asking Huntress if we should fund the OSP. He says no. He asks Tumlinson as well, who of course says no. Now he’s asking about the implications of the China launch. Huntress says they’ll be a partner. Zubrin sees them as a competitor and wants to make it a race, calling them the tortoise to our hare.

Tumlinson is asking if we should answer their socialist space program with one of our own, or with one of free enterprise.