Author: Administrator Charles Bolden

Today I made these remarks during a ceremony in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, where leaders of Congress honored astronauts John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins with congressional gold medals:

“As we embark upon the next great chapter of human space exploration, we stand on the shoulders of the extraordinary men we recognize today. Those of us who have had the privilege to fly in space followed the trail they forged.

America’s leadership in space and the confidence that we can go farther into the unknown and achieve great things as a people rests on the achievements of these brave men.

When, 50 years ago this year, President Kennedy challenged the nation to reach the moon, to ‘take longer strides’ toward a ‘great new American enterprise,’ these men were the human face of those words. From Mercury and Gemini, on through our landings on the Moon in the Apollo Program, their actions unfolded the will of a nation for the greater achievement of humankind.

Today, another young President has challenged us to reach for new heights and plan an ambitious mission to Mars. Just as we called on the four individuals we honor today to carry out our early achievements in space, we now call on a new generation of explorers to go where we have never gone before.

As we honor these heroes, I want to recognize the hundreds of thousands of dedicated NASA employees and industry partners who contributed to the incredible success of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs and all that has followed, and all that is yet to come.

I also want to thank our Congress. Our nation is a better place because of more than a half century of strong, bipartisan support for NASA’s work in human exploration, science and aeronautics.

Five members of the most recent Astronaut Candidate Class are with us today to pay tribute to the Congressional Gold Medal honorees, and build on their accomplishments to make similar, lasting contributions to our nation’s space program.

This new group of astronauts will redefine space exploration in the years to come and continue to honor the legacy of John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.

It is a lasting legacy – a legacy that continues to unfold and transform our modern world.

The inspiration these four have provided to generations isn’t something we can measure, but we can feel it in our hearts. As a nation, we would not be the same without them and their bravery, their sense of duty and dedication to public service and their great skill at thinking on their feet.

They changed the course of history and helped our nation to achieve the bigger things to which our greater nature aspires. We owe them our humblest gratitude.

On behalf of NASA and all the astronauts past and present, I congratulate and thank each of you – John, Neil, Buzz, and Mike, our Congressional Gold Medal recipients.”

For biographies of the astronauts, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio_former.html

 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (far right) with (l to r) astronauts Buzz Aldrin, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Mark Kelly and Michael Collins. Photo credit: NASA/Paul Alers

Today we made smoke and fire with a rocket engine yet again. The Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, long the front line in testing NASA’s propulsion systems from the Apollo to the shuttle era, is now helping us understand the J-2X engine. The J-2X will power the upper stage of our new Space Launch System (SLS), which will carry the Orion spacecraft, its crew, cargo, equipment and science experiments beyond Earth orbit.

Today’s engine test fire – at nearly 500 seconds, the longest one to date — is one in a series of tests that will provide critical data to help fine tune the engine to maximize performance and provide the SLS with the capability to take humans to new destinations. And it’s not the only activity that NASA has going on around the nation as we open the next great chapter of space exploration.

https://www.nasa.gov/sls

Earlier this week, we announced that we’re planning an unmanned flight test of the Orion spacecraft in early 2014. This Exploration Flight Test, or EFT-1, will fly two orbits to a high-apogee, with a high-energy re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere. Orion will make a water landing and be recovered using operations planned for future human exploration missions. The test mission will be launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to acquire critical re-entry flight performance data and demonstrate early integration capabilities that benefit the Orion, SLS, and 21st Century Ground Systems programs. We’ve posted a synopsis explaining our intention on the NASA procurement website.

http://1.usa.gov/tRawZe

Our Langley Research Center in Virginia recently performed another successful drop test of Orion’s landing capabilities in its Hydro Impact Basin. And this year’s Desert RATS activity, where scientists and engineers run tests and simulations in landscapes that mirror other worlds – in this case the desert of Arizona – was designed to gather information for a potential crewed mission to an asteroid.

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/mpcv-mediaday.html

In an innovative agreement that will create new jobs, NASA has announced a partnership with Space Florida to occupy, use and modify Kennedy Space Center’s Orbiter Processing Facility-3, the Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility and Processing Control Center.

Space Florida, the aerospace economic development agency of the state of Florida, has an agreement for use of Orbiter Processing Facility-3 with the Boeing Company to manufacture and test the company’s Crew Space Transportation (CST-100) spacecraft, creating up to 550 jobs along the Space Coast. The 15-year use permit with Space Florida is the latest step Kennedy is making as the center transitions from a historically government-only launch complex to a multi-user spaceport.

Across NASA, scientists, engineers and – yes – new classes of astronauts, are preparing for a future in space at destinations where we’ve never been, marking new achievements in human history as we develop ever more capabilities to do the big things for which NASA is known. It’s going to be a great ride.

Neither NASA nor the Space Coast can afford to stand still. We must be aggressive in pursuing the next generation of space exploration – and the jobs and innovation that will accompany it. That’s why the Obama Administration is pressing forward with its ambitious plans for commercial space and deep space exploration, and it’s why the agreement we’ve reached with the State of Florida to re-use our Kennedy Space Center facilities is so important.

NASA has signed an agreement with Space Florida, the aerospace economic development agency of the state of Florida, to lease Kennedy’s Orbiter Processing Facility-3 (OPF3) to Boeing to manufacture and test the company’s Crew Space Transportation (CST-100) spacecraft. In addition, Boeing will be locating its commercial crew headquarters at Kennedy to take advantage of the center’s outstanding facilities and experienced workforce. The 15-year use permit deal is the latest step Kennedy is taking as the center transitions from a historically government-only launch complex to a multi-user spaceport, and it will help us retain and create jobs in the region.

Today is a great day for NASA, Kennedy, Boeing, Space Florida, and the commercial space industry on the Space Coast.

The Obama Administration has marshaled significant resources to the Space Coast region to strengthen NASA’s role in innovation and job creation.

•     Earlier this month we announced the selection of the design for the Space Launch System – the most powerful rocket ever to be built — that would carry astronauts into deep space. This new deep space rocket will be processed, stacked and launched at the Kennedy Space Center, supporting thousands of jobs in the Space Coast.

•     The next-generation deep space explorer, Orion, designed as a multipurpose crew vehicle to ferry astronauts beyond Earth orbit to the moon, asteroids, and beyond, will undergo final construction, integration, and eventual launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The work on Orion will support at least 350 jobs at the center.

•     The Mobile Launcher is being built at Kennedy to assemble, test, check out, service, transfer to the pad and launch future rockets. Just one of these launch vehicles will be NASA’s SLS heavy lift launch vehicle to transport the Orion crew exploration vehicle, its crew and cargo on missions farther into the solar system than we have ever gone before.

•     We’ve headquartered our Commercial Crew program at Kennedy, and just last week we reported that four companies involved in the Commercial Crew development program are making substantial progress toward achieving crewed spaceflight. Since signing partnership agreements with NASA in April, these firms already have completed nearly 40 percent of the milestones on their rocket designs to carry astronauts into low-earth orbit. One of the companies, SpaceX, testified before Congress last week that it has invested $500 million in its Commercial Crew program, a significant private-sector commitment to this emerging industry.

The NASA-Space Florida-Boeing agreement is a major boost to the Florida Space Coast and another important signal of the Obama Administration’s support for the area, and for the future of human space flight. We can’t wait when it comes to creating jobs and building the space program of tomorrow – and we’re not.

Right now at NASA, we’re writing the next chapter in our nation’s extraordinary story of space exploration. Partnering with private industry, we’re planning a mission to Mars and supporting America’s job creators as they take over transportation of cargo and crews to the International Space Station. As we take this next leap in space exploration, we’ll help create good-paying U.S. jobs and spur innovation and technology breakthroughs.

Today, at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, we are focusing on the innovations and technologies derived from NASA research and partnerships in a forum with MAGNET and the Center for Automotive Research at The Ohio State University. 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 collaborations with private industry are enhancing our ability to make the most technologically advanced spacecraft in the world to explore new destinations and take humans farther into space. Those journeys start with investments on the ground like the kind we are making in communities in Ohio.

The future of science is on display right now in Baltimore. A full-scale model of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will be on view in front of the Maryland Science Center through Oct. 26. I had the opportunity to visit it today, and it is amazing.

The Webb telescope will be the most scientifically powerful telescope NASA has ever built — 100 times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope. It is the next of our great observatories. It will find the first galaxies that formed in the early universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. The telescope will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting star formation in our own galaxy with the solar system.

The telescope is a complex program for which 10 new technologies had to be invented. All of these challenges have been conquered, including the capabilities that will be required for this huge instrument to be deployable, work at cryogenic temperatures, and maintain precise pointing and attitude control from its orbit approximately one million miles from Earth.

That’s what we do at NASA. We create what doesn’t exist, to create and win the future. While most of our missions occur in space, the investments made–and the jobs created — to support these missions — happen right here on Earth. NASA has always been an engine for economic growth and job creation, and the Webb telescope is just the latest example.

I was privileged to pilot the mission that deployed Hubble, and I am very excited about the promise of Webb. Science remains integral to NASA’s future, and just in the past months we’ve launched missions to Jupiter and the Moon. We’ll launch a new Earth-observing satellite later this month, and in November the Curiosity rover will be on its way to Mars. Those are just a few of NASA’s newest science missions, not to mention the dozens already in orbit around Earth, zooming across the solar system and peeling back the veil on the cosmic phenomena and other planets that are enormous distances from us.

I know tomorrow’s science leaders and engineers will be inspired by the life-size Webb mockup. Just as Hubble re-wrote science textbooks, Webb will take us even farther on our cosmic journey. I hope you can visit, and when the Webb telescope launches, you’ll have a tangible image in your mind of just how incredible our newest great observatory is going to be.

The power of education to transform lives, lift up communities and build pathways to a brighter future was brought home to me in a very personal way tonight during a visit to my hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. At the Richland County Public Library I was honored to present the Ethel Bolden Minority Scholarship to Gabrielle Marshae Dudley. Gabrielle is a young African American woman who has demonstrated outstanding community service leadership skills while pursuing a joint Masters of Library and Information Science and Master of Public History at the University of South Carolina. The Ethel Bolden Scholarship was established last year in honor of my mother’s more than 40 years of service to the Richland County community, its libraries, and its minority students.

Being back in Columbia reminded me of the commitment my parents, who were both teachers, had to education. I guess you could say I got my passion for education honestly. And since becoming NASA Administrator in 2009, I have worked with our Associate Administrator for Education, Leland Melvin, to strengthen the Agency’s commitment to preparing the next generation for leadership roles, particularly in science, technology, engineering and math, or the STEM disciplines. We are committed to ensuring that every child, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or background, has an equal chance to pursue and succeed in these fields.

NASA’s partnerships with schools, universities and communities in every corner of this country is not only about keeping our own workforce pipeline fresh and flowing, it is also about ensuring that America will have the technical expertise needed to compete and win in the 21st century global economy.

There is a crisis in this country that stems from the gap between our growing need for scientists, engineers, and other technically skilled workers, and our available supply. This crisis in education, if not resolved, will contribute to future declines in qualified employees to meet demands in critical career fields that affect U.S. global competitiveness and the national economy. As President Obama has wisely noted, “The country that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow.”

That is why STEM education is the foundation of NASA’s learning initiatives. But NASA needs more than scientists. We need researchers, accountants, writers, archivists, historians and yes, even librarians like Gabrielle Dudley. Ethel Bolden taught me as a child, “You need to know your heritage, where your ancestors came from, but you are part of a larger realm, part of a larger world.” As NASA Administrator, one of my greatest challenges and pleasures is helping to engage and inspire the next generation of Americans to explore that larger realm. Education is the vehicle that will take us there.

For more about NASA education programs, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/education

 

Earlier today, I got a first-hand look at the future of space exploration during a visit to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. The new 6.75 million-ton Mobile Launcher is one more tangible step on our path forward to launching deep space missions.

When I was at Kennedy a little more than two months ago, I joined the dedicated team there in celebrating the achievements of our space shuttle program as it concluded an amazing 30 years of ground-breaking exploration and discovery. Since then, we have made great strides toward implementing the bipartisan vision agreed to by President Obama and Congress just one year ago.

o We continued to work on the Orion spacecraft, the next vehicle in which astronauts will travel into deep space.

o We’ve launched exciting science missions.

o We expanded our agreements with our American commercial partners who are making great strides toward transporting cargo and crew to the International Space Station.

o We’ve established a non-profit – located in the Space Coast – to manage the U.S. portion of the International Space Station.

o We made significant progress on upgrading our ground-based operations here at KSC to support a range of launch activities, including commercial and deep space launches.

o And we announced our plan forward with a Space Launch System, our heavy lift rocket.

And today, we got to see the progress Kennedy is making with the new Mobile Launcher, which will be carried to Launch Pad 39B, a modernized clean pad that will launch those missions to the ISS and farther destinations.

The Mobile Launcher is tangible evidence of our bright future and the critical path forward we are on to new destinations and new exploration achievements. It was built in large part by a Florida company, and it represents the jobs of the future as we continue to move toward reinvigorating Kennedy’s world-class launch capabilities.

All around Kennedy, from the Operations and Checkout facility for the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle, to the establishment of a Commercial Crew program office to the ongoing science launches that regularly take-off here, it is clear the Space Coast is open for business and ready for a bright future.

As we’ve ramped up our work on the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle, for example, we brought on more than 250 workers at the Operations and Checkout facility – bringing that number to more than 350 in 2012.

This is also further proof that as our nation looks for ways to compete and win in the 21st century, NASA continues to be an engine of job growth and economic opportunity. From California to Florida, the space industry is strong and growing.

The history of NASA is tied to Florida. The next generation of explorers will not fly a space shuttle, but they may be able to walk on Mars. And those journeys are starting at the Kennedy Space Center today.

Administrator Bolden speaks in front of the Mobile Launcher at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

In addition to NASA’s missions in space that amaze the world, our work in aeronautics continues to spur innovation and jobs.

NASA is providing the $1.65 million prize purse for the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation Green Flight Challenge competition, sponsored by Google, taking place this week outside of Santa Rosa, Calif.

The purse is the largest aviation prize in history and attracted 13 teams, all led by American innovators. Three teams successfully completed aircraft and flight qualification requirements and are competing for the purse. Teams are flying electric and biofueled powered aircraft to prove they have the most fuel efficient, small aircraft in the world.

To win the competition, an aircraft must fly 200 miles in less than two hours and use less than one gallon of fuel per occupant, or the equivalent in electricity.

Why is NASA sponsoring the competition?

NASA-funded prize competitions establish an important goal without having to choose the approach or the team that is most likely to succeed. NASA pays only for results. The competitions highlight excellence in a particular domain of human endeavor to motivate, inspire, and guide others.

NASA prize competitions increase the number and diversity of the individuals, organizations, and teams that are addressing a particular problem or challenge of national or international. They stimulate private sector investment that is many times greater than the cash value of the prize, while furthering NASA’s mission by attracting more interest and attention to a defined program, activity, or issue of concern. And they capture the public imagination and change their perception of what is possible.

Aerospace remains a strong component of our national fabric and is the largest positive contributor to our nation’s trade balance. However, this technological leadership position is not a given. To remain the leader in aerospace technology, we must continue to perform research and invest in the people who will create the breakthroughs of tomorrow.

The CAFE Green Flight Challenge, sponsored by Google, may be the birth of a new segment of the aviation industry. This competition represents the dawn of a new era in efficient flight and is the first time that full-scale electric aircraft have performed in competition. The technologies demonstrated by the winning plane may end up in general aviation aircraft, spawning new jobs and new industries for the 21st century.

For photos of the Green Flight Challenge, visit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto

Team members of the e-Genius aircraft prepare their plane prior to competition as part of the 2011 Green Flight Challenge, sponsored by Google, at the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, Calif. on Monday, Sept. 26, 2011. NASA and the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation are having the challenge with the goal to advance technologies in fuel efficiency and reduced emissions with cleaner renewable fuels and electric aircraft. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to get a first-hand glimpse at the future of human space exploration.

NASA is working with multiple industry partners so that American companies can develop a capacity for carrying crew and cargo to the International Space Station, stop the outsourcing of this work to foreign governments and create good jobs right here at home. What I saw in Boulder, Colo. was Sierra Nevada’s amazing Dream Chaser vehicle – a kind of space plane that could be soaring into low Earth orbit in the coming years.

Sierra Nevada is one of the participants in NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program, and last week we decided to exercise additional milestones in their agreement with us to accelerate development of their transportation system. The company has already met four of the nine milestones under the CCDev2 Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA, and our amended agreement adds four new milestones — bringing the potential value of Sierra Nevada’s SAA to $105.6 million, if all milestones are completed successfully, to help them create jobs and get our economy back on track.

The Boeing Company, another CCDEV2 participant, also will now pursue additional milestones, and all four of the CCDEV2 participants are performing well. Boeing will receive $112.9 million, if all milestones are reached, money that is being pumped into our economy at a critical time. Transporting crew to the ISS is crucial, and we are focusing hard on ensuring that American companies will be carrying our astronauts and our cargo to space as we ramp up a new era of the station’s potential as an orbiting laboratory without peer. After all, the ISS is the centerpiece of our human space flight activities for the coming years with international crews of six living aboard it 24/7 right now.

Because of the progress Sierra Nevada and our other commercial space partners have made, I am confident that NASA will soon have access to multiple capabilities for reaching low Earth orbit.

And while American innovators open up a new segment of the economy by creating these new capabilities, NASA can focus its energy and resources on deep space exploration.

As President Obama looks for ways to put America back to work, NASA continues to be an engine of job growth and economic opportunity. Our collaborations with private industry are enhancing our ability to design and build the most technologically advanced spacecraft in the world. These partnerships are building an economic sector that will create new high-tech, high-paying jobs in communities like Boulder all across the country – all while ensuring a bright future that ensures America’s leadership in space.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden flies Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser simulator.