| Posted on Jul 20, 2011 03:06:53 PM | | |
-
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.
| Posted on Jul 01, 2011 01:01:37 PM | Administrator Charles Bolden | | |
-
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!
Space shuttle Atlantis’ wakeup song for landing day was “God Bless America” by Kate Smith, played at 9:29 p.m. EDT, for the entire crew and all the men and women who have worked for the shuttle program over the years. Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim will begin deorbit preparations a little before 1 a.m. EDT for their planned landing at 5:56 a.m. at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
No comments:
Post a Comment