O'Keefe endorsed the idea that NASA needs to prove, over the next year or two, that it can rein in costs in the human spaceflight program. Only then should it be allowed to expand the space station to its original planned configuration.
O'Keefe spent much of the hearing fending off probing questions from Nelson and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), who have NASA centers in their home states.
Nelson advised O'Keefe not to view NASA with the "mind-set of OMB," and Hutchison declared, "I don't think the leader of NASA can be just a budget-cutter."
O'Keefe agreed that it would be a "tragedy" if the station couldn't achieve its goals in scientific research, but made no promises.
"Let's getthe house in order, the basics in order," he said.
Many people within NASA want to go the other direction and proclaim a new, bold objective that will create excitement about the space program after the space station is completed. At the moment, NASA doesn't even have a planned replacement for the aging space shuttle fleet. China, meanwhile, has plans to start a human spaceflight program with an eventual goal of returning humans to the moon, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Friday during O'Keefe's hearing.
Sieck, the former launch director at the cape, said the country needs "another great adventure" in space: "Mars is the next logical step."
But even some space advocates say it's the wrong time to talk about going to Mars.
"With our present national circumstance, sending people to Mars seems like a dream," said Pat Dasch, executive director of the National Space Society. "It just seems like an indulgence to even think about it at the moment."
At the close of Friday's hearing, Nelson asked O'Keefe an open-ended question: "What is your vision?"
O'Keefe spoke for several minutes about "prudent management principles," reinvigorating "the entrepreneurial spirits" of NASA, the importance of collaboration with other elements of the federal government, the need to be mindful of safety and the possibility of taking advantage of this moment when NASA is at a crossroads.
He did not mention space.
