NASA
the kind of magic and power all its own
back in the early days the Space Age was
new and the race to get there drove NASA
forward working on the edge of the
unknown forced the young agency to
innovate and take risks there was a
can-do spirit free discussion of new
ideas teamwork a shared vision and
commitment to get the job done there
were setbacks and criticism but the
national priority was clear NASA was
demonstrating the technological
competence of a free nation to the world
and the American people were squarely
behind the new space agency
resources were plentiful the economy was
booming American companies led the world
in exports of manufactured goods made in
America was the mark of excellence he
gave managers certain ways to do things
and gave him authority and money to do
stuff right there on the spot we had
groups of small teams that went around
and attacked problems just working night
and day to make this happen everybody
cooperated resources were there many of
the things we were doing with first time
everybody was sort of learning how do
you do this and so and it was just an
awesome feeling it was just that
exciting we worked almost like children
play they actually go out and play until
they're tired and somebody has to call
them in and make them eat and go to bed
we just did it for the sheer love of the
of the adventure in the excitement and
the challenge that lay ahead of us the
spirit of the right stuff came to infuse
America during those 10 years the NASA
for technical brilliance and managerial
excellence grew with every first in
space
every person over the age of 30 still
remembers where they were that day as
everyone held their breath waiting for
that touchdown on the sea of time
finding Trudeau planting over three feet
unam down take that out forward people
in Atlanta
people all over the world went outside
that night and looked up at the familiar
old moon in a new way because for the
first time in history somebody was
looking back
at that brief moment in time NASA took
its place at the pinnacle of human
achievement with its can-do spirit and a
reputation for doing the impossible NASA
saw galaxies of opportunity on the
horizon and went seeking new worlds to
explore
for a time there seemed no limit to what
NASA could do with hardware leftover
from Apollo NASA created the first
orbiting workshop Skylab during three
missions crews conducted more than 250
experiments using the largest collection
of scientific hardware ever flown in
space
skylab astronauts were the first to
spend three months living and working in
space
july 1976 nasa's present to america on
its 200th birthday Viking the first
spacecraft to soft land on another
planet its mission to sample the Martian
soil search for life monitor the weather
and give the world a close-up look at
the red planet Voyager a grand tour of
the outer solar system two spacecraft
made the twelve year for billion-mile
journey to send back detailed images
Jupiter's turbulent ammonia clowns the
frozen rings of Saturn the icy beauty of
Uranus and the fierce methane winds and
mysterious dark spot of Neptune Voyager
will be regarded as the quintessential
mission of exploration there has been no
other mission which has explored so many
new worlds only Voyager has had the
opportunity of visiting in sequence for
giant planets with literally dozens of
new worlds in orbit around them NASA's
cosmic background Explorer a small
satellite straining to receive the faint
whispers of a cosmic explosion that gave
birth to the universe 15 billion years
ago while the radiation that we're
looking at has come to us from 300,000
years after the Big Bang the structures
that we are seeing in that radiation are
much much older and they were created in
the first billionth of a second and
probably even earlier after the Big Bang
this is like the Golden Age of cosmology
we're really making a breakthrough here
NASA's post Apollo successes were
brilliant and path-breaking
but at some point on the way back from
the moon the national spotlight shifted
the young agency that had met John
Kennedy's deadline and been too busy to
bother with bureaucracy suddenly was
left without the national mandate and
urgency of those early days
nasa proposed a fully reusable shuttle
providing low-cost access to space with
launches every one to two weeks the
shuttle was part of a larger vision
including a space station leading to
further human exploration of the solar
system an imperfect compromise NASA
ended up with a partially reusable
shuttle but without its primary
destination space station the shuttle
was a technological success but with
what impact on the rest of NASA's
program shuttle development was
underfunded its schedule slipped causing
everything else to sleep cost overruns
became commonplace Congress grew
concerned paperwork requirements
mushroomed our 1967 budget document
consisted of four pages we keep it in
the display case to show visitors since
it is such a rarity these are the Dryden
responses to the 24 requests for
information levied on us by headquarters
the OMB and Congress NASA projects take
too long but didn't always take two
missions in pursuit of Venus Mariner 10
and Magellan
recommended launched
similarly geo tubes funded in 1973
flying only five years later this
high-resolution x-ray astronomy mission
revealed the riches of the x-ray sky
NASA immediately proposed the follow-on
mission acts F but today despite
breaking acts F into two smaller
missions the first launch appears not
likely any earlier than 1998 nearly two
decades after the mission was first
proposed to replace an aging us weather
satellite goes next the first of the new
generation of weather satellites
intended for launch in 1989 a
technological marvel
a federal fumble leaving the nation
suspicious that the NASA NOAA team can't
deliver what it promises in the face of
this long long history of 500 million
dollar overruns 33 years of delay
awesome problems of quality control I
see very little in the in the history
that would justify this Congress for
taking yet another chance on you you
know we can't do that three strikes is
out in baseball and out of how many
strikes you've had yet you've had a lot
more than three going back a number of
years business as usual NASA management
focuses on technical performance but
with schedule slips technical fixes and
new requirements a typical program costs
seventy-five percent over the original
estimate
still all these problems were bubbling
under the surface invisible to the
American people until challenger
American payloads backed up for 30
months NASA was on hold
then in nineteen ninety NASA's crown
jewel the Hubble Space Telescope
captured the world's imagination but the
euphoria was short-lived the final straw
fuel leaks ground in the shuttle fleet
NASA America's symbol of excellence the
agency that won the race to the moon
couldn't even get off the ground despite
NASA's problems the agency's budget grew
the possibilities seemed endless NASA
dreamt of an aerospace plane a new
national launch system are returned to
the moon and a voyage to Mars but the
pieces didn't fit together it was a
program without a unifying vision
and what of the budget februari 1991
NASA estimates its 1993 budget at over
17 billion dollars to include space
exploration would take even more fall
1991 after deliberating NASA submits a
budget of 16 billion to the office of
management and budget
more negotiations cut the budget further
to 15 billion finally the Congressional
process set the budget at fourteen point
three billion dollars the biggest
portion for the shuttle flying eight
missions a year then Space Station a
30-year commitment and the rest for
mission to Planet Earth access Cassini
other science missions and Aeronautics
will there ever be a budget with room
for anything new
this budget puts more on NASA's plate
than the nation can afford the
administration is proposing what I'd
call a Buck Rogers budget for NASA it's
long on fantasy and it's short on
reality and congressional criticism
isn't limited to NASA's programs and
budget together we beg plead and
implored them to be fair and equitable
now hiring and promotion minorities
women an agency that uses taxpayer funds
federal dollars NASA from the top down
as few minorities and meaningful policy
positions anywhere in ages aspire I urge
support for the past two decades NASA's
promises have exceeded its budget and
its performance hasn't met the country's
expectations there are some who would
have NASA abandon its dreams
but NASA knows how to rise to challenges
to make the space program an essential
thread in the fabric of American life to
give the American people more than they
expect as a return on their investment
NASA is unique because it alone can use
the magic and resources of space the
infinite frontier to produce a steady
stream of scientific discoveries and
technological innovations to benefit all
Americans and inspire humanity
maitreya drone NASA's future it begins
with Aeronautics working with American
industry to make possible the next
improvements in speed safety economy and
Environmental Protection helping America
regain a growing market share in
aerospace
NASA will team with the Defense
Department and Industry to revitalize
America's launchers with a new fleet of
small efficient affordable launchers
that will transport payloads into space
and an unprecedented pace and heavy lift
launchers that will carry spacefarers
back to the moon and on into space in
Earth orbit an armada of small and
middle sized satellites will measure the
world's oceans atmosphere and lands to
learn how they interact with each other
and with human activities NASA will lead
what may be the greatest scientific
achievement of the 20th century
completing the Great observatories with
the space infrared telescope facility
and back to the moon small precursor
missions blazed the trail these missions
rely on advanced technologies
technologies that move quickly into the
American economy
then men and women back to stay
using what we learn about living and
working in space aboard Space Station
freedom humans will be ready to build an
outpost on the moon a laboratory key to
understanding how to colonize the solar
system and harness its resources
astronauts will construct high-powered
telescopes strong enough to search
nearby stars for planets by building
smaller lighter spacecraft NASA will
revitalize planetary exploration sending
Outlanders Rovers and sample return
spacecraft that explore every major body
in the solar system including comets and
even the Sun itself
this new knowledge about the solar
system the runaway greenhouse of Venus
the disappearance of water on Mars
the record of the sun's radiation that's
been written into the moon surface for
millions of years will provide insights
into the most important place in the
solar system home planet Earth
there's no doubt in my mind at NASA has
been and continues to be the world
leader when it comes to peaceful space
exploration what I would like to see a
NASA not only being the best of
everything in terms of our space
missions but in terms of how we do
everything we're the best in the world
and we've done great things and will
continue to do unique and really
inspiring things we are a visionary
agency that we are in an RD world which
explores which looks at the unknown
there are no guarantees we see it
shuttle liftoff and there's a sense of
pride within NASA
I carpool with some people from the USDA
and I tease them alive is that you know
do you get that sense of pride when you
see USDA's left on that side of beef in
the future as spacefaring Nations become
more mature those that outside of Russia
that will have more of the sharing role
as we work together in 30 years NASA
will be as it as it is today responsible
for those things which make this country
of civilized nation
those are exploration and discovery and
knowledge my vision for NASA would not
only be that it be a technological and
science innovator
but also an agency that is view as one
of the most prestigious and cultural
diverse agencies when you look at me
you're looking at the face of the future
I mean women and minorities are going to
be an important part of what NASA does
in the future
and I would love to be able to say I
work for an organization that did
something great for Humanity we impacted
humanity we did something to to improve
our life don't find it off there is a
plaque displayed in the office of the
NASA Administrator it represents the
challenge that awaits the generation who
will come and pick up the torch
the plaque has been gathering dust long
enough a new millennium awaits it's time
to move onward to the planets and yes
even the stars
you