[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> a new c-span pool shows that 70% of americans view nasa favorable. that is over 11 times more than those have an unfavorable view of the agency. americans also want nasa to continue to lead in space. among republicans and democrats, where people disagree with privatizing space expiration then agree with the policy. overall only 27% of the polls support private businesses

leading us-based efforts. you can find all of the results including the findings on american attitude toward space force. you can find that at c-span.org. >> six, five, four, three, two, one, 0. lift off, we have a liftoff. 32 minutes past the hour. liftoff on apollo 11. >> 50 years ago this morning at 8:32 a.m. eastern time apollo 11 launched from pat a 39 at the kennedy space center important. it began its journey to the moon, four days later neil armstrong will be the first man to walk on the lunar surface. the remainder of the program we will hear from you about the legacy of theil apollo 11 missin and talk to you as members of congress of space and technology committee about amicus priority for space expiration in the future of nasa. here's how you can get in touch

with us. share your thoughts with our phone linesur by region if you'e the eastern or central time zone it's two at 27,488,000 phone back or mounds or pacific, (202)748-8001. as we take you up to capitol hill office building we are joined by congressman of california. a democrat. congressman, as a member of the house space science and technologycr committee, we are talking about 50 years after the apollo 11 mission in the united states is tried to get back to the moon. why go back to the moon now?go what more can we learn that the men. >> let's think about what was so exciting 50 years ago. it was american ingenuity, innovation, setting a goal and reaching for the goal. and it came up faster than before. there's still a lot that we do room.ow about the it's an actual mission to get to

mars. the moon could be a launching pad. it can be a place that we get to first and then lunch and get to mars. time.s an exciting let's get the mojo back in the icamerican ingenuity and that is what this reminds us of. >> to think the mission should be to get to mars, should that be the priority in space expiration right now? >> i think that is a mission that both democratic and republican have talked about, president obama talks about it, president trump talked about, we talk about it in committee by getting every 2033. we may not getit there by 2033. let's set the ambitious goal and we know there's a lot to discover on my. >> the president reestablish the nationalac space council and moe that you are in favor of. what is a national space council, what is it to and what's its role in setting theha priorities for space expiration. >> ies think the benefit of havg a counsel, you set strategic

goals that do not depend on one administration or the other. not with the booty of the apollo program. is democrats and republicans at all congress. you cannot change them every four years, you have to have a long-term sustained investment in long-term goals. that is what the national space counselor can do. it is not just depend on one administration or another prude. >> you much of the investment, nasa budget in 2019. b $21.5 billion. are you happy with that level? should be increased or decreas decreased. >> we will always look for more funding for science programs in nasa. it is not just about space, itor is about climate change, and other things that affect us here at home. >> let's think about what we can accomplish as americans and as a world. what we did 50 years ago was remarkable and we can do that

again and we can do more. >> it is not just about nasa when it comes to space expiration. what do you think the proper role is for private industry whenat it comes to space? >> ethics what is happening with private industry like spacex and as others is a. good thing. it's free market competition and for things that we know how to do get to lower exorbitant, of its commercial sector we can get there. think about the apollo program, is issue nasa took the vehicle and nowadays you can go to. arthel: or other companies and say will purchase the launch vehicle, you lunar landing companies that will be out there as well. will purchase that nasa can focus on the ail flocculation as well as building a facility on the moon. >> you're in california, the seventh district sacramento base district out there. can you talk about how important the aerospace industry is in

your area. >> california in general -- in my district it really put the injured to powers to the moon and there really is a legacy company that we are proud to have in california and the heart of my district. >> before you go, private industry looking to make commercial space travel possible, is that something you could see yourself doing? >> if someone give me a seat on a rocket that will take me into orbit, i would not pass that up. >> democrat from california. the first member of the house science space and technologyno committee. we appreciate your time. thank you for joining us. >> take you for having me on. >> we are taking your calls as we talk to the members of congress. we want to hear from you as well as her viewers about your party

for space travel in the future of space expiration. the phone line is spotted. (202)748-8001 if you're in the mountain or pacific. you can go in and keep calling in. for the last two hours of her program. will devote to this topic this being the 50th anniversary of the launch of the apollo 11 mission, ralph is in washington, d.c. what do you think are the priorities when it comes to space customer. >> kill the sls. wepr don't need another vehicle that is based on old technology. it is years behind, it's going to cost $10 million to complete, that is the latest increase in cost. it will cost a billion dollars to launch, we have been through this before. we have. arthel: , they can launch these rockets at one tenth the cross.

so why nasa is in a blue goggle the goes across everygg can district is crazy prude that money can be redirected towards expiration, they need to focus i on kiss printable, keep it simple stupid. they get the most complex system they can get in the cost of 45 change more. >> the space launch system, this is the system that nasa is building to try to get us to the moon and to mars eventually. do you think nasa should have its own system or completely rely on the commercial commerci, it be a deeper space mission that we have? >> at this point, given the way that nasa is approaching the system, i don't think nasa should have its own launch system. the system that they are coming out with, and the heavy rocket

is nearly as good as elon musk. and he can get it up for 100 million launch. yet we want to spend a billion a launch and another 10 billion. that is money that is wasted. space launch has become a commodity. where nasa has always shined his work is specializes in unique and new technology in expiration vehicles. it does not make sense to go down that path any longer. on, are youour back in the aerospace industry, in d.c., work with the federal government question. >> used to work for the faa for 20 years, i read and curb amounts of science material. i watch this closely because and fascinated by it. i consider myself a pseudo- intellectual, pseudoscientists. but i'm aware of the issues that

are going on and i don't fall for the soundbites put out a nasa. >> can i draw on the faa backer, one of the questions that was brought up recently, who shouldt regulate space when it comes to getting the vehicles openedd the space in the new frontier we are developing in many new systems that will be in space. who should have the role in the u.s. government for regulating space? >> i work for the faa and i tell you they are terrible in bed with the airline industry. whatever the airline industry wants, the airline industry gets. that is an million-dollar question. nasa has the capability, faa is a subset of dod, i mean deity. there should be another subset which would be the dedicated to regulating airspace commercial travel. that is my suggestion.

>> about 920 this morning, coming up in about an hour we will talk to brian babbitt in space science and technology committee. recently we introduce them to a piece of legislation to regulate commerce in space as well. the topic will be something we will break up with him. thank you for your call, at a chico california. what are your priorities for the future of space expiration customer. >> the priorities should be that all of that stopped immediately and the money is redirected to making america infrastructure better than it is now. we are running here on earth and yet were sending the best of our mice to some distant planet, hopefully when we destroy earth will have a place to live. but especially the rich. it is so much nonsense it makes me sick. that is all i want to say.

>> you don't support space expiration atppat all? >> that is offered -- i forget where he is from. but this is kent out of new orleans. the phone line in the eastern or central time zone. >> the gentleman who is on the phone a moment ago. that is prior to what i had to say. the rich is go get filthy rich, and then when the world destroyed. they will be able to jump it. >> that is kent and louisiana. alfred was talking about attitude toward space travel, as the "washington journal" viewers

no, c-span worked with the polling to conductps a full on americans used for space expiration. we will talk about the results of the poll throughout the segment. here is one result, this is on u.s. attitude toward nasa. united states among those pull pulled, 70% with a favorable view toward nasa. 7% with an unbearable view torna out some and having this conversation on the 50th anniversary of the launch of apollo 11 some of the numbers when it comes to apollo missions in this partly to pulling from back in the 1960s when it came to u.s. support for the apollo mission in june of 1969. the moon landing in 1969. there is a project that started

to get support, nine-month cider following the s apollo 13 disasr back in front of the mission wing when jean of the harrison company walked on the moon and apollo 17 it's american public and i believe the country was spending too much on space travel. by that time space budgets have been slashed and intermissions have been canceled. some of the numbers looking back, 500 years ago at the launh of the apollo 11 mission that happened today at 8:32 a.m. come32 on. with nasa's the legacy of the apollo 11 mission. here's what he said. >> . . when america does

absolutely stunning achievement it gets celebrated for years to come and when we saw with the 50th anniversary of apollo this year in facty this, the whole world is watching. all this programming celebrating with us and this shapes the perception of peoplean all over the world towards the united states of america in a very positive way so that young people can grow up may be seeing the perception different than they would in theirpe home couny given some of the geopolitics involved these days. >> it was on the cover or in a newspaper in tehran and the newspaper was, quote, the hard line newspaper of the islamic revolutionary guard corps. and children in this country, young people in o this country e able to see a story about nasa

and our international partners that being said we need to think about the future. people will be somewhere in 50 years afterwards. i talked to the president a few short weekses ago and he said vy clearly i know you've got to go to the moon to talk about mars bars is a generational achievement that will capture the imagination of the american people and he is absolutely right so we will continue talking about why we go to the moon. it's the proving ground. the challenge of apollo is that it ended. it wasn't sustainable because the costs wereta too high so whn we go to the moon we are driving commercial opportunities into it and the usability into the architecture, driving down the cost we are learning from apollo what's not to do and we needed to be reusable to drive on the cost and keep our eyes on thee horizon go.

the building blocks for life don't exist on the moon they exist on mars. 12 kilometers under the surface of mars, but could on earth anywhere is there is life. i'm not saying there's life on mars but the probability went up into the methane cycles are commensurate with the seasons of mars. when we think about the generational discoveries, the generational achievement discovering life on a world that is an earth would be a generational achievement. we are focused on mars. the moon is a proving ground how we live and work on another world sustainably. mars is the destination and the monumental achievement. >> easy enough to find on the

website and search bar at the top of the page just type in uk and watch his full interview with the journalists who focus on space and nasa in that discussion. (202)748-8000. in the mountain and pacific time zones we would also love to hear your thoughts 8001 is that number. johnstown pennsylvania governor. >> caller: hello, how are you. our next should be here to clean up the oceans and the air, take care of this planet, doesn't worry about the propulsion system maybe we ought to worry

about thi this plan at first, te care of our planet. make sure all the diseases of the world are taken care of and then worry about going to mars or whatever planet you wantyo to go to. let's take care of this planet before we start going to other planets. >> host: before you go, the federal budget is large and the component of the federal budget is just plain 5% of the total budget and is about $21.5 million. do you think that is too much, 21.5 billion? >> caller: the urgency of the priority. i don't know what the hurry is. there's plenty of time to go with for space travel. like i say we are about this planet first. that is my comment.

>> host: from the recent poll that we conducted on attitudes towards nasa and space exploration the total budget of $21.5 billion about 53% of respondents said it was about the right amount, 27% saying that it was too much by 20% saying that it's too little. more of your phone calls in just a second you can keep calling but we will take you back up to capitol hill. frankly this is a congressman from oklahoma, republican and also the ranking of the house science and technology committee. congressman, i know you were listening in on the last call. he ended by saying i don't know what the hurry is to get back to theid moon and mars. how would you answer that question? question? >> guest: it is good to be with you. if we go back it was the same debate going on in the 1960s. was it worth spending a lot of

money to develop mercury and gemini and apollo and onto the moon ands. the things that went afterwards i would say it's the right thing we did 50 years ago eight in that landing on the moon and i would suggest our future is both here on planet earth and out there. we should work in both directions at once. >> host: how do we go about doing that with the top republicans on the science space technology committee what are your priority is? >> guest: we have to be willing to spend the resources toto go back to the moon, to develop the techniques that will enable us to get g to mars to me forward. right now that is the debate in congress is it worth doing and are there folks who are concerned because it came from the trump administration, other folks who simply believe we should stay on planet earth for eternity?

our competitors around the world are doing this very thing. the satellites and the orbit sat around the moon to communicate that his statementthe statements about the full-tim full-time baa decade. if we don't go our friends are going to leave us quite literally in the dust. >> host: 25.1, is that the right amount? >> guest: i suspect if we really want to get back to the moon by 2024 if we want to move won to mars we are going to hae to spend what it takes. look at when lyndon johnson was vice president when the national space council was driving aggressively, when president kennedy was laying out a big bold agenda we have to take that kind of commitment. that said, there's all sorts of matters going on distracting people, but there were all sorts of matters going on in the 1960s. i would say we are spending at the very least a minimum of what

we need to spend and if we are going to get there ahead of our competitors, we may have to spend more and that will evolve as the process goes forward. >> host: you seem to hint at this moment ago is space travel a politically divisive issue today? >> guest: but the honest we wouldn't have gone to the moon if the russians and sputnik up first if they hadn't sent them in first and the first cosmonaut in the earth first. i would say that chinese lander on the backside of the moon was our sputnik of our wake up call. here are a little more distracted these days but the issue is still there and it's important that we do it and we drive the great civilization forward. after all it is a civilian agency. our chief competitor, there's this program is run by the people's liberation army. that is a military organization. they don't do things just for fun. >> host: the next frontier is

here. can you talk about where you've prioritized the use of space to monitor the earth and the earth environment to go up there and were packing? >> guest: i'm the ranking member on the science committee and our jurisdiction is the national science foundation among many other things. weather forecasting, our ability to gauge what is going on both short-term and long-term now is key to all of the resources we have around the earth and looking out for all of our various telescopes and vehicles in orbit around the earth giving the field for the rest is going. short answer is if you care about what is happening on 'arth, and we have to continue to drive forward where would we be now if president eisenhower hadn't. where would he b we be if we ha.

when apollo 11 landed on the moon i had one option is a 9-year-old in western oklahoma. black-and-white television off a tower, one option. think about all the technology and things that have come from these investments. and that is just to get to the moon for the first time. what about ultimately getting to mars. it's mind bogglingwh the poten potential. >> host: i know we talked about agricultural issues near and dear to your heart as the former chair of the committee. can you talk about the intersection of race policy and agriculture? it's not only to check for the drought conditions but the also have the ability to determine what kind of conditions werewh going on. all of this is a part of that and it's not just production here at home but we are watching

across the entire world and it helps us better gauge the human food supply. sometimes we think of groceries come from the grocery store but the fact of the matter is that harbor or the rancher whether it's the united states or the other side of the world races that and is processed and winds our plate. more information into our meanse certainty of production and supply and yes consumers get a safer and more cost-effective mail m every time. >> host: congressmen, about one hour and 20 minutes or so we are going to be talking to your counterpart on the committee, the chairwoman of the committee. how was your relationship with her and has the politics that we talked about before that surrounds this issue any more generally ha as it seeps into te committee? >> guest: i have a wonderful working relationship. from oklahoma she's my neighbor down in texas and i think we have a similar set of concerns. she of course as the chairman is

under pressure under the scrutiny of her whole body that i believe as i like to defect to the caller has the capacity and is stepping up to do the right thing and i intend to work with her. we are all in our role in the united states congress subject to the influence of leadership constituents and voters back home. it's a balancing act we are not independent agents they are of our constituents and part of the team's to make things happen. i just happen to be very focused on making sure that we get back to mars and to drive the scientific achievements of the country forward. i think they agree with me but she goes to democratic conference meeting and i go to the republican conference meeting and we work out differences on our committethedo do the common good.anhe >> host: congressman frank lewis republican of oklahoma

always good to chat with you. back to your phone calls this morning getting your thoughts from the viewers on the future of the u.s. space exploration. where do you think the priority should b be easter are central o his be eastern or central (202)748-8000, mountain and pacific (202)748-8001. dan michigan, you are next. >> caller: hey, good morning. do you remember the images that we were shown from the hubble telescope? they were fascinating at the one giving birth to the stars. now we have another telescope has never in the news. it's called the web telescope. its launch date i think it's 2022. it's going to be 100 times more powerful than the hubble. can you imagine what we are going to see it is going to be so fascinating that is what excites me. bars, not so much. the telescope i can't wait to see what we don't know if we are

going to see things people on earth have never seen before. i go on their website all the time. their funding was cut short but for a while there, but then now it's back and it's in production again. i would tell all americans to tune in to the james webb telescope and check it out. it's going to be so fascinating. >> host: we are showing viewers the website you referred to right now so they can see what that telescope eventually look like. when it comes to setting priorities, what more do we discover rather than these manned missions to the nearest neighbors. >> caller: we don't know. that's why we have the telescopeswi so we can look out into space. there's going to be so many things we don't even know are there but i will say this what t carl's a long time ago on one of his famous quotes. no one has come to help us and no one is going to save us from ourselves.

it's all up to us. it's like when i was in the navy. when we had a fire on aircraft we didn't run away from it, we ran towards it to put it out. it's the same, premise. earth isn't going to last forever if we want to preserve the human race, we need to go aheadd and explore. that is the frontier, not here on the planet. we love the planet, yes but if we are going to preserve, we need to look out into space and do like. i honestly think a telescope like the web is the right way to go. maybe not one for mars right now but i think the money should be dumped into that even to speed up production. i don't know. but i hope all americans are excited to see this. it's going to be up there like the moon landing. >> host: allen is next out of brooklyn. >> caller: good morning. thank you. i was 17-years-old at the national science foundation e urse with other high school

juniors going on senior the summer of the moon landing and it was exciting to be around young scientists watching this event and thinking back on the start of it, we want to put a man on them and bring hi the mom afely back into in about decade. coupling that with the team about doing something to be proud of 50 years from now i think we should have a simple statement akin to kennedys that we are going to put our grandchildren on planet earth in 50 years where they can look forward to a stable sustainable climate going forward, and will include the use of safety technology in a way that is wise and judicious in terms of the earth monitoring and in terms of maintaining peace and not pushing towards the war that would create a quarter of space debris from battles about using some kinds of solar energy collected satellites.

also a loving look back satellites have left the average person c. in real time as al gore wanted what is the condition of earth ator any givn moment getting a grasp of the changess that have occurred in icecaps over the lastt few decades, give people the global sense like that first photograph of the earth's rise on apollo eight of how small we are and how little material there are into precious it is and how easy would be to mess up the climate so that we wouldn't have to time to explore the space. we have to be a sustainable planet for thousands of years. >> host: you say you remember it the mission. do you remember apollo 17 in how you felt at the end of the mission?t >> guest: >> caller: i was a member of the science foundation,

>> host: but your memory of that and how you felt about that? >> guest: i think everyone on the course believed we would be 1985 or so. it was a depressing feeling that we somehow got the ball not in terms of maintaining for more information but keeping some kind of a positive vision for what we should be doing in space space. now that wee have a climate crisis that should instruct the priority is or in space now not for the space exploration without the carbon budget for the launches. we have to include emissions from space travel a long with any kind of a sustainable budget on the amount of carbon we could emit to maintain a sustainable planet for 5,000 years going forward. >> host: thanks for the call out of brooklyn that is a topic we could talk about in your memory of the apollo 11 mission.

again, if launched 50 years ago almost to the minute. d 32 a.m. eastern when the mission launched out of florida back in 1969. it's just coming up on a debate to a:35 a.m.. little rock arkansas, you are next. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. just all the respect and appreciation for the work and the launch and landing and all that during the 60s, i remember it well. utt wasting money today to go to mars is just about the most naïve thing. >> host: by is a waste? >> guest: nasa is outstanding. i respected, loved it. but if you were dedicated to air defense like the president

started the space for synthesis is the right way to use the dollars have the budget would be great to continue with that. the rest of the billions should be invested in our country. those are our taxes and it's an unimaginable waste the whole project to just make work and when they talk about folks getting to mars you just have to remind people that human beings start turning into chilled out maafter a few months and no one ever talks about that incredible ill effect on the human body to space travel. it's incredible recovery period wishes and talked about very often.

all four leading tax dollars be spent wisely and infrastructure would be great. we can't seem to get cleaned airports in this country and so many other things we need to invest our money in. i've been impressed with the dollars already. the citizens are saying no would save our money and let people keep his tax dollars for their families and on investment and someone associated in the programs and again it's an incredible waste similar to the nuclear power industry in that we've wasted billions out of all of these years but now shutting down the plants all around the country even in the last 25 years have become super fun toxic cleanup sites so we made some terrible decisions i think you could associate with those

that are banking bennie and profiting it using from tax dollars for these kind of things. >> host: >> host: going back to the survey here's where americans view the priority some 52% of all respondents say that the satellite monitoring of the earth to understand environmental changes should be the priority. 32% say it should be improving national security and 27% say it should be conducting experiments at the national space station and then 24% overall say unmanned exploration of the solar system should be the priority. 18% said it should be a manned mission to mars and each perso t it should be the priority. for some 1,020 respondents

conducted this past month. robert in las vegas is next. good morning. robert ca, are you with us? >> caller: yes. can you hear me? >> guest: go ahead, sir. >> caller: yes, i've got some facts for you that might helpr out. first, i would say frank lucas, i'm sure happy that he's on the program. he looks really good. i support him. as far as the financing, i'm going to be with him, with these folks for all of the financing they need, not the taxpayers money or the government and that will be in a couple of months. >> host: what do you mean by that? are you talking about private investment in space travel? >> caller: correct. private people for the people. what i wanted to mention it but

wu look at silver and gold. if we didn't have silver, all of the high-tech equipment including cell phones wouldn't even work. all of these trips, looking for all of these substances that they are researching, going to mars to bring back materials, now japan recently sent a ship to a particular rock out there and testing the materials. nothing is goingg to stop them because all of the other countries are doing the same thing. >> host: robert out of las vegas this morning. more phone calls but first we take you back to capitol hill to the cannon house office building rotunda. we are joined by congressman michael bolts of florida another member of the house armed

technology committee, congressman, twoie colors ago he was talking about the best way to invest in space and he said in her defense is the best investment we can make in space. can you talk about the national security threats that you see both as a member of the armed services committee as well? >> i have oversight over the military portion of national reconnaissance office but also the civilian component come and let me be very clear, we are being challenged and we will be challenged by the chinese and the russians in space in the 21st century. both countries have explicitly said in a national security strategy that if we ever come to any type of conflict they are not going to defeat us by this y seeking aircraft carriers are

taking on tanks and fighter to fighter. u all of the communications and relays of infrastructure that's out there that the chinese have developed the capability and are continuing to develop the ancapability to destroy that to block it and render it inoperable. the funeral may be able to defend our assets also to be able to compete in the domain and we are making the investment vehicle to protect ourselves. >> should we be more concerned about china or russia or? >> i'm more in the present-day concerned about russia and the next three to five years i'm concerned about china. china first demonstrated its ability to knock down thehe satellite in 2007, and it made a specific priority.

and why did that matter aside from the national security standpoint? deciding on how you estimate over half a trillion dollars from our economy is dependent on space and that is set to grow fourfold in the next ten years, something income and navigation, worldwide logistics, basically the entire modern economic infrastructure is dependent on what is up in space. it isn't supposed to be defended. we don'tms have backup systems. how we are forecasting hurricanes and all of that is dependent on space to think about it this way, post-world war ii decree dated in the 21st century we are on our way to creating the space force or space corps, some minor differences to dominateo space power that's absolutely critical. >> host: with your concerns

about russia, do you think it's been a good idea that we are cooperating with the international space station and other cooperative efforts we can separate the military components from the experimentation and other components that go on in the station to actually bring over a dozen nations together but here's the thing the chinese are creating their own space station they are not going to cooperative with us on ours and they are taking a step forward to create a station on the moon by the end of the next decade they do not do anything in space that doesn't have a military component. they are not up there for the sake of exploration orp experimentation. everything they do have the people's liberation army stamp on it and that is something we have absolutely been aware of. >> host: you mentioned space spe force a moment ago. you'veve introduced legislationo the space command. what is.com is it different that

amnesty sports? >> guest: it's slightly different. it's going to be a separate branch of the military that gives it an equal seat at the table when it comes to resources and the pentagon. the space command will be a combatant command like cyber command or specialco operations command that holds all of the force components army, navy commander submarine, and all the services of the various components together and operationalize those and basically treat spacelike cyberspacspace like cyberspace s a war fighting domain where weom polpull all of the services together. >> we have to look at this as a service that is focused on the type of people, the type of

acquisition, the type of equipment that we need to maintain our dominance in the states which we've had over the last several decades but will be challenged in court by the peer competitors. >> host: does it surprise you when it comes to the space force specifically some 33% finding support for the space forcing 30% saying they don't support it and another 37% saying they have no opinion on that? >> if you expect with presidentt kennedy did,wh he put $280 billn in today's dollars the equivalent towards the moon program back then and there was a constanthat was aconstant eduo the public, to the congress, to other detractors, but look at what we were able to do as a country. but that the science and the inventions i think we all take for granted today everything

from scratch resistant lenses to led to velcro cat scans the list goes on and on the sit the scied technological takeoff focusing the nation on achieving something lik like putting somee on the moon. i think we should and can do that again and here's the thing come if we don't, other nations will. the chinese and indians, israelis andnd others are linedp to put men on the moon in the next few years. the united states just as it does around the world has to lead in space and if we don't, we create a vacuum others will. >> host: in the last minute or so it's the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 launch. your thoughts on the legacy ofth that day and then four days later on the first lunar walk.

>> you look at those launched themselves with basically without computers come with a computing power that they did was less than what we had in the iphone on calculations it really was incredible. what is more incredible is thebl unifying aspect going to space and going to the moon and what it is for the country. taking those values to the brave new world not only can we do that again and should we do that again, but i think we are at a point where we have to defense d what they are doing in this

space and down here on earth. i cannot emphasize it enough just as we enable a liberal worlenabled a liberalworld order power from nationa a national sy standpoint ofrl the 20th centur, we will have to do that by dominating space power in the 21st centuries of the human aspect is also the national security aspect and they go hand in hand. republican from florida and member of the house science space and technology committee. we appreciate your time this morning. >> back to your phone calls this morning in his last 60 to 70 minutes or so getting your thoughts today on the future of u.s. space policy we are all

living in the gutter but staring in the stars after a while and i think that the exploration is a necessity for humanity because we never know when will he meet here at the planet and destroy as? it happened to the dinosaurs, you know, we need to get outd there and explore. we need to expand. we've got to save humanity from the mess we've gotten our planet into at this time. >> caller: i think instead exploring outer space, we need to be exploring inner space.

if you think of the 50 years of billions and billions of dollars on cancer research and now with the incredible rise of dementia and alzheimer's, all that money could be put towards that. by the time the baby boomers get up there where they are running rampant, nobody is going to care whether we are in space or whether the chinese have got their first. it's like comparing your wall to the neighbors to see like who mowed your lawn first. the chinese want to go there, let them. we will take their technology the way they've been with us. >> host: the discussion that we just had about his concerns about national security aspect of space and defending u.s. interests. you don't think that should be a priority? >> caller: i don't think we need to go to the moon or live on mars or any of that to

explore space just around the earth. we need to worry about what's here and the people that are here now because if you want to explore a human aspect, go to an assisted living facility at cb dementia patients and alzheimer's patients and think about what they think about space. plenty of people with plenty of money who ca can't fix what's wg with them because nobody did the research should have been done years ago. 50 years of shooting for the stars and we have very little to show for it other than a new split about how great it was before we got there with the russians.. >> host: again from 1,020 conducted the question was asked why explore space and the top three responses, monitoring the earth's environment, improving the national security and conducting experiments in orbit

going to the moon and going to mars far, far down on the list. barry is next out of 29 palm. good morning. >> caller: good morning. to me it's a waste of time. i was in the marine or 20 years. we need money and now we want to put a space force. i have problems they tell me we don't study stuff like that. and i said whyan not? we don't have food for kids in schools and every school healthcare, dental care for all americans. all these inventions were great but who got rich at the end of one gentleman you have on there i don't know, he was a republican, he didn't mention ondid mention onecountry, and t. i wonderr why, because russia that this guy in office but we are killing the earth. i agree with the wisconsin lady.

>> host: what do you think about private industry getting involved in spaceflight and istting involved in the space sector? is that something that the u.s.g government should b feed the spe sector two? >> guest: we have so many problems on earth she's right i'vey seen it. we were so amazed and then i spent 20 years of my life working for the government can't figure out where we are now up to the white house didn't even believe in science so we looked kind of stupidity are so smart but what's wrong. so i don't know, to me it is a waste of time. larry out of california last

week on capitol hill, but hearing about the privatization in space and some of the ceos and executives from commercial spaceflight industry intacspacep space exploration commercial theps testified before members of congress. this is the ceo of the coalition for deep space exploration talking about the benefits and challenges of the economic development in space. i think also the nation needs to have a conversation about what are the goals with regards toha developing however it is the one to talk about it. right now but sor that's sort on with nasa because it is a space agency but there's reasonable questions to be asked to talk about the economic development of low earth orbit for example it is a space agency. this commercial development llideas on july 7.

there's a lot that belong in their hands and should we took to the department of commerce does it make sense to get some others including ngos to look at this? it's vacant looking at a economic development, but that sink in for a minute. we are not so hot that it down here. it could take 20 years, 20 or 30 years and we don't have the sort of barriers thatar we had. i think that there needs to be a serious conversation in congress and other places about how we really go about doing that. and what is someho, how much invest we want to make and what kind of e vestment we want to talk about? there are a lot of means to talk about economic development and how we go about doing it. >> host: to watch the hearing in its entirety you can do so on the website, c-span.org. we are taking your calls in this segment of the washington journal about the future of the u.s. space policy. want to hear about your priority these coke priority is if you live in eastern or central time

zones and in th the mountain and pacific that is (202)748-8001. having a conversation on the 50th anniversary of the launch of the apollo 11 mission in today's "the washington times." here is how he ends his column today in today's divided nation and should be more than an exercise in nostalgia to revisit those exciting years when space really was the final frontier in america came to lead th can lean exploring it. today's "the washington times" if you want to read that. waiting in kentucky, good morning. >> caller: by thinking after i heard the other callers, i think we definitely need to go further and explore space.

but i have a thought why we must be in competition with china, russia, why are scientists can't all work together. this is for mankind for our future. the way that it's been presented from several years ago is that it is a race to the top, and the problem is we really don't know how much it's going to cost and what we are going to get when we get there. this is why we need international dialogue. and great diplomacy because this is when the greatest finds should come together. that's just my thinking. >> host: what are your greatest thoughts about the international space station and

the nations that come together to do work in space? >> caller: i love that. i think that's been a resounding success. i was just watching two of theac females that were on the space station last week. i think we can learn a lot and we are learning a lot. then we share something like that, that knowledge, that translates. it's not just for us older people. this is for our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren. we can't letre it sit. i think we need are scientists. we need a big group of scientists that will come together just like they did the international space station. that's just my feeling.

>> host: patty is in texas, good morning. >> caller: good morning. yes, i worry we need the space forceci and all the others but i also want to know what about i wish he would get a hold of mr. leandro he finally resigned from there a few years ago and studied ufos and i want to know what she knows about those that are monitoring them from this. >> host: do you believe in them? >> guest: they have pictures of thpicturesof the big show the history channel and its cold

unidentified inside american ufos and it was quite an interesting series. i wished people would go to the history channel and watch it. she was the head leader for years, and adults with ufos. >> host: this is paul in philadelphia pennsylvania. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i was calling about a comment about deep space exploration for the coalition and the comments about not being so great about having finances or the economy down here and that maybe they should start looking into how we shoulde spend finances and spa.

it's kind of interesting for the ceo of a coalition of groups like boeing and lockheed martin to be worried about the finances of space exploration before actually doing space explorations of its more about making money from some planetary moonshot before it's actually about getting their sites kind rf a concern to me. >> host: so you are saying that the priority is our next step? >> guest: it seems kind of confusing that are we going to space or trying to figure out how they make moneyfi from spac. what is the purpose are we learning about china and russia

going to mars and using that for defense capabilities or is it for a new scale economy? >> guest: what would you make the priority if you are talking on one of the members of congress on the committee what would you encourage them to do when it comes to setting of priorities? >> guest: i'm not against space exploration or going there but it should be about the guason we are getting there. is it just to get the new venture capitals i don't believe so if we need new business models we should focus on things to do here if it is a defense industry reason i could see the aspect that going there for a new market is the greatest thing ever..

>> we are joined by the congresswoman a freshman member of congress. congresswoman, when you were runningwh for congress to science-based technology committee that he wanted to serve on >> guest: it was one of my committees because they had a wg history with space and science and technology in our district actually we were very tied to our first landing in the 60s. we have now0' with the center tt was a deeply involved with for example the first lunar landing research that came directly from that part of our district so it's exciting to be sitting on the committee and celebrating the anniversary. >> what is your priority to a freshman member on the committee?

>> it's getting the lay of the land on this handheld from here ke can determine the best path forward. we have to set the priority so we have the resources in place to be effective. we have to set the goals and strategies and we have to make sure everything is aligned. what are we going to be looking at in defense versus the reasons we will be achieving any of these goals and i think that's important for us to be able to communicate to the public and wrap our minds around it. >> host: they said it areldn't be the reason we going to space. would you agree? >> i completely agree. that shoul shouldn't be the reat all. we should look at what we gain from the policy from the first

time we were doing this we have 400,000 people that were employed either directly or through contact including my own grandfather that worked for the lunar landing and there was a huge impact in terms of the science that came out of it and it could have an impact across all the otherer sectors and thas something we need to think abo about. did you ever get a chance to talk to your grandfather about the russian launched 50 years ago today? >> i'm looking forward to talking about it more with him i was looking at it last night and thinking about all this and he worked onn the series from 1961

to 1970s from the major contractor and hopefully that can inform me for how this can impact people and. 50 years ago going to the moon whether we would be further along the fact we stopped after the moon was a bit ofpr a surprise. the priority is changed and the butt of the with the fact that we left the cold war in terms of

the national budget and the same goes for defense how important is that for the society and economy and defense? it is the space corps that we authorized in the defense authorization that we just passed last week in the house. it's important tha that his days a part of the air force because they are doing so much around space already and it doesn't need to be a separate force.

what do you want to get in by the end of the first term on the committee? >> by the end of the first term i want to make sure that i have the committee if they are able to communicate what our plan is here and what is our strategic direction around space and aerospace in general and how we dedicate to find the resources that will be needed to accomplish the things we set ouo to do. we have some pretty ambitious goals laid out by the administration including when end by 2024 which is a huge deal and to be able to do that you can't just say that you have to

make sure they are giving the resources necessary so i want to be able to say that we have a good sense of how that is going to happen and if we don't then we need to figure out how they are going to. >> democrat of california and the science technology committ committee. back to yoursh phone calls askig for your thoughts on the future of space exploration and memories 50 years ago today. she had five minutes andt couldn't get anything convinci

convincing. let them do whatever they want. if they succeed on that let them have funom if they succeed the government can step in none of them are wrong none of them are

we care about is that we covered this where it's important. what started it for you? just to think that it's more than just us out there you can't so unless it is concrete they have all these minerals, fine,

go m and explore i'm not opposed him i of our congressmen are listening to the average american. when the average americanra cant afford to feed their family, close their family and house the family, where should our money be spent to on space exploration, i don't think so.

it will not be in any way, shape or form from it. i'm in agreement with the previous caller that is the public disagreed with so now here comes back again we now have in that space corps a way

to structurally to the weaponize thing in space that we didn't have before and it's coming at a time when we are in crisis and resources are going straight to the top and privatized so that people who vote they are owned by corporations and that's why they don't get anything done. scientists told us plenty abouty about what we want toto do now o combat global warming but we don't need to solve this crisis by putting a saying we are going to put it into space and study it some more. also they are good at changing the subject when you have some huge ethical problems here are

though so much distance from the people with no money tool for money but no one really understandse what life is the moon has lots of resources let's bring that to our space station they are okay but finding withw planet to live on will not happen they are so far away in another galaxy, good luck is what i say, figured out how to

build and populate them and then rinse and repeat i can't add much except when we have the department of energy in the late '80s they should privatize the whole space program.

they are pushing and pulling for the restraints over there. they will probably do a better job of producing ideas. james is next in washington, d.c.. good morning. >> caller: i had a couple of comments about the lady that was on before me.

that is their whole scheme is about it goes through all they try to do anyway so why there's been a money when they are not t going to benefit from it with the private sector deal with it but then see what we f can do.

this this administration does nothing but misappropriated money they get. get. there was quite 80% of the scientists in the usda if it was another administration would you want to spend money on going back to the moon and eventually mars? >> not at this time, our gut is high. he's firing scientists left and right. c-span doesn't bring that.

after apollo 11, all of the technology that we learned was that if within months china and russia and india they knew what we were doing the. we should split china and russia and india and any others that want to spend billions of dollars to go back toac the moo. if it's russia or china we will know all the technology that they had to experiment and learn themselves.

what do you think it meant for the united states? to >> it but for the new get down to the bottom line with russia get theig prestige and china get the percentage in return we will have saved ourur country billios of, we are going to know all the technology they spent billions of dollars to learn.

first republican of texas and other members of the house based science technology committee i agree that the we had. we had a cold war there were innovations that came out that we explored today and others from satellites to banking and agriculture, oil and gas.

some of the inspections from that when i put mars. i promise you we will be the last. will we billions more in a the

american people want to be proud of the. if come in a. you asked my opinion and i gave

it to you. host: your district is the 36th district in texas. it includes the johnson space center. what happens at the johnson space center? caller: that was mission control. the is where all of that's where all of the apollo shots were controlled from. jim and i were controlled with mission control at the johnson space center as well. hnwe still have a mission contrl for our international space station is 13 or 14,000 employees with civil servants and commercial space operators. it's a robust pace i'm proud to represent the johnson space center and also to have served as the chairman and now we are

in a minority i the minority ane a ranking memberr of the senior republican on the subcommittee on space and aeronautics. this is where the james webb space telescope have a lot of running off its just a few months ago and we plan on launching that in the near future. here are trying t trying to gett of 1.6 billion sobey can start working on getting back to the moon. if you were going to have trouble in your systems and you want certainty and security for your astronaut it's a whole lot better.

what would the act do? >> there's a lot of commercialism in space today. it's a tremendous game changer we have many private companies that are getting working on getting to the moon and this is something that the united states e'taxpayers will enjoy. i've been to many of the facilities and i think it is going to be a shot in the arm. there could be no greater one than we are seeing with commercial cargo and what's coming up with commercial crew

they are going to start launching american astronauts and american rockets again very, very soon and we don't have to buy tickets at $80 million a pop from the russians so that something if we don't do it our adversaries will and there are resources to be gained even though nasa is a civilian nonmilitary, what they do in the t space program extends into spe and who controls the high ground controls the low ground as well so it's important that the united states maintain its superiority over the rest of the

world and that doesn't mean we don't have allies and friends and we've partnered up with the russians for many years now, but we would be very unwise not to continue our endeavor to be thee number one space faring nation on the planet. >> was to republican from texas the 30s to the 36th district the home of the space and we appreciate your time this morning. about a half hour left getting your thoughts on the 50th anniversary off the launch of apollo 11. letof us know if he remembered t and what your memories are of the launch and the eventual landing a. also on the future of u.s. space policy. (202)748-8000 in the eastern or central time zones, (202)748-8001 if you were in the mountain or pacific time zones.

>> guest: >> caller: one thing that always fascinated me is when he would get the astronauts back to earth i never understood what kind of technology that could b. that could lift that modules it didn't utilize all of the big giant booster kind of thing but it's the smoke trail so having said that if the component pieces still on the moon and others are going to be landing on the moon i would like to know

how you are going to clean that up because if the port is still there and we are going back continuously how will you manage space trash i don't think we have d a right to pollute. thank you and i will listen for the response. >> host: jonathan fo for minneapolis minnesota. >> caller: first i couldn't be more proud about the response to president crazy pants. with that being said, i think we need to build a rocket ship and put president donald trump on it and send him wherever the alien

life form is absent and to us. >> host: let's talk about space policy and the future of nasa. >> caller: there is no future, we are done. >> host: jonathan minnesota, mia compasses steeds out of illinois. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i'd like to bring up the point that nasa is an organization that -- fellow? >> host: i'm listening. go on. >> caller: the good lady from wisconsin said she doesn't see the point of the expenditures and many others have said they don't see the expenditure and i

would like to point out to them all this technology that the medical system, physics, chemistry, biology, microbiology, genetics it's all related to nasa. then i would point out to the american public america ranks so low on so many charred in my opinion if they didn't get paid very well, would they stay in america? these are brilliant people. why would you stay in a country that is so low on thelo totem pe the other thing that is high on the totem pulled in america is the military.

and let's face it we talk about space wars they would go where the money is. >> host: i want to point you towards this story at "the wall street journal" today about neil armstrong's suit and they intended for a single use to get him there and back and they are saving it for posterity and today the search returns to display at the museum building on the national mall here in washington after a conservation effort lasting more than a decade and that is the unveiling

that you saw. that is jim on the right, the administratorhe of nasa now back on public display the first time in 13 years at a ceremony happeninof ceremonyhappening ju. fcrawford is next to california. good morning. >> caller: one of the most ironic in political histor hists kennedy's promise. we had a country split in half, we had the vietnam war i was dressed and got injured. but they lost focus on certain things and their problem was after 13 people were killed in spaceth and all that they wantea

bigger budget for what? all these people are hating on trumpet he has nothing to do with that. to at least show some kind of consistency i want to see us do thehi same thing. people are so negative but anyway, thank you. >> host: joseph from hartford connecticut, good morning. go ahead, sir. >> caller: can i see anything about global warming? >> caller: they talk about global warming and no one says anything about the 24 square mile of copper asphalt we have ended up nine or 9 million.

we don't hear anything about that and as far as space, i have one quick note on this. my wife works at a parachute company that's made of most attentive to the moon and stuff. the first landing on mars my wife so did the shoot that went up and wrote her last name in it and the note take me to your leader. it's sitting on mars today and her last name is the first name on mars.

i may be 2-years-old, i watched every single minute and my wife also. she worked on all that stuff. >> host: before you go, thanks for sharing that story. when you watch the landing 50 years ago on july 20, where did you think we would be limited to space exploration and where did your wife think it would be? >> caller: we thought it would keep going to the moon and ability community but as far as mars, nobody would make it back. there's nothing there but us. there's nothing there. it's something to start off

with. with the equipment and technologies we've got today there would be nothing to it. >> host: thanks for sharing toyour story this morning. we showed you the unveiling of this had happened a few minutes ago this morning. i wanted to come back to that for a minute because of this wrapup from the bbc about 50 fax about the moon landing, 50 members about the moon landing and one of the members was $33.31 and it has to do with the page atape at the apollodo astrs burned. the story noting that depending on their seniority, they earnedo somewhersomewhere between 17,00o $20,000 a year that is the equivalent of $120,000 a year today when it comes to current salaries there was no danger going to demandr a right that they were able to claim travel expenses. buzz aldrin put in the clai a cr

$33.31 to cover his trip from home to the spacecraft center in houston and atlanta from florida, the moon and hawaii and on top of that astronauts had to share when they left the space program many were sent by high-paying executives and others made money that way but with its 50 members on the mission if you want to read it. next out of canton ohio, good morning. >> caller: it is a noble goal, but my concern is the militarization of space that could lead to a cascade effect

prompting in effect the more satellites we destroy because the shrapnel that is produced will occur and will destroy other satellites in a positive feedback loop. you think that congress for the leadership when it comes to space exploration is thinking about right now? >> caller: there was a chinese exclusionary it's like a prisoner's dilemma people just competing to claim as much as

possible we want to take you back up to capitol hill briefing talking to members of the technology committee this morning and we are joined now by the chairwoman of the committee, congresswoman eddie bernice johnson democrat from texas. thanks for joining us this morning. as the chairwoman of the committee what are your goals by the time you hand over the gavel whenever that may be? >> caller: i don't know when that will be however there is a broader range of responsibilities and we are celebrating this week the anniversary ofs the apollo and e have had great recognition and we are trying to recapture all

that we'veio gained from space exploration so that we can plan our way forward. we have seen so much enthusiasm from young people, but the important thing is that every dollar that we have invested in the spacee exploration research we have received back $5. it's been costly but as you can tell we have gained so much. we've been grateful to those that are willing tors experiment and become astronauts also bringing the information home no matter where and how much and what to expect that i it's all space exploration research results. we have all kinds of automation now and many because of this research we are grateful that

this investment has been made. we have gained so much. >> host: showed th that the way forward the two mars? staff and ignore adding staff ready for the future. and think that we can make it.

we've got to invest in people to make sure we have the skills and under this administration, he's eliminated all of the education funding. about very concerned workforce for the future. because we've had a lot of international assistance and now the attitude is a little different there. so we've got lots of concerns before we can make a decision as to whether we are gung ho to go where. we've got to make sure that we can get there and we can pay for it. host: what do you say to the caller earlier in this program who said when the american -- average american can't afford to house their family the average american shouldn't be forced to pay for this space exploration? >> i can appreciate his attitude. but i think that when he realizes how much we've all gained from this investment and research he will have a little bit better attitude. i do feel very much understanding with the way people feel about government

spending. i'm truly as concerned as they are. but that's how we spend. and i think that when we decide not to research we are closing our doors to the future. we must continue great research that gives us great benefits. i just imagine that same person is very pleased when he can get a warning that's accurate on the weather, the environmental information that we are getting now of what we need to address. much of that research has come directly from nasa and space research. it we get ainto whole lot back. but yes, it's costly. i will not deny that. but i don't know too much we can do things that are very positive that does not cost something. host: should we be spending money on space force? >> i have not made a decision on the space force because i truly do not understand it clearly. i have not been given the full

enoughtion that gives me information i feel to make a decision. host: the houston chronicle has been putting out an ongoing series on the future of space travel. here's one of the things they wrote about the apollo 11 missions, saying that the apollo era was a special time in the united states when political will and funding aligned in unison. those days have petered out. can you talk about your sense of the political will right now both up in congress and in america as a whole? >> we have a responsibility in congress to lead and to follow. if we had not been leaders back when sputnik encouraged us by their activities, we probably would not be here today. i am one of the people that feel that you cannot wait until somebody else does it better. we've got to be in the race.

and i think that it was very good foresight for our leaders in the past to make the determination that we had to be a part of the space race. i don't know that we can drop out. i think the research we gained, all of the things that we gained modalitiesm medical to all kinds of technology, the satellites that tell us what the weather is going to be. all of the research that has come and the enthusiasm of our young people when they get exposed to space. has really brought a real new focus on where we really ought to be looking for our future. we cannot stop research. when we stop research we close the door to the future. think youro you former colleague in congress and

now nasa administrator is doing in that role? >> i try very hard to work with him and we will continue to do that. host: what is your biggest concern when it comes to his leadership? well, i'm not sure that i have any concerns with his leadership. i think i have concerned by how he's being influenced from the white house. i'm not so sure that i understand all of the decisions that he's getting. for example, he came before the committee prior to the announcement of the space force and gave us one budget that clearly would not be adequate. he had to go back, get more information himself. so i just believe that a well-informed leader is necessary and we hope that he will continue to be one of those. host: wins the last time you were able to chat with the president or any of his key

advisors on these space issues that we've been talking about? >> i have not. i don't even know who they are. wonder if on i this 50th anniversary of the launch of apollo 11, you remember where you were for the moon landing. >> yes, i do remember. i was a nurse at the va hospital in dallas. all i remember the excitement of sputnik and then i followed closely what happened after that to see president kennedy and the establishment of this committee later that i'm now chair was very exciting back then and i think that it has continued to stimulate my because that was the one area that i have focused on since i began my career away from nursing and into public office.

host: congresswoman eddie bernice johnson is the chair of and technology committee. we appreciate your chatting with us this morning. just under 10 minutes left in our program. getting your thoughts in these final few minutes about the future of space policy. launch ofies of the the apollo 11 mission. that happened 50 years ago this morning. the moon landing happening on july 20 of 1969. in bethlehem, pennsylvania. go ahead. with the'm very happy space program. i hope they continue on with it. i've been watching a lot of these shows on the landing of the moon and so forth. i would like to see a little more honesty involved. i remember going to the space station and taking my children down there. i'm going to be 88 years old next year. i remember how they took the

german names off walls and replaced them with the nasa engineers who designed all of the stuff. that kind of bothers me a little bit that you would go to that extreme these shows aren't showing anything about the germans. they are the ones who brought the technology here to begin with. they should get a little applause or something. they are not even mentioned in these shows. over 13 department at masses at that time and each of those departments had a german and they were all exited from the country. they kicked them all out and took their homes away. these are the appreciation they got for putting us into space. i think that's disgusting and needs to be corrected. host: this is john out of san antonio, texas. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. planet x. future generations will be thankful for the space force.

host: why do you think that? >> there is something coming. there's a planet out there on a completely different rotation than all the rest in our solar system. it's well known and supposedly there is alien lifeforms coming with it so we will see. lake,paul out of crystal california. good morning. caller: thank you for your call. i'm not going to give you a long dissertation like some of those others did on space travel. i agree with a few of them but i feel strongly. i'm for space travel but i feel strongly that it should be funded by those who can afford it like the billionaires. so many of them have so much money they don't know what to do so they have their faucets in their homes and everything plated in gold so let them fund it. not by the people who can barely

make ends meet. and that's all i have to say. host: out of iowa, good morning. caller: good morning. what i think it gets overlooked is we are talking about $20 billion. less than one half of 1% of the federal budget. and even during the apollo push during the 1960's, the nasa of thenever reached 5% federal budget on a yearly basis. imagine where the united states and humanity would be if in the last four years we had tripled nasa's budget to spend in unbelievable some of perhaps two cents out of every dollar on space. we'd have probes littering the solar system. our knowledge would be so far advanced. and we are going to sit back and worry about what really in the long term is a small amount of

money in the overall picture for what we would gain from it. the congressman herself just noticed that we would get a five to one return. imagine what our return would be if we had made the investment in these past 40 years at two or three times the level that we did. about 21.5 billion dollars. just about .5% of the federal budget. this is some of the results from our recent polling survey on space issues and the future of space exploration. when it came to nasa's budget about 27% of respondents said that was too much. 20% said it was too little. about 53% said that was about the right amount of money to be spending in a fiscal year on nasa. ofeph is next out manchester, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm obviously a supporter of the

spacex program. i served in the united states marine corps for a little bit. just the fact that it's a national security problem should just kind of get the attention of everyone that it is really not. earlier withsed china's capabilities as far as future wars and how they will get fought. to not take a preemptive measure as far as getting our assets protected and how we can protect the american people i'm dumbfounded by the amount of people who just don't really see this for what it is. host: that's joseph in maryland. the house is getting ready to come in in just a minute or two here. that polling data we've been talking about is available on our website at c-span.org if you want to check out all of the polling numbers. we have been telling you a few of them this morning. you can check it out in its entirety at c-span.org. -- out ofat california, you are next.

caller: i remember. i was still in scotland. that's where i was born. remember everything about the apollo moon landing, it was amazing. states, the people that went into that, amazing. all the technology that came from that. herestunned that people don't appreciate the united states of america and everything the united states has done. the small country i come from, scotland and the u.k., it just amazes me this country. to 1969, didg back you think we would be further along into space and perhaps other planets by 2019? yes, i did.

but the astonishment when we saw on the the first step moon, it was just the most amazing amazing thing to see. in 19 69 growing up in scotland and then you come to america, though my god. to see others need countries and compare. this is the most wonderful country in the world. and i hope we continue and i enjoyed the congresswoman who is chairing the space program. and even her take, amazing. love all of it. was congresswoman eddie bernice johnson, democrat out of texas. carol is next out of texas as well. go ahead. definite supporter of the space program and i just wanted to comment that people

need to stay abreast of all the current issues. thisy has really mentioned morning that the manned capsule that would have been manned during one of the tests back in april exploded. and they lost the capsule and there was an article in the paper about how much they learned even though they lost the capsule. how much they learned from the explosion. so it's risky but it's worth it i think. nasa has received some confusing direction out of the white house because they began in 2017 by saying we want to go back to the moon and then just about eight weeks ago donald trump said why are we going back to the moon. they told himse to do it. they even hired an assistant director to oversee that project.

minutes. >> i want to welcome our witnesses and i'm hoping the separation between the witnesses doesn't indicate anything here. i wil