dr. massimino, congress passed the last nasa authorization act in 2010 as i mentioned. this law continues to guide nasa as a multimission agency. and to quote that multimission from the statute quote, balanced and robust set of core commissions in science aeronaughtic -- aeronautic -- aeronautics, whatever that meant to whatever our country was -- whatever our country needed that it was important for us to try to contribute what we could. so you make the example of -- you mentioned earth observations, for example. well on the international space station, it was a great engineering project. international. amazing that this thing is up there, this great laboratory and we can do a lot of basic research up there. but in addition to that we're able to have this amazing perch in our planet for beautiful photos. i have not found any -- i would throw the challenge out there, do you find anything else that could inspire kids young people, to study those fields other than the space program, i haven't found it. it encompasses so many different areas, it excites them. it's somethin

dr. buzz aldrin, former nasa astronaut and apollo 11 pilot. and we have mr. michael massiminoformer astronaut and mission specialist for the space shuttle program. i thank you are taking time from your busy schedules to join us. we will begin with colonel cunningham's testimony. >> thank you sir. i appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts on what i believe our space program has been slipping in some of the things nasa must do to maintain america's lead in space exploration. while this is my personal opinion, it is shared by many contemporaries. some additional points are at my written testimony that i hope you will all breed. humans have always been driven to explore the unknown and open new frontiers. opening a new frontier demands three games. resources, technology and most important the will to do it. in 1960 when america was willing to take the risk of going to the minute when president kennedy made a commitment not a single american had yet been in orbit. the success was due to the collective effort of 400000 members of our team. engineers, operators, managers and

dr. massimino -- i put to rest my opening statement in the record. the congress passed the last nasa authorization act in 2010 if they mention. the plot continues to guide nasa as the multimission agency and to quote that from the statue, balanced and robust set of core commissions and science aeronautics and human spaceflight and acceleration. could you share your thoughts on the damages of the multimission agency which encompasses not just human spaceflight but also initiatives such as space-based operations of the earth. >> you know in my time is a master at their a lot of things going on in my country. we have military situations. we had economic effects. a lot of things have been. i got a sense as a government agent if we had resources that could help him whatever that meant to whatever our country made it it was important to try to contribute what we could. you mentioned earth observations, for example. on the international space station, it was a great project. it's amazing the thing is that they are. we can do a lot of basic research up there