The formal jurisdiction of the Committee on Science and Astronautics included outer space, both exploration and control, astronautical research and development, scientific research and development, science scholarships, and legislation relating to scientific agencies, especially the National Bureau of Standards, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Council and the National Science Foundation.

The committee retained this jurisdiction from 1959 until the end of the 93rd Congress in 1974. While the committee's original emphasis in 1959 was almost exclusively astronautics, over this 15year period the emphasis and workload expanded to encompass scientific research and development in general.

In 1974, a Select Committee on Committees, after extensive study, recommended several changes to the organization of the House in H. Res. 988, including expanding the jurisdiction of the Committee on Science and Astronautics, and changing its name to the Committee on Science and Technology.

To the general realm of scientific research and development was added energy, environmental, atmospheric, and civil aviation R&D. In addition, the new committee was given jurisdiction over the National Weather Service.

In addition to these legislative functions, the Committee on Science and Technology was assigned a "special oversight" function, giving it the exclusive responsibility among all Congressional standing committees to review and study, on a continuing basis, all laws, programs and government activities involving Federal nonmilitary research and development.

In 1977, with the abolition of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, the committee was further assigned jurisdiction over civilian nuclear research and development thereby mounting out its jurisdiction for all civilian energy R&D.

A committee's jurisdiction gives it both a mandate and a focus. It is, however, the committee's chairman that gives it a unique character. The Committee on Science and Technology has had the good fortune to have five very talented and distinctly different chairmen, each very creative in his own way in directing the committee's activities.

Congressman Overton Brooks was the Science and Astronautics Committee's first chairman, and was a tireless worker on the committee's behalf for the two and one-half years he served as chair

man.

When Brooks convened the first meeting of the new committee in January of 1959, committee Member Ken Hechler recailed, "There was a sense of destiny, a tingle of realization that every member was embarking on a voyage of discovery, to learn about the unknown, to point powerful telescopes toward the cosmos and unlock secrets of the universe, and to take part in a great experiment." With that spirit the committee began its work.

Brooks worked to develop closer ties between the Congress and the scientific community. On February 2, 1959, opening the first of ficial hearing of the new committee Chairman Brooks said, "Although perhaps the principal focus of the hearings for the next several days will be on astronautics, it is important to recognize that this committee is concerned with scientific research across the

board." And so, from the beginning, the committee was concerned with the scope of its vision.

Overton Brooks died of a heart attack in September of 1961, and the chairmanship of the committee was assumed by Congressman George Miller of California.

Miller, a civil engineer, was unique among Members of Congress who rarely come to the legislature with a technical or scientific background. He had a deep interest in science, and his influence was clearly apparent in the broadening of the charter of the National Science Foundation and the establishment of the Office of Technology Assessment. He pioneered in building strong relationships with leaders of science in other nations. This work developed the focus for a new subcommittee established during his chairmanship, known as the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Development.

Just a few months before Miller became Chairman, President John F. Kennedy announced to a joint session of Congress the national commitment to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade. Thus, during Miller's 11-year tenure as chairman, the committee directed its main efforts toward the development of the space program.

Chairman Miller was not reelected in the election of 1972, so in January of 1973, Olin E. Teague of Texas took over the helm of the committee. Teague, a man of directness and determination, was a highly decorated hero of the second World War. He was a longstanding Member of Congress and Chairman of the Veterans Committee before taking over the chairmanship of the Science and Technology Committee.

Throughout the 1960's and early 1970's, Teague chaired the Science Committee's Manned Space Flight Subcommittee, and in that capacity firmly directed the efforts to send a man to the moon.

As chairman of the committee, Teague placed heavy emphasis on educating the Congress and the public on the practical value of space. He also prodded NASA to focus on the industrial and human applications of the space program.

One of Teague's first decisions as chairman was to set up a subcommittee on energy. During his six-year leadership of the committee, energy research and development became a major part of the committee's responsibilities.

In 1976, Chairman Teague saw the fruition of three years of intensive committee work to establish a permanent presence for science in the White House. The Office of Science and Technology Policy was established with a Director who would also serve as the President's Science Advisor.

Throughout his leadership, he voiced constant concern that the complicated technical issues the committee considered be expressed in clear and simple terms so that Members of Congress, as well as the general public, would understand the issues.

After six years as Chairman, Teague retired from the committee and the Congress due to serious health problems. He was succeeded by Don Fuqua, a representative from northern Florida.

Fuqua became Chairman on January 24, 1979, at the beginning of the 96th Congress and was the youngest Member to succeed to the committee's chairmanship.

Don Fuqua came to the Congress after two terms in the Florida State Legislature and was, at age 29, the youngest Democrat in Congress when he was elected in 1962.

Fuqua's experience on the committee dated back to the first day of his Congressional service. Since 1963, he had served as a Member of the Committee's Manned Space Flight Subcommittee. When Olin Teague became chairman of the committee in 1973, Fuqua took Teague's place as chairman of the subcommittee.

As the subcommittee chairman he was responsible for major development decisions on the Space Shuttle and the successful Apollo-Soyuz link-up in space between American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts. Later, the subcommittee's responsibility was expanded to cover all other NASA activities and was renamed the Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications.

As Chairman of the committee, Fuqua's leadership could be seen in the expansion of committee activities to include technological innovation, science and math education, materials policy, robotics, technical manpower, and nuclear waste disposal. He worked to strengthen the committee's ties with the scientific and technical communities to assure that the committee was kept abreast of current developments, and could better plan for the future.

During the 99th Congress, the Sceince and Technology Committee, under Fuqua's chairmanship, carried out two activities of special note.

The first was the initiation of a study of the nation's science policy encompassing the 40-year period between the end of the second World War and the present. The intent was to identify strengths and weaknesses in our nation's science network. At the end of the 99th Congress, Chairman Fuqua issued a personal compilation of essays and recommendations on American science and science policy issues in the form of a Chairman's Report.

The second activity was a direct outgrowth of the Space Shuttle "Challenger" accident of January 28, 1986. As part of the committee's jurisdictional responsibility over all the NASA programs and policies, a steering group of committee Members, headed by Congressman Robert Roe, the ranking Majority Member, conducted an intensive investigation of the Shuttle accident. The committee's purpose and responsibility were not only the specific concern for safe and effective functioning of the Space Shuttle program, but the larger objective of insuring that NASA, as the nation's civilian space agency, maintain organizational and programmatic excellence across the board.

Chairman Fuqua announced his retirement from the House of Representatives at the termination of the 99th Congress. He served 24 years on the Committee on Science and Technology and 8 years as its chairman.

Congressman Robert A. Roe of New Jersey, a long-time Member of the Committee, became its new Chairman at the beginning of the 100th Congress. With this fifth Chairman, the Committee was once again presided over by an individual with professional technical expertise. Congressman Roe was trained as an engineer and brought that broad knowledge and understanding to bear on the Committee's issues from the first day of his tenure.

Congressman Roe's first official act as Chairman was to request a change in the Committee's name from the Committee on Science and Technology to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. This change was designed not only to reflect the Committee's broad space jurisdiction, but also to convey the importance of space exploration and development to the Nation's future.

In the 100th Congress, under Chairman Roe's stewardship, the Committee kept close scrutiny over NASA's efforts to redesign and reestablish the Space Shuttle program. The successful launch of the Shuttle Discovery in September, 1988 marked America's return to space after 32 months without launch capability.

Both the vulnerability of having the nation's launch capability concentrated singularly in the Space Shuttle, and the rapid increase of foreign competition in commercial space activities, precipitated strong Committee action to help ensure the competitive posture of the nation's emerging commercial launch industry.

Chairman Roe's leadership to stabilize and direct the nation's space program led to the Committee's first phase of multi-year authorizations for research and development programs with the advert of 3 year funding levels for the Space Station.

Within the national movement to improve America's technological competitiveness, Chairman Roe headed the Committee's initiative to expand and redefine the mission of the National Bureau of Standards in order for it to aid American industry in meeting global technological challenges.

1

The Science Committee has a long tradition of alerting the Congress and the nation to new scientific and technological opportunities that have potential to create dramatic economic or societal change. Among these have been recombinant DNA research and supercomputer technology. In the 100th Congress, Members of the Committee included the new breakthroughs in superconductivity research in this category.

Now named the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (P.L. 100-48, Title V, Part B, Subpart A, Sections 5111 through 5163, enacted August 23, 1988.)

COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP, 100TH CONGRESS, 1987-1988

ROBERT A. ROE, New Jersey, Chairman

*Serving on the Committee on the Budget, 100th Congress.