Author: Administrator Charles Bolden

Today I had the privilege of sharing some time with the dedicated workforce at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. As the command center for our human spaceflight missions – and of course that means the centerpiece of our activities, the International Space Station — Johnson has had a critical role in the many accomplishments of humans living, working and discovering in space. The next chapter of America’s space exploration story is being written today, and Johnson will be on the front lines of that as well.

Johnson Center Director Mike Coats and the entire Johnson team are absolutely dedicated to America’s human spaceflight program. They train our astronauts, support our missions, test our crew capsules keep our nation at the forefront of space exploration.

Mike and I visited a mockup of the Orion Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) on which Johnson is working. Orion represents the next great step to destinations farther into the solar system. Powered by the Space Launch System we unveiled recently, Orion will take our astronauts farther into space than ever before, create high-quality jobs here at home and provide the cornerstone for America’s future human space exploration efforts.

In fact, nationwide, the MPCV represents about 2,700 total jobs. Right in Houston that translates to about 1,200 jobs, made up of 400 civil servants and 800 contractors. Combined with the extension of the ISS to at least 2020, mission control in Houston is going to be humming along for a very long time.

I was privileged to be a shuttle commander and there will be many more space explorers to follow. People who are passionate about space, who have been there or who want to go. Who know a lot about the challenges and risks and are there for their colleagues 24/7 as we work to do the big things for which NASA is known, and face the steep challenges of living and working in space that only those who are involved in it can truly appreciate it.

That’s just one of the many valuable things that Johnson has given NASA and the nation.

And as I stood beside Orion, the tangible representation of our future, it reaffirmed my optimism that our best days are ahead. That the excitement of our next destinations will inspire a new generation of explorers, and keep some of us who have been around for a while, working hard and sharing our expertise for a few more years yet as this next grand adventure gets off the ground.

I was proud to fly on the shuttle, but thanks to the efforts of the dedicated professionals at Johnson, tomorrow’s explorers will dream of one day walking on Mars.

So today I salute the Johnson workforce, and all they have done to keep the bigger goals in mind, using the strength and momentum of their long and wonderful history, and the determination they have always exhibited to make America the worldwide leader in space exploration.

For more information about the Orion MPCV, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/orion

If there’s any doubt that the Space Coast will continue to be open for business, that thought was drowned out by the roar of the latest NASA launch from Florida. NASA’s GRAIL spacecraft, the second major mission to launch from Florida since the final space shuttle flight in July, is on its way to the moon – and it carries the hopes and dreams of a nation with it.

On August 5, NASA launched Juno from Florida on its five-year journey to Jupiter. In November, we will launch the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), Curiosity, a rover that will help us evaluate the likelihood that life has ever existed on Mars and serve as a precursor to a future human mission to the Red Planet. The vast amount of information that GRAIL sends us will be mined by scientists and students for decades to come. With these and many other exciting upcoming missions, it’s clear that NASA is taking its next big leap into deep space exploration, and the space industry continues to provide the jobs and workers needed to support this critical effort.

GRAIL and MSL created good-paying American jobs. More than 3000 people nationwide were employed just on these two missions alone, from spacecraft design and processing through ground operations and ongoing mission management after the spacecraft reach their destinations.

As President Obama looks for ways to put America back to work, NASA continues to be an engine of job growth and economic opportunity. The President has repeatedly stressed that the only way for America to win the future is to out innovate, out educate, and out build our global competitors. Those three goals have been central to NASA’s mission from the beginning. We continue to stretch the boundaries of science and the possible. Our partnerships to educate the next generation of scientists and engineers — to support the jobs of tomorrow — are growing. And our collaborations with private industry are enhancing our ability to design and build the most technologically advanced spacecraft in the world to explore new destinations and take humans farther into space.

The GRAIL mission exemplifies that potential. As GRAIL was being prepared for launch, I visited with the people who were making it possible – the engineers, scientists, mission planners and frontline workers. GRAIL was built by Lockheed Martin, and it is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The mission’s principal investigator comes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. AstroTech, a company in Titusville, Florida, processed the spacecraft and ensured it was ready for its dramatic launch, and United Launch Alliance made sure GRAIL had a textbook ride to orbit on its Delta II rocket.

GRAIL is only the latest in a long line of NASA programs that have brought jobs and opportunity to local communities all across this nation. From California to Florida, the space industry is strong and growing. With the bold new course we are on, that growth will only continue.

For more than 50 years, communities that have partnered with NASA have been the launch pads of American imagination, exploration, and innovation. Our greatest technological breakthroughs and scientific discoveries have been made possible by people who might be your next-door neighbors. And as we invest in space, it is critical to remember that the money we spend to get there is actually spent here on Earth. GRAIL will tell us about the moon’s gravity fields and how our near neighbor formed, from crust to core. That will help us understand our solar system a little better, and help inspire the next generation of exploration leaders. But right here in our back yard, it’s also one more dynamic way that NASA is creating jobs and economic growth.

For more information about GRAIL, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/grail

 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, stands in front of the Atlas V first stage booster while taking questions from the media, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011, at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The booster will help send NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover to Mars later this year. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

We were reminded today, in dramatic fashion, that NASA is still open for business and leading the world in space exploration. At 12:25 p.m. EDT, we launched the Juno spacecraft from the Space Coast of Florida on its five-year journey to Jupiter, putting NASA on a mission to yet another new frontier. Our future in space exploration is bright and holds many such cutting-edge science missions that will help us better understand our solar system and an ever-increasing array of challenging destinations where humans might travel.

Juno will speed past our moon in less than a single day before it begins its trek of 1,740 million miles to reach the largest planet in our solar system. Those astounding distances and speeds are hard for us to fathom, but they are the kind of numbers our dedicated scientists and navigators work with every day to get the job done.

Juno will orbit Jupiter’s poles 33 times. Its color camera will provide unprecedented close-up images of the planet, including the first detailed glimpse of the planet’s poles. Juno’s eight science instruments will peer through our mysterious neighbor’s atmosphere and tell us more about what goes on in its atmosphere and magnetosphere. They’ll also help us determine if there is a solid core to this gas giant.

Juno will power its systems using solar energy. This is the farthest out we’ve yet sent a spacecraft using this type of energy source. It’s just one of many things we’ll be looking at as we make the most of the spacecraft’s journey to help refine technology for future exploration missions.

With its four large moons and numerous smaller ones, Jupiter is like its own miniature solar system and, indeed, it could have become a star if it had been larger, since it shares a similar composition.

The largest planet in our neighborhood is about to reveal its secrets, and everything Juno finds will help us understand more about the origins and evolution of our solar system. This is exciting stuff. The kind of thing that inspires young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The kind of thing that NASA has become known for — and the kind of thing we’re going to keep doing for decades to come.

NASA has many more exciting missions coming up just in the next six months, to the moon and Mars, and to study our own planet in even more depth. In addition, we’ll be bringing American companies on-line to transport cargo and crews to the International Space Station, and developing a new heavy lift rocket and capsule to explore deep space. We have started a remarkable new chapter in our nation’s story of exploration; enjoy the journey.

Keep tabs on Juno’s progress and the sights it sees along the way at:

https://www.nasa.gov/juno

 

 

An Atlas V rocket launches with the Juno spacecraft payload from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday, August 5, 2011. The Juno spacecraft will make a five-year, 400-million-mile voyage to Jupiter, orbit the planet, investigate its origin and evolution with eight instruments to probe its internal structure and gravity field, measure water and ammonia in its atmosphere, map its powerful magnetic field and observe its intense auroras.  Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

 

At today’s final landing of the space shuttle, we had the rare opportunity to witness history. We turned the page on a remarkable era and began the next chapter in our nation’s extraordinary story of exploration.

The brave astronauts of STS-135 are emblematic of the shuttle program. Skilled professionals from diverse backgrounds who propelled America to continued leadership in space with the shuttle’s many successes. It is my great honor today to welcome them home.

I salute them and all of the men and women who have flown shuttle missions since the very first launch on April 12, 1981.

The shuttle program brought our nation many firsts. Many proud moments, some of which I was privileged to experience myself as a Shuttle commander. I was proud to be part of the shuttle program and will carry those experiences with me for the rest of my life.

As we move forward, we stand on the shoulders of these astronauts and the thousands of people who supported them on the ground – as well as those who cheered their triumphs and mourned their tragedies.

This final shuttle flight marks the end of an era, but today, we recommit ourselves to continuing human space flight and taking the necessary – and difficult – steps to ensure America’s leadership in human spaceflight for years to come.

I want to send American astronauts where we’ve never been before by focusing our resources on exploration and innovation, while leveraging private sector support to take Americans to the International Space Station in low Earth orbit.

With the bold path President Obama and Congress have set us on, we will continue the grand tradition of exploration.

Children who dream of being astronauts today may not fly on the space shuttle . . . but, one day, they may walk on Mars. The future belongs to us. And just like those who came before us, we have an obligation to set an ambitious course and take an inspired nation along for the journey.

I’m ready to get on with the next big challenge.

The future is bright for human spaceflight and for NASA. American ingenuity is alive and well. And it will fire up our economy and help us win the future, but only if we dream big and imagine endless possibilities. That future begins today.

Click above to see my message about today’s final space shuttle launch and what’s ahead for NASA.

 

 

Next week, NASA will launch its final Space Shuttle mission, turning the page on a remarkable period in America’s history in space, while beginning the next chapter in our nation’s extraordinary story of exploration.

From the early exploits of Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark and Robert Peary to the breakthrough journeys of Alan Shepard and John Glenn, Americans have always been a curious people – bold enough to imagine new worlds, ingenious enough to chart a course to them and courageous enough to go for it. And the gifts of knowledge and innovation that we have brought back from the unknown have played their part in the building of our more perfect union.

Some say that our final Shuttle mission will mark the end of America’s 50 years of dominance in human spaceflight. As a former astronaut and the current NASA Administrator, I want to tell you that American leadership in space will continue for at least the next half-century because we have laid the foundation for success – and here at NASA failure is not an option.

President Obama has given us a Mission with a capital “M” — to focus again on the big picture of exploration and the crucial research and development that will be required for us to move beyond low Earth orbit. He’s charged us with carrying out the inspiring missions that only NASA can do, which will take us farther than we’ve ever been – to orbit Mars and eventually land on it. He’s asked us to start planning a mission to an asteroid, and right now our Dawn spacecraft is approaching one of the biggest in the solar system, Vesta. What it finds out could help inform such a mission.

The President is asking us to harness that American spirit of innovation, the drive to solve problems and create capabilities that is so embedded in our story and has led us to the Moon, to great observatories, and to humans living and working in space, possibly indefinitely. That American ingenuity is alive and well, and it will fire up our economy and help us create and win the future now.

So when I hear people say – or listen to media reports – that the final Shuttle flight marks the end of U.S. human spaceflight, I have to say… these folks must be living on another planet. We are not ending human space flight, we are recommitting ourselves to it and taking the necessary – and difficult – steps today to ensure America’s pre-eminence in human spaceflight for years to come.

I spent 14 years at NASA before leaving and then returning to head the agency. Some of the people I respect most in the world are my fellow astronauts. Some of my best friends died flying on the shuttle. I’m not about to let human spaceflight go away on my watch. And I’m not going to let it flounder because we pursued a path that we couldn’t sustain.

We have to get out of the business of owning and operating low Earth orbit transportation systems and hand that off to the private sector, with sufficient oversight to ensure the safety of our astronauts. American companies and their spacecraft should send our astronauts to the ISS, rather than continuing to outsource this work to foreign governments. That is what I am committed to and that is what we are going to do.

Along with supporting the ISS and commercial crew transportation, NASA will pursue two critical building blocks for our deep space exploration future — a deep space crew vehicle and an evolvable heavy-lift rocket. As you know, we have made a decision to base the new multi-purpose crew vehicle, or MPCV – our deep space crew module — on the original work we’ve done on the Orion capsule. We’re nearing a decision on the heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS, and will announce that decision soon.

Our destinations for humans beyond Earth remain ambitious. They include: the Moon, asteroids, and Mars. The debate is not if we will explore, but how we’ll do it. The International Space Station is the centerpiece of our human space flight for the coming decade. Every research investigation and all of the systems that keep the ISS operational help us figure out how to explore farther from our planet and improve life here.

And we have a huge number of amazing science missions coming up. We’ll advance aeronautics research to create a safer, more environmentally friendly and efficient air travel network.

NASA is moving forward and making change because the status quo is no longer acceptable. President Obama has outlined an urgent national need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build our competitors and create new capabilities that will take us farther into the solar system and help us learn even more about our place in it. NASA is ready for this grand challenge.

As we go into this Independence Day holiday weekend, my thoughts are on what it means to be an American and this great responsibility we have to our country. For those of us in public service, it is a commitment to serve our country. Thank you for your work and your dedication; we would not have this amazing, American space program if it were not for people like you. Have a wonderful and safe holiday and may God bless America!

We live in a time of tight budgets. As responsible stewards of public resources, it is vitally important that we, as a federal agency, do our part to live within our means.

Most of us go through our personal budgets with a fine-tooth comb, looking for ways to cut waste and make our dollars go further. That’s what the federal government is doing right now. President Obama spoke today about the kinds of wasteful spending we should look to eliminate. You can watch the video here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/06/13/video-president-obama-and-vice-president-biden-launch-campaign-cut-waste

I would like to encourage all of you to do the same thing here at NASA. We are working hard to refine our day-to-day operations and get rid of wasteful spending. This is something we should do routinely anyway, but it is more important than ever as we find new ways to do more with less.

I want to hear from you. Are there things we can do to cut out wasteful spending? Are there programs, websites or facilities we can consolidate or operate more efficiently? If you have ideas, please contact your manager. Thank you for your commitment to making NASA a great place to work and the best agency in the federal government.

Charlie B

On Memorial Day, we remember and honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. And we also look to the future. To the ways we can honor their legacies and to the ways they have given us strength and help propel us into that future even as we cherish their memories.

NASA is in the future business. For more than 50 years, we’ve helped to bring things into reality that were just dreams. It’s a dangerous business we do – this exploring space – it always has been and always will be. Each time men and women board a spacecraft, their actions carry great risk along with the opportunity for great discoveries and the chance to push the envelope of our human achievement.

We will always honor the Apollo 1, STS-51L Challenger and STS-107 Columbia crews, as well as other members of the NASA family who lost their lives supporting NASA’s mission of exploration. We thank them and their families for their extraordinary sacrifices in the service of our nation.

The Marine Corps was my life for 34 years. It will always be a part of me. Along the way I served with and commanded many fine Marines and sailors, some of whom lost their lives serving this nation. I remember them all and ask that you remember and honor all our military members on this occasion of Memorial Day.

I joined the military to follow in the footsteps of my father and uncles, who had served in World War II, and to be part of something larger – to do something for my country and be involved on a national scale.

I am privileged to have served with so many fine men and women, who took their military training and applied it to NASA and other agencies and organizations to help create a future that was not only free, but expanded horizons for people across the globe.

To friends and family of service members lost in combat, we honor your great sacrifice. To those of you still serving or who have served, I know you carry with you the same large debt I do to our colleagues who have made the ultimate sacrifice and enriched our lives through their work.

It’s my honor as NASA administrator to help our nation maintain its leadership in space and to push the limits of human experience. National service is about serving that ideal of our nation — that we do big things – things that benefit the whole world. The highest compliment we can pay those who have died for our country is to take action today to keep unfolding the future for which they fought and died.

As we gather with family and friends on Memorial Day, we celebrate the blessings of our hard-won freedom and remember those who made it possible. I wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday.

It is hard to imagine that just 50 years ago, a young and vibrant President challenged a worried nation to reach for the seemingly impossible goal of landing humans on the moon and returning them safely to Earth. I was a teenager when President John F. Kennedy delivered his charge to Congress and the American people, but those words sparked my imagination, as they did for the millions of others who watched.

We recently completed the construction of the International Space Station and today we stand at the door to closing the incredible 30 year Space Shuttle Era – a great adventure of unprecedented international cooperation in low Earth orbit. The words of President John Kennedy 50 years ago today are at this time so appropriate: “…the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take.”

He added, “Now it is time to take longer strides–time for a great new American enterprise–time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth.”

And a NEW ERA began.

His inspiring words, calling on us to pursue exploration as a unified nation, to think beyond the moon and also envision the benefits of exploration for Earth, were part of a speech on “Urgent National Needs.”

Today, we have another young and vibrant President who has outlined an urgent national need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build our competitors and create new capabilities that will take us farther into the solar system, and help us learn even more about our place in the universe.

President Barack Obama not only honors the Kennedy space legacy, but advances it for this new century with his vision for the next era of exploration and discovery. We stand at a moon shot moment once again, where we have a chance to make great leaps forward to new destinations, develop new vehicles and technologies, and new ways of exploring.

Our advantage now is that we have five decades of accomplishment and world leadership in space on which to build. The dreams President Kennedy helped make real for our world, and the dreams we still hold, may appear to be just out of reach but they are not out of our grasp.

Today, we pause to remember the speech that launched that first moon shot moment, but we should not focus on the past. Later today, we’ll announce an exciting new mission that represents an important down payment on President Obama’s exploration objectives. We’re making incredible progress in our goal to hand over low Earth orbit transportation services to our commercial partners, and yesterday, we announced an important next step in developing a successor to the space shuttle – a spacecraft that will carry our astronauts to new destinations away from the gravity of our home planet.

We are moving into a bright new future that builds on a challenge presented to us 50 years ago. It is important that we remember our history but we must always look forward toward a brighter future.

We want to express our thanks and appreciation to the entire Kennedy family for sharing this day with us, and I want to thank each of you who work every hour of every day to make NASA the world’s preeminent space program. What began 50 years ago as a desperate race to space is now an ongoing journey to reach for new heights and new knowledge in the stars.

It was my pleasure today to meet the 85 winners of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. It was an honor to host them at NASA Headquarters, since these educators are critical to our nation’s future in space and the scientific and technological breakthroughs of tomorrow.

This year’s award recognized teachers at the Kindergarten to 6th grade level, and that’s really where young minds start to grasp the important concepts of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and turn their sense of wonder into a sense of purpose.

STEM teachers bear a special responsibility, because it is so essential that we develop more technology leaders for tomorrow to out-innovate and out-build our competitors and maintain U.S. leadership in space. I remember the many teachers who were instrumental in my life as I grew up – not least my parents, who were lifelong educators. These dedicated public servants are on the front lines of tomorrow with the young people who are going to be carrying out our missions to new destinations in the solar system and creating the technologies we’ll need to live and work in space for long periods of time.

President Obama has committed to strengthen STEM education and prepare 100,000 effective science and mathematics teachers over the next decade. These commitments build on the President’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign to help bolster science and technology education in the classroom.

The President said, “America’s competitiveness rests on the excellence of our citizens in technical fields, and we owe these teachers a debt of gratitude for strengthening America’s prosperity.”

Congratulations to all the winners. Keep going!

To find out more about the awards and see a list of winners, visit:

http://1.usa.gov/ljHnNQ

Administrator Bolden speaks at NASA Headquarters to winners of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. (Photo credit: NASA/Paul Alers)