spacetoday.net: Glenn critical of new space agenda

Posted: Fri, Mar 5, 2004, 8:20 AM ET (1320 GMT)
Former astronaut and senator John Glenn told a presidential commission on Thursday that he disagreed with elements of the new space initiative that would cut research on the International Space Station. Glenn, speaking at a public hearing of the President's Commission on Moon, Mars, and Beyond held this week in Dayton, Ohio, said that NASA should continue a variety of research programs on the ISS. Under the new space initiative research on ISS would be coordinated to support exploration requirements, focusing almost exclusively on life sciences work. Cutting research in biotechnology and materials sciences, he warned, could hurt public support for NASA in general. Mounting missions to the Moon, he added, could become so expensive that it could be impossible for the nation to afford missions to Mars. The hearing, which ran for one and a half days, also included panels on education, Moon and asteroids research, the cooperation between NASA and the Defense Department.