Reaching for New Heights

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.

Recognizing Excellence in STEM Education

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)

Thoughts On Today's Final Launch of Endeavour

Today’s final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour is a testament to American ingenuity and leadership in human spaceflight. As we look toward a bright future with the International Space Station as our anchor and new destinations in deep space on the horizon, we salute the astronauts and ground crews who have ensured the orbiter’s successful missions. The presence of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at the launch inspired us all, just as America’s space program has done for the past 50 years.

For more information about the shuttle program, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

 

NASA officials view space shuttle Endeavour (STS-134) as it launches skyward through the windows of Firing Room 4, Monday, May 16, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. During the 16-day mission, Endeavour, with Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson, Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Robert Vittori will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for Dextre. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

50th Anniversary of US Human Spaceflight

Fifty years ago today, Alan Shepard rocketed into space on America’s first manned space mission. That flight set our nation on a path of exploration and discovery that continues to this day.

May 5, 1961 was a good day. When Alan Shepard launched toward the stars that day, no American had ever done so, and the world waited on pins and needles praying for a good outcome. The flight was a great success, and on the strength of Shepard’s accomplishment, NASA built the leadership role in human spaceflight that we have held ever since.

I was a teenager at the time and just sorting out the field of study I wanted to pursue. Though I never dared dream it growing up in segregated South Carolina, I was proud to follow in Alan’s footsteps several years later and become a test pilot myself. The experiences I’ve had would not have been possible without Alan’s pioneering efforts. The inspiration that has created generations of leaders to enlarge our understanding of our universe and to strive toward the highest in human potential was sparked by those early achievements of our space program. They began with Freedom 7 and a daring test pilot who flew the ultimate experimental vehicle that May day 50 years ago.

Today we celebrate a first – and we celebrate the future. Project Mercury gave our country something new, including an astronaut corps and the space vehicles that began our human exploration efforts.

I encourage everyone to not only remember that remarkable achievement, but to be reminded that we are still driven to reach for new heights in human exploration.

At NASA, each first is grown and expanded until we make the next breakthrough. 50 years ago, we sent the first American into space. Today we have a space station flying 250 miles overhead right now on which men and women have lived continuously for more than 10 years.

With the same spirit of innovation and grit of those early days of space flight, we now move out on an exciting path forward where we will develop the capabilities to take humans to even more destinations in the solar system. With our support and assistance, commercial companies will expand access to that rarefied area Alan Shepard first trod for America, allowing NASA to focus on those bigger, more challenging destinations and to enable our science missions to peer farther and farther beyond our solar system.

We are just getting started. Our future, as an agency and as a country, holds many more firsts. We know the next 50 years will be just as exciting as the last – filled with discovery, innovation and inspiration.

NASA Family Affected by Storms

The severe weather that devastated parts of the country last week has hit close to home for the NASA family. Madison County, home to Huntsville and the Marshall Space Flight Center, was in the path of the storm. Many of our coworkers and friends are dealing with property damage and power outages and Robert Lightfoot and his leadership team at Marshall continue their efforts to account for all our NASA and contractor employees.

Although the damage in Alabama to homes and businesses is unimaginable, we can at least take solace in the fact that property can be replaced. Lives, however, cannot and the toll in human life is even more tragic. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who lost loved ones or friends.

We often talk about “the NASA family.” These are not just words. Everyone at NASA, regardless of their geographic location, pulls together to support each other in times like this. The employees and contractors at Marshall Space Flight Center proved this in 2005 when they opened their hearts, homes, and wallets to many of our Stennis and MAF families who found themselves homeless for a time. They joined with the NASA family around the country in sending relief items and supplies and also shared office space with many who worked from MSFC as the region slowly returned to normal. To the members of the NASA family in Alabama, we are standing with you now just as you did with your fellow NASA family members then.

I encourage everyone to visit http://www.fema.gov/rebuild/recover/howtohelp.shtm to see how you can offer support to the people in Alabama and other states across the country impacted by these storms. I also encourage every member of the NASA family to visit http://www.ready.gov for more information on how to prepare in case disaster strikes where you live.

Again, please keep the members of the NASA family impacted by these storms in your thoughts and prayers. Together, we will get through this tragedy.

New Partnership With USAID

Yesterday, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah and I signed a five-year memorandum of understanding to expand our agencies’ joint efforts to overcome international development challenges such as food security, climate change, and energy and environmental management. The agreement also encourages NASA and USAID to apply geospatial technologies to solve development challenges affecting the United States and developing countries.

Since 2003, NASA and USAID have worked together developing and expanding the SERVIR program. The program allows people in developing regions to use Earth observations for addressing challenges in agriculture, biodiversity conservation, climate change, disaster response, weather forecasting, and energy and health issues. We also partner on the LAUNCH forums that support science and technology innovators in the non-profit and private sectors. The program’s goal is improving innovations to achieve greater impact on sustainability issues. And, we’ve agreed to explore how efforts promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics education can be advanced through joint support of programs such as Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE). GLOBE is a worldwide primary and secondary school-based science and education program funded by NASA and other U.S. agencies.

Technologies for NASA missions have long improved life here on Earth. Together with USAID, we’ll meet even more sustainable development challenges here on the ground, solving problems for the world community. As we explore space, we’ll also be exploring solutions to important health, nutritional and safety challenges in developing countries.

 USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, left, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden shake hands after signing a five-year memorandum of understanding, Monday, April 25, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The agreement formalizes ongoing agency collaborations that use Earth science data to address developmental challenges, and to assist in disaster mitigation and humanitarian responses. The agreement also encourages NASA and USAID to apply geospatial technologies to solve development challenges affecting the United States and developing countries. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

Today We Announce CCDev2

Here’s my statement about today’s announcement of the second round of Commercial Crew Development (CCDev2) awards:

“We’re committed to safely transporting U.S. astronauts on American-made spacecraft and ending the outsourcing of this work to foreign governments. These agreements are significant milestones in NASA’s plans to take advantage of American ingenuity to get to low-Earth orbit, so we can concentrate our resources on deep space exploration.”

To find out more, go to:

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration

 

Thoughts on 30 Years of the Space Shuttle

30 years ago today, Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center for the very first time. In a flight that lasted 54 hours, NASA proved an amazing piece of technology. For 30 years, the best workforce in the world has launched 133 Shuttle flights, dedicated to making each better than the last.

Administrator Bolden Addresses the Crowd

I want to thank each and every person who has ever been part of the shuttle workforce over the years for your significant contribution to this American accomplishment. You’ve helped make the world a better place and should take pride in that. Today belongs not just to the 360 men and women who have flown on the shuttle, but to all of you who have helped their missions to succeed.

Your work means a great deal to me personally. Those of us who have flown the shuttle put our lives in your hands each time we flew, and I never doubted that all of you on the ground, in launch and mission control, in orbiter processing, in every phase of the program, were absolutely dedicated, and among the most skilled and committed people I have ever known.

The shuttle has provided this nation with many firsts, with many proud moments, and it has helped the United States to lead the world in space exploration. Over three decades, this flagship program has become part of the fabric of our nation’s history. It’s helped us improve communications on Earth and to understand our home planet better. It’s set scientific satellites like Magellan and Ulysses speeding on their missions into the solar system and launched Hubble and Chandra to explore the universe.

The shuttle program has given us tremendous knowledge about a reusable spacecraft and launch system from which future commercial systems will benefit. It’s enabled construction of the International Space Station, our foothold for human exploration, which is leading to breakthroughs in human health and microgravity research. And it’s provided “first ever” astronaut flight and command opportunities for women and minorities.

We’ll never forget the crews of Challenger and Columbia. Many of us counted them as our personal friends, and their achievements will live on in the spirit of perseverance and grit and hope in which they lived and worked. They were all true heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to this country.

The human spaceflight program will continue with astronauts living and working on the International Space Station for at least 10 more years. We wouldn’t have been able to build that orbiting outpost without the shuttle. We wouldn’t have established that model of global cooperation that serves as a guidepost for how we can work together toward the greater things of which we are capable as human beings.

With the last flight of Atlantis in June, the shuttles stop flying, but they don’t stop inspiring, and they don’t stop being part of the fabric of America. Three museums and one NASA Center will have a shuttle orbiter to continue to tell the story of human spaceflight and American accomplishment.

There were many worthy institutions who requested an orbiter and far too few to go around. But millions of Americans and people from around the world will continue to learn from these amazing vehicles and the stories of their crews and their missions in their new homes.

The shuttle’s retirement is bittersweet for us, but I am also very excited about our future. A future that is bright and open to us because of the shuttle program. We could not be reaching for new heights and developing the next generation of capabilities without the technological breakthroughs of the shuttle and the many lessons learned that we will carry forward. Our commitment to human spaceflight is steadfast, and with this amazing workforce, we will continue to lead the world in human space exploration and discovery.

 

For more information about other shuttle program artifacts that are available to museums and libraries, visit:

http://gsaxcess.gov/htm/nasa/userguide/NASA_SSPA_Pamphlet.pdf

 

NASA also is offering shuttle heat shield tiles to schools and universities that want to share technology and a piece of space history with their students. Schools can request a tile at:

http://gsaxcess.gov/NASAWel.htm

 

For a map of the future locations for the orbiters and shuttle artifacts and for more information on visiting the facilities, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/shuttle_station/features/shuttle_map.html

 

For more information about NASA’s placement of the space shuttle orbiters, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/transition

 

For information about the Space Shuttle Program, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

 

Keeping America on the Cutting Edge of Clean Energy Technology

In his remarks earlier this week to students at Georgetown University here in Washington, the President outlined his strategy for a secure energy future. He said the United States needs to “change the way we generate electricity in America – so that it’s cleaner, safer, and healthier…we also know that ushering in a clean energy economy has the potential to create an untold number of new jobs and new businesses – jobs that we want right here in America.”

Through your investments in NASA, we’re already leading this charge.

NASA continually develops new technologies that enable capabilities for our missions, now and in the future. Many of these technologies “spinoff” into our daily lives here on Earth. Some are commonplace, like wireless headsets for telephones and video games. Others are less well known, like new energy systems that will reduce our dependence of foreign oil.

As NASA plans for astronaut-explorers to live in harsh environments at distant destinations, we’ve had to think of all the things we’ll need for our human outposts: food, water, shelter and, of course, energy.

Given the extreme distance of the journey to Mars and the inability to restock supplies, Mars explorers will need to be able to “live off the land” as much as possible. They will need an energy source that is portable, sustainable, efficient and long-lasting. That’s the challenge we gave engineers a decade ago. They’ve met it, and more.

Thanks to the creative thinking of one of the engineers on the project team, a successful innovative energy business was created, now employing people in California who make clean, efficient energy fuel cell systems available commercially across America.

K.R. Sridhar was director of the Space Technologies Laboratory at the University of Arizona when NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley asked him to develop a solution for helping sustain life on Mars. Sridhar’s team created a fuel cell device that could use solar power to split Martian water into oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for use as fuel for vehicles. Sridhar saw potential for another application, though. In 2001, Sridhar’s team shifted focus to develop a commercial venture exploring the possibility of using its NASA-derived technology in reverse — creating electricity from oxygen and fuel.

Conventional fuel cell technology features expensive, complicated systems requiring precious metals like platinum as a catalyst for the energy-producing reaction. Sridhar’s group believed it had emerged from its NASA work with innovations that could result in an efficient, affordable fuel cell capable of supplying clean energy wherever it is needed.

Sridhar’s team founded Ion America and opened research and development offices on the campus of the NASA Research Park at Ames. In 2006, the company successfully demonstrated a 5-kilowatt (kW) fuel cell system. Now called Bloom Energy and headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with more than 250 employees, the company has unveiled its NASA-inspired technology to the world.

Bloom Energy’s ES-5000 Energy Server employs the planar solid oxide fuel cell technology Sridhar’s team originally created for the NASA Mars project. At the core of the server are square ceramic fuel cells about the size of old fashioned computer floppy disks. Crafted from an inexpensive sand-like powder, each square is coated with special inks (lime-green ink on the anode side, black on the cathode side) and is capable of producing 25 watts –enough to power a light bulb. Stacking the cells, with cheap metal alloy squares in between to serve as the electrolyte catalyst, increases the energy output: a stack about the size of a loaf of bread can power an average home, and a full-size Energy Server with the footprint of a parking space can produce 100 kW, enough to power a 30,000-square-foot office building, or 100 average U.S. homes.

The Energy Servers design allows the system to use natural gas, any number of environmentally friendly biogasses created from plant waste, or methane recaptured from landfills and farms. According to Bloom, the process is about 67-percent cleaner than that of a typical coal-fired power plant when using fossil fuels and 100-percent cleaner with renewable fuels. The server can switch between fuels quickly and does not require an external chemical reformer or the expensive precious metals, corrosive acids, or molten materials required by other conventional fuel cell systems.

This sort of transfer of NASA-developed technology, from a space mission to a successful private business, is just one example of how America’s space program will help our country out-innovate the world while tackling the challenges of clean, sustainable energy for future generations. Through NASA technologies, we can win the future.

SMALL BUSINESSES CONTRIBUTE TO NASA's MISSION

In his State of the Union address, President Obama said, “What America does better than anyone – is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It’s how we make a living.”

Nobody knows that better than those of us associated with NASA. Spaceflight today would not exist without the spark of innovation that drove us to build rockets and computers and robots. And small businesses helped us achieve our greatest missions.

Small businesses have always been an integral part of NASA. Small businesses have built parts for launch vehicles and planetary science missions, they help us manage our facilities and our data and help keep our organization running smoothly. Small business is crucial not only to NASA, but to the nation. And federal procurement opportunities for women, minority, veteran-owned and small businesses are critical to the economy and to sustaining economic development.

Today I am in Huntsville, Alabama, home to the Marshall Space Flight Center. I’m at Marshall to salute the center for its strong commitment to expanding opportunities for small businesses, and present them with an award for managing the most effective small business program in the agency. In 2010, NASA awarded approximately $2.3 billion directly to small businesses, an increase of almost 15 percent from the year before. NASA’s large, prime contractors awarded an additional $2 billion in subcontracts to small businesses.

Small businesses create jobs and power our economy. In fact, small businesses created 64 percent of the net new jobs in America over the past 15 years. And small business hire 40 percent of the high tech workers in the U.S. Small businesses are often started by people with an innovative product, a creative solution or just a passion for something. We are trying to change the way we do business at NASA, and we need the help of small business to get there. We need the energy and ideas that come from small business owners and their employees; we need their entrepreneurial spirit and innovation.

The President is urging government agencies to meet the combined goal of 23% for all federal contracting with small businesses, as well as specific goals for underserved small business groups that, for too long, have been left behind. NASA is working to help the Federal Government not only meet this standard, but also surpass it.

But partnering with small business is about more than reaching that goal. It’s about bringing the innovation and ideas of small businesses into the fold. It’s a larger effort to diversify our procurement and make the business of the federal government reflect the many perspectives of our entrepreneurs and make our procurement portfolio continue to be representative of small businesses.

Investment in space exploration has long pushed the boundaries of our nation’s technical capabilities. And we’ve succeeded with the help of our innovative small business partners.