From MS home page

On the invitation of Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Mars Society president Robert Zubrin will present testimony to the full Senate Commerce Committee of Oct. 29 on the subject of the future of the US space program. The hearing will begin Oct. 29 at 9:30 AM in Russell Senate Office Bldg room 253. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and former Associate Administrator for Space Science Wes Huntress will also be testifying.

Zubrin's invitation to testify follows a series of meetings that Mars Society members have conducted with Congressmen and Senatorial staff all over the nation, asking for a destination-driven space program with Mars as its goal. In contacting Dr. Zubrin, Senator's McCain's staff also expressed great interest in the arguments presented by the Mars Society president in his op-ed "Two Roads for NASA," published in the Oct. 6 issue of space News and reprinted below.

[Inserted Note: I made the oped title an active link.]

In his testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee, Zubrin intends to forcefully present the arguments in the "Two Roads" op-ed, and then show the committee a plan for a dynamic, cost-effective, destination- driven NASA that fully realizes the hopes of the American people for an agency that really opens the space frontier.

Commenting on his plans for the hearing, Zubrin said, "I intend to make my testimony count."

Press interest in the hearing is extremely high. Several major news agencies have already contacted the Mars Society to find out more about what will be said, and indicated that they plan to cover the event.

Regards,
Mark

PS Told you we should have elected McCain instead of Bush ;-)