Today I had the pleasure of visiting Rocket City during the rollout of President Obama's FY2013 budget. The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. has had that name for many years, and it's no wonder. The rockets powering Americans to the moon were built and test fired there. The space shuttle Enterprise rattled the center’s dynamic test stand to undergo essential structural tests before the space shuttle’s first flight. And now Marshall will help launch us farther into space than we’ve ever gone before, ushering in the next great era of exploration.

The president has presented a $17.7 billion budget for NASA – which allows for a vital and stable space program across the full spectrum of NASA's work. It is a budget that allows us to reach for new heights, while creating jobs right here on Earth.

Like all of NASA's centers, Marshall is involved in many aspects of NASA’s mission. It manages ISS science operations and technology development projects that will be essential to our next accomplishments in space. The Center designs, develops, integrates, tests, and fields the full range of human and robotic systems for space exploration.

Marshall will play a key role in our efforts to reach deep space, as it is where the Space Launch System, our deep space rocket to carry astronauts and the Orion crew vehicle to destinations like asteroids and Mars, will be designed and tested.

NASA's future is based on innovation, and Marshall will be bringing its expertise to bear on some of the cutting edge challenges of our next missions. Working on things like large, composite cryogenic propellant tanks, technology demonstration missions and management of the Centennial Challenges, which continues to harness the inventiveness and entrepreneurial spirit of scientists and engineers across the globe to help us develop the capabilities we'll need to go farther into the solar system.

So it was an honor to share the day with my colleagues at Marshall and hear from the center's workforce. Every day they're making tomorrow's space program happen. Launching right from Alabama to the stars.

The NASA budget and supporting information are available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/budget

Earlier today, I visited one of NASA’s most successful small business partners, Aurora Flight Sciences in Manassas, Virginia to get an up close and personal look at what can be achieved when government and industry work together to achieve big things, enhance American competitiveness, and create jobs.

Founded in 1989 by John Langford and a small team of aeronautics researchers from MIT, Aurora now employs about 400 people and has become a national leader in the design and manufacture of robotic and other advanced aerospace vehicles for both scientific and military applications.   This company is an example of the entrepreneurial spirit and innovative know-how that is key to ensuring American leadership and prosperity in the global economy of the 21^st century.

Almost from its start, Aurora has partnered with us at NASA on a number of projects involving innovative future aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicle technology and the SPHERES satellite test bed.  During my visit, I was treated to a ground-based demonstration of the company’s new Centaur Optionally Piloted Aircraft, which has the capability of flying either with a human crew or in robotic mode.

All of us at NASA are proud of our role in advancing these technologies and contributing to the growth of this dynamic company.  We are excited by the part Aurora will play as we all work together with the FAA to create America’s Next Generation aeronautics system, the goal of which is to enhance the safety and reliability of air transportation, improve efficiency in the

National Airspace System, and reduce aviation’s impact on our environment. 

Finally, let me say, as the President also pointed out the other night, we must do more to ensure that high-tech companies like Aurora have the right workers with the right skills to maintain their momentum and remain competitive going forward.  Today, growing companies in science and technology have twice as many openings as they have workers who can do the job.  That is why the President has proposed more partnerships between high-tech companies and community colleges to train 2 million Americans for the jobs of today and tomorrow.  And it is why he and NASA are such strong supporters of science, technology, engineering and math – or the STEM disciplines – in our nation’s classrooms.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama laid out a blueprint for accelerating the nation’s economic recovery.  His vision for what he called, “an America Built to Last,” begins with American manufacturing.  He has proposed a number of incentives to help businesses grow, create jobs and succeed right here in America – especially small businesses that are leading the development of new technologies.

Based on what I saw today at Aurora, the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that made this country great is alive and well in Manassas, Virginia.

I recently joined community leaders from Florida at the White House for a discussion about steps the Obama Administration and NASA are taking to improve the economy of the Space Coast. Kennedy Space Center and the entire Space Coast have been synonymous with NASA’s historic 30-year Shuttle program as well as America’s first 50 years of human space flight. And with the ambitious plan the Administration and Congress have laid out for NASA, the Space Coast will remain a critical part of America’s space program.

The President has made three recent decisions that have set NASA and the Space Coast on a path of innovation, leadership, economic development and jobs well into the future.

First, at the President’s direction we are developing a new heavy lift rocket that will take our astronauts farther into space than ever before. Along with the work already occurring on a new deep space crew vehicle, this represents a milestone moment in NASA history.

We are now poised to take the next great leap into deep space exploration while at the same time creating good-paying U.S. jobs, and providing the cornerstone for America’s future human spaceflight efforts for decades to come.

Second, the President has extended the life of the International Space Station until at least 2020. This will support jobs in Central Florida for processing equipment and supplies for the ISS as well as future launches for cargo and crew.

And third, the Administration’s decision to turn transport of astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station over to commercial crew partners is already beginning to reap big dividends for the Space Coast. NASA announced in October a partnership with Space Florida to lease part of the Kennedy Space Center facilities to Boeing to build commercial space craft there and create 550 jobs.

At the President’s direction, we are engaging American companies in this work so that NASA can focus on what we do best – developing the next generation rocket and capsule systems for human space flights to deep space destinations where we have never been before.

Links:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/sls1.html

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/oct/HQ_11-349_KSC_Agreement.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/pressroom/04152010

As families across the country trim their budgets during these lean economic times, President Obama is also challenging the federal government to do the same through the SAVE Award – Securing Americans’ Value and Efficiency. The SAVE Award demonstrates that it’s not the responsibility of just one person or one agency to watch over taxpayer dollars – it’s an effort shared by each federal employee.

At NASA, we place a high value on operating efficiently and effectively so it’s no surprise that one of our employees’ initiatives has earned a spot in the 2011 SAVE Awards “Final Four” and now the American public has the opportunity to decide which one will be presented to President Obama.

Matthew Ritsko, a financial manager at Goddard Space Flight Center, has proposed creating a centralized tool crypt that will allow projects to "check out" tools for constructing instruments and spacecraft.

President Barack Obama signs an Executive Order to cut waste and
promote efficient spending across the federal government in the Oval
Office, Nov. 9, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

New tools are purchased for projects and experiments constantly at NASA; since projects have a finite time-span, once the project ends, the tool is no longer needed until a future program requires it. Without a tracking system, the tool may not get utilized. Ritsko’s proposal is to create a centralized area where tools can be checked in and out at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

This proposal is estimated to save NASA and taxpayers $1 million.

I also joined President Obama today for the signing of an Executive Order that will cut waste and promote more efficient spending across the federal government. Overall spending in the areas covered by the Executive Order will be reduced by 20 percent, saving billions.

Congratulations to Matthew Ritsko for his innovative idea and for representing NASA!

On any given day at NASA, I might run into an astronaut or a Senator or maybe even a Nobel Prize winning scientist. This morning, I attended an event at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore which featured all of the above: a former Shuttle astronaut, a United States Senator and not one, but three Nobel Prize winners. But the star of the show was NASA’s Webb Telescope, now in development, which will be the successor to the Hubble Telescope and the most powerful space telescope ever built. The occasion was the ribbon cutting of a new permanent Maryland Science Center exhibit of the Webb Telescope and the viewing of a full-size replica of the Webb which was perched outside the Museum’s front door.

On hand for the ceremony were Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski; Jeff Grant, Vice President and General Manager of Northrop Grumman Space Systems Division, the Webb Telescope builder; and John Grunsfeld of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the science operations center for both the Hubble and Webb Telescopes. John is a former NASA astronaut who some have called the “Chief Hubble Repairman” for this three shuttle missions to service the Hubble Telescope.

Also in attendance were three NASA-affiliated Nobel Prize recipients who have played leading roles in the advancement of space telescope science. They are Riccardo Giacconi, recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics and the first director of STScI; John Mather, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics who is the Webb Telescope senior project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Adam Riess, recipient of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics and a senior member of STScI. Prior to the event, I was pleased to present Dr. Riess with NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in recognition of his outstanding contributions to space science. Dr. Riess used the Hubble Space Telescope to prove the existence of dark energy.

But, again, the real star of the event was the Webb Telescope. It will be 100 times more powerful than Hubble. While Hubble helped rewrite science textbooks as we uncovered vast new areas of knowledge and witnessed phenomena never seen before, Webb will reveal even more of the unknown from its vantage point a million miles above the earth. It will help find the first galaxies that formed the early universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. And it will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems

As I reminded those in attendance, science remains integral to NASA’s future. In just the past few months, we’ve launched missions to Jupiter and the moon. We’ll launch a new Earth-observing satellite this Friday. And in November, the Curiosity rover will be on its way to Mars.

Those are just a few of NASA’s newest science missions. Many others are already in orbit around the Earth.

It is also important to remember that while these missions occur in space, the investments made, and the jobs created to support these missions, happen right here on Earth.

Earlier today, I spoke with a group of women and men who are helping to write the next chapter in human space exploration, creating jobs and opening up endless possibilities for our economy. Innovators and entrepreneurs from around the nation came together this week at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to learn from each other and share ideas about how we can more effectively advance commercial spaceflight.

To reach for new heights and explore farther into our solar system than we have ever before, we are handing off transportation to the International Space Station to the private sector. This will allow NASA to concentrate on developing the deep space capabilities necessary to send humans to an asteroid and Mars. It also will support the creation of American jobs and bring the launches of our astronauts back to U.S. soil. At NASA, we’re committed to having American companies send our astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station, rather than continuing to outsource this work to foreign governments.

According to a recent study by the Federal Aviation Administration, commercial space transportation and enabling industries generated $208 billion in economic activity and employed more than 1 million people in 2009, with earnings exceeding $53 billion. That economic impact is only expected to grow.

At NASA, we’re doing our part to help develop this industry, one that until recently largely had been seen as science fiction, but now stands poised to open up this new frontier and transform the space exploration business. That’s good for space exploration – and good for the American economy.

With our space priorities established, NASA is focusing our programs to create a future filled with new achievements, including the area of commercial spaceflight, allowing us to take the next leap in deep space exploration while creating good-paying U.S. jobs.

This week, NASA signed an agreement with the US Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office to establish common criteria for certification of commercial providers of launch vehicles used for national security space and civil space missions. The new certification strategy is the latest step in a cooperative effort by the Air Force, NASA and NRO to take advantage of new launch capability for the three agencies' missions. This agreement also supports President Obama’s recent directive that executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves.

NASA has been a leader in building innovative ways to purchase commercial launches of our science payloads, and at the same time, helping grow the American launch sector. This agreement means that we will share a common framework and language for communicating expectations to new launch service providers. We believe this common strategy will make it easier for new providers to enter the launch market, while maintaining the high safety standards for government missions.

A strong commercial launch sector is critical to our country’s economy, just as a reliable, safe launch capability is critical to civil and national security space missions.

NASA has a successful history of purchasing launch vehicles from commercial providers for science payloads. While we have different mission requirements than our colleagues at the NRO and USAF, our need for reliable launch vehicles is the same. Together we are building on common experience to create a framework that will help us work with new launch providers, and create an American-built space sector that leads the world in launch capabilities.