lightfoot for being here this morning. this is my first nasa hearing so i'm especially pleased to hear your comments and testimony and i want you to know mr. chairman that coming from a state like alabama where you have massive facilities and you have a history of your economy may not think of new hampshire is a space state that we have our own claim to space. the first american in space alan shepard is from their new hampshire and of course the teacher in space krysta mcauliffe who died in the challenger accident was from answer printed was from mancher pic today new hampshire companies are helping to supply a nasa with technology to improve orbit in deep-space exploration. new hampshire is also a leader in space weather and designing building and operating major instruments on nasa's satellites to study solar systems. the new hampshire -- is helping undergraduates and graduate students with scholarships, fellowships and internships and other research grants and education programs like -- every state is space-based. unfor

lightfoot, over many decades virginia has developed an aerospace of excellence. we are the home of the state of the rocket boys, the start of the recent film hidden figures with catherine johnson and we are proud to have nasa independent verification and validation facility. [inaudible] our own west virginia university supports nasa and the asteroid redirect mission. it's hard to d believe we do all those things. i'd like to refer to this as an ecosystem of technology that supports one another, the region and the nation. this has been a result of hard work over the years. we are now carrying the torch and proud to be part of the nasa team and i trust we can work with you and your colleagues to continue to build and develop the capability for the benefit of this nation. while i am disappointed in the administration's decision to eliminate the nasa office of administration, i am puzzled at the explanation provided in your testimony that nasa will continue to inspire the next generation through its mission in many ways and that our work encourages discovery by learn

to governor abbott, senator cruz, to our great acting administrator in robert lightfoot. the director ellen ochoa and the nasa team at johnson space center. i can't tell you how privileged and honored i feel today to be able to congratulate the newest class of american heroes, the 2017 class of america's astronauts. these are 12 men and women whose personal excellence and personal courage will carry our nation to greater heights and discovery and who i know will inspire our children and grandchildren every bit as much as your forebearers have done so in this storied american program. and to this newest class of astronauts it's my honor to bring the sincere congratulations of the 45th president of the united states of america, president donald trump. [ applause ] your president is proud of you. and so am i. and president donald trump is firmly committed to nasa's noble mission, leading america in space. [ applause ] earlier this year after the signs of the first nasa authorization act in seven years, the president renewed in his words our national commitment to nasa's miss

you 12 have already distinguished yourself as administrator lightfoot just mentioned, more than 18,3000 people applied to be members of this 12-member class. smashing the previous record of 8,000 applicants which was set back in 1978. you are the 12 who made it through. you have joined the elites. you are the best of us. you carry on your shoulders the hopes and dreams of the american people. i would imagine that your families, many who are gathered here feel an almost inexpressable pride for you've been chosen to be astronauts. let's give these families another round of applause. [ applause ] >> you know, there's an old saying when you see a box turtle on a fence post, one thing you know for sure, he didn't get there on his own. i know for every one of you, those that are gathered here and those that are looking on have been there to lift you up to hold up your arms and bring you to this extraordinary moment in your life. you know, it's amazing to think what you all have accomplished so many millions of americans have dreamed about. they have. and they'll keep dreaming about it in gene

people come to detroit and this symbolizes the underground railroad when you have people like madison lightfoot going on and on for these pioneering abolitionist's many of them being quakers because william lambert had been schooled, educated and lived among the quakers in trenton new jersey and arrived in detroit. he was a main investor of the underground railroad. it was a process to get away from bondage and the so-called peculiar institution and end up in detroit. it symbolizes the people and when that act was passed they arrived from louisville kentucky and thought they found a safe refuge but with the passing of the slave act that meant you had to go a little further if so these people were looking across the detroit river to windsor and sometimes that wasn't far enough, you have to keep going to ontario or toronto and of course chat him later on would become a very profound community of abolitionists. it's beginning with william lambert and frederick douglass comes to detroit. the self-determination. it's the mystery they had a coding and they trained obese individuals on the underground

we have acting nasa director, robert lightfoot to fox business. acting?he full-time guy. >> we'll let somebody else make that decision. liz: i will weigh in and during a comment period. sir, i start off back in the day, i wasn't born, during the cold war the u.s. government had plan to blow up the moon to distract the russians or something like that. what is it you're going to change the color of the sky? how? >> we're putting sounding rockets have that smoke in them. they give us a way to look at the upper atmosphere in a different way. this is a system for us. part of our agenda advancing research, different ways collecting scientific knowledge we need to get. that is part of our chartering what we do. understanding the upper atmosphere, pretty exciting stuff, no worries for anybody. normal day's work for us with the sounding rockets. liz: no chance it might affect flocks of birds? >> no. we'll be fine. liz: i came from local news. we're always negative. >> they will be fine. liz: okay. but will you be fine? next year's budget, or this year's, i guess 2

. >> this year and will come to w order i'm pleased to welcome acting administrator -- lightfoot for the appropriations subcommittee hearing to examine nasa's fiscal year 2018 budgete2 requests.lightfoo mr. lightfoot and i worked together in his tenure as director of marshall spaceflights center in huntsville alabama. thank you for serving as nasa's leader during this time of change. i appreciate you joining us today. the administration has proposed a fiscal year 2018 budget of $19.1 billion for nasa which is a reduction of 2.9% for thecu current year. this cut is less than many other agencies experience is still reflects a significant reduction of $561 million.th this budget request attempts to navigate a challenging fiscal environment that would disrupt ongoing missions and delayre future exploration for years to come. there are proposals to cut science missions and to eliminate the entire educationsr director using the rationale that nasa could do without the programs under reduce budget. other research programs are left with insufficient financial resources which make it impossib

. >> reporter: acting administrator robert lightfoot appeared to agree. >> we want big companies.want small companies. we want everybody to come help us do this because this journey is hard. >> reporter: yet some basic differences still have to be resolved. a nasa safety group raised concerns about spacex's plans to fuel its rockets with humans on board after this explosion while fueling an unmanned rocket last year. mary lynn ditmar worries any disaster involving spacex could have larger implications for the future of space exploration. >> might people extrapolate from that, well, this is so dangerous nobody should be doing it? >> is there that danger? >> i think there is that danger. i would hope not. you know, i would hope that people wouldn't go down that road. but i do worry about it. >> reporter: spacex would not comment for this story. but elon musk has defended the fueling process and said the company's doing everything it can to minimize the risks. later this year spacex is planning to test a larger version of its falcon rocket, the one that will eventually carry tourists

. >>> ie lightfoot received her diploma yesterday. she got a standing ovation as she picked up other diploma. williams watched a live stream from her hospital room. her mother received the diploma on her behalf. >> i wish she could have been here. >> richard rojas killed a teen and injured others when he jumped the curb last month. >>> olive oil might help the symptoms of an incurable disease. >> nike is teaming up with amazon. they have agreed to sell some of its products on amazon as foot traffic at brick and mortar stores move online. >>> this shuttle will be making its way around the campus. >> reporter: there are no drivers. >> reporter: hitech game in japan might be the wildest sport you've ever seen. >> check it out. >> reporter: wow. it's basically robot sumo wrestling. the video so going viral after being posted online. >> those are tech bytes. >> reporter: have a great day. ♪ or♪ a thin twist on the ore♪ cookie you love. pain's kind of self-defining. not when it hurts, it hurts. when i can't do somhing, it makes me feel isol

acting a demonstrator robert lightfoot chair the committee to talk about the budget in future missions including a new space telescope a mars rover and proposed manned missions. senator richard shelby chairs the appropriations subcommittee on science.

this leads to what is known as the lightfoot brand strategy where we pull out our conventional -- forces in iraq and afghanistan might argue the results were catastrophic and we saw the results of isis and in afghanistan was the the larger territory that we had previously helped to take in libya are willingness to commit forces there. in yemen aren't this is on surgical strike results in the acoustic taking over and wiping out our special operations apparatus there. the last few slides here don't have any pictures and they are a little bit more of policy conclusions. i put them at the end so you were awake for the rest of the presentation but i will just cover these. these are some of the big takeaways from the book that are relevant to today. we have a new administration which like most does not have a particularly good understanding of the subject and it does have several senior military people who do understand the issues quite well. the first of the four main issues that the book covers is a question of presidential leadership and the first i want to make on that is presidents oftent

when you have people like william lambert, george baptiste, william webb, madison lightfoot. you can go on and on in terms of the pioneering abolitionists. they were joined at some extent by the white abolitionists. many of them being quakers. because william lambert had been schooled, educated and lived among the quakers when he left new jersey and arrived in detroit.for me he is in an phenomenal individual. he was one of the conductors of the underground railroad. when i talked about that in my class is the first thing in their mind is the "a" train or the "d" train. and i am like no! but this was a process.the byway in which these fugitive slaves can get away from bondage. get away from so-called peculiar institutions. and end up in detroit. citizen here, the sculpture symbolizes the people and certainly after 1850 we had the fugitive slave law, when the act was passed it meant that although, we have the blackburn case, the blackburn affair. his runaway fugitives arrived from louisville kentucky and thought they had found a safe refuge away from these bounty hunters. but w

to governor abbott, senator cruz, to our great acting administrator in robert lightfoot. the director ellen ochoa

. >> reporter: acting administrator robert lightfoot appears to agree. >> we want big companies, smallp us do this. the journey is hard. >> reporte differences stim have to be resolved. nasa is concerned with spacex's plans for fueling a rocket. marily lynne worries. >> do you think there is that danger. >> i think there is that danger. i would hope not. i would hope people don't go down that road, but i doware about it. >> space ex would not comment for this story, but elon musk has defended the fueling process and says the company is doing everything it can to minimize the risks. later this year space ex is planning to test the languager version of its falcon rocket, the one that will eventually carry tourists going around the moon. for "cbs this morning" i'm manuel bojorquez at the kennedy space center. >>> ahead, senator lindsey graham will weigh in on comey's anticipated testimony during the hearing. >>> and how save on the perfect father's day gift at >> announcer: this portion of "cbs this morning" sponsored by lowe's. 2-piece combo kit.<