Work on a more normal basis, well continue to try to meet remotely so that we can play our part in slowing the spread of covid19. I want to also announce a couple of reminders to the conduct of this hearing. Members should keep their video feed on as long as they are present in the hearing, and members are responsible for their own microphones. Just be mindful that you probably have a little bit more responsibility than usual than if we were in a regular meeting space. And please keep your microphones muted unless youre speaking and finally if members have documents they wish to submit to the record, email them to the committee clerk. But if you dont have it, we can make sure you do get it. I welcome you to the science, space and Technology Committees First Virtual hearing. Today were discussing the impact of covid19 on the Fire Service Community and how we can best leverage existing federal programs to expedite assistance to Fire Departments during the pandemic. I appreciate our witne
Jose serrano id like to welcome nasa administrator, jim bryden stein, and acting associate administrator for nasa human exploration and operations ken bowersox to the subcommittee this morning. Earlier this year, nasa commemorated the 50th anniversary of the landing on the moon, which remains the single most successful and Famous Mission and nasas history. Just a week before the cjs bill was marked up in subcommittee, nasa submitted a 1. 6 million 1. 6 billion Budget Amendment that intended to advance our humans to the moon by four years. This prevented us from adequately considering the proposal this hearing will give us an opportunity to obtain more information from nasa regarding the revised plans for returning to the moon. This subcommittee would like to send the first woman astronaut into deep space, including to the surface of the moon. We want to do it in a theonsible way from perspective of safety, cost, and likelihood of mission success. As most of you know, i have been a stro
Theyre going to be talking about International Cooperation in space. So youre asking it in very general terms and, of course, with all these agencies oef here, there are already activities going on in cooperation not only on the International Space station but also in other programs so there are bilateral and multilateral agreements. If you ask concretely about gateway, this is another question. And for that, we are looking we are meeting already since now, since two, three years, at least, working on it, and this is more important than just the agreements. The agreements is something which has to follow us, i hope. Jim . Thats right. So, you know, it starts with those of us up here working together to come up with the concepts that we think would work and then it ultimately ends with us taking it back to the Political Leadership of our countries or our organizations. The European Space agency, for example, has to go to its ministerial. Nasa has to go to the United States congress. And
Be determined by the two leaders. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell now, mr. President , this week our friend and colleague, the senior senator from tennessee, will mark a major milestone in his states history. As of tomorrow, Lamar Alexander will have served as tennessees governor or u. S. Senator for 24 years, eight months and 15 days. More combined years in offices than any other tennessean. Of course, senator alexander also remains the only tennessee governor ever popularly elected to the United States senate. The only Tennessee Republican to be undefeated in six statewide primary elections, and his 2008 general election vote total of 1,579,477 votes is still the largest ever recorded by a tennessee statewide candidate. So, mr. President , i ask consent that a statement from the tennessee secretary of state, trey hargan, who has calculated each of these political accomplishments, appear in the record following my remarks. The presiding officer without objection
You can also watch online at cspan. Org or listen on the free cspan radio app. We will take your phone calls and get reactions. Of course, the big story today was the total Solar Eclipse as across the entire continental United States. It was the first such eclipse in 99 years and the first total Solar Eclipse visible in any part of america since 1979. On our facebook page, we want to know what you did earlier today and what you think about the future for the space program. Earlier this afternoon, cspan aired nasa tvs coverage. We will take you back to this afternoon beginning around 1 p. M. Eastern because we ares going to be tracing this eclipse all across the country. Not only does everybody in the country have a great view, but we have some views from the sky, dont we, sean . That is right. Looking up from the ground is how most of us experience the eclipse. Researchers wanted a different perspective, to image the moons shadow. In illinois and across the United States, teams use Hig