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every astronaut who ever flew with us

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whether a u.s. astronaut or not was

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invited to this celebration but none are

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greater in their accomplishments than

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John and Neil and the demands on their

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time are voracious there are very very

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public people because of what they have

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done and they have borne the burdens of

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those public lives that they live with a

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grace and an equanimity that most of us

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can only aspire to and I thank both of

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you for being here tonight one thing

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about that is very enjoyable about our

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50th birthday our 50th anniversary is

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that we're still young enough to be able

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to interact with those not only our

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astronauts but also our flight engineers

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those on the ground who helped bring it

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together we're still young enough to be

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able to interact with many of the folks

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who started out with us and for me in my

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career to be able to be mentored and

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taught by such people has been one of

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the greatest the greatest benefits that

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I've had it is an honor to be here

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tonight I'm doing the job that I aspired

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to hold as a child I was many of you

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have heard me say that I was interested

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in space and space travel before there

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was a Sputnik and so I watched with

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bated breath as those who were a few

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years older put some of those dreams

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into practice in some of the videos that

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we saw earlier and it's a thrill for me

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to be leading the agency today despite

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the trials and tribulations that it

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takes and so thanks to all of you for

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coming here tonight to help separate

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celebrate Becky's in my anniversary

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I can't I can't leave the theme of

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anniversaries without also mentioning

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that it's the birthday of someone who is

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a dear friend and to to many of us on a

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close colleague to some of you John

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Young it's John's 78th birthday today I

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I often say that John Young befriended

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me before I was anybody and so I have

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always very much appreciated that NASA

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today is doing well I I believe that we

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are doing well I believe the evidence

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before us supports that we're in the

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final stages of completing the

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International Space Station much tougher

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than we ever thought it would be for

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many reasons lying entirely outside the

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technical but we're getting there and

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when we are done it will be an

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engineering and scientific

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accomplishment beyond anything yet

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achieved by the human race on other

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fronts we just landed soft landed on

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Mars for the third time in history this

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past Memorial Day it was an exciting

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event as I've ever been able to witness

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we still have two Rovers running around

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Mars as we speak today I spoke the other

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day with one of the folks who earns his

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living by driving a rover on Mars it's a

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tough job but somebody's got to do it

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the Dawn spacecraft is on the way to the

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nearer to the major asteroids in the

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asteroid belt we have no idea what will

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learn there we can be certain that we'll

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learn things we didn't know New Horizons

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is on its way to Pluto messenger is on

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its way to mercury and stereo a twin a

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pair of spacecraft are on the way to

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positions where they can image the Sun

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simultaneously with a stereo view to

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learn how the engine which drives our

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climate behaves and regarding our

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climate we are being observed by more

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among them Terra and Aqua Terra was

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managed by the by the man who is my

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associate administrator today Chris

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kelis another to whom we owe

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so NASA is doing well I think we will

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continue to do well elsewhere i have

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written after a lot of the very careful

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geeky analysis for which i'm known that

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with our present budgets in infix

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dollars constant dollars

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inflation-adjusted dollars if we can

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stay the course when it comes time to

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have that hundredth birthday that Neil

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spoke of that we can be looking back on

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the 20th anniversary of the first Mars

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landing I know that to be true it's

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available in the technology and it's

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available in the budget but it requires

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that we act with unusual persistence for

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Americans and that we stay the course

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and that we stay true to what it is that

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we believe the proper goals are for our

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agency into our children's and

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grandchildren's time I think there are

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lessons from today in what happens when

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we lose that focus we are doing very

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well today but as you walk out of this

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museum I'd like you to take a look at

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the sr-71 we don't have one of those

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anymore tonight i'm wearing a tie which

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shows an astronaut in a manned

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maneuvering unit flying around and it

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shows an apollo lander on the moon and

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the apollo space to apollo spacecraft we

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don't have those anymore either you can

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go see them in museums now there's

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nothing odd about looking at 40 year old

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hardware in museums and admiring it and

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respecting it and respecting those who

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brought it into being indeed that's why

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we have museums and that's what they're

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for we should do that what looks easy to

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us today was not easy the first time it

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had to be done but only in American

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Aerospace of which I am aware can we go

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to a museum

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and look at certain artifacts and wish

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that we could still do as well and that

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fact should sober everyone here in my

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opinion next week if their plans go well

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and they don't have an undue amount of

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weather delays the Chinese will launch

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the first three-man spacecraft at that

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moment they will outnumber the number of

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Americans and the number of Russians in

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space and in fact there will be as many

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Chinese in space as there are Russians

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and Americans put together good on the

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Chinese I will cheer for them I wish

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them well I wish that we were more

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prominently numbered among those who are

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in space and that we were reaching

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farther and doing more in contrast the

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victories that I'm striving for as we

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speak include the passage in Congress of

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a waiver allowing me to use US tech

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dollar tax dollars to purchase seats on

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the Russian Soyuz to take our astronauts

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to the space station that we have built

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and this will be a victory because all

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of the other outcomes are worse that's

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the situation we find ourselves for what

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the Columbia accident investigation

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board referred to as a sustained loss of

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vision for the American space program

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and what it ought to be I took over at

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the best of times at NASA and the worst

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of times but the best of times because

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of the possibilities for making change

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and we're doing that and I think the

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team that we've put together is doing it

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very well indeed I'm immensely proud of

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but we're not on our 50th anniversary

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celebrating the 20th anniversary of the

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first landing on Mars and we could have

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been because we lost focus and we lost

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an understanding that everything worth

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doing cannot be summarized on an Excel

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spreadsheet and presented for a

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cost-benefit analysis I hope that in the

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next 50 years we can hug that

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understanding to our bosom and then

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those who stand here in this museum

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which will be here in 50 years can look