President Barack Obama鈥檚 pick for NASA鈥檚 next chief says the agency has lost inspirational power and faces a choice if the US is to keep its edge in space exploration.
and retired Marine Corps general Charles Bolden was met with praise by lawmakers on Wednesday when he appeared before the US Senate鈥檚 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
The hearing was the first step in Bolden鈥檚 confirmation as NASA chief. If the Senate committee votes to approve the nomination, the vote will move on to the full Senate floor for final approval.
Advertisement
Bolden said NASA has lost the inspirational power it had at the start of the Apollo era and into the first years of the space shuttle programme. Visiting a classroom in 1980, Bolden told the committee, 鈥淚 could ask, 鈥楬ow many of you want to be an astronaut?鈥�, and every hand went up鈥�. When I go to a school today and ask that question, I may see three hands, and all of them want to go into business.鈥�
NASA is at a crossroads, he said. 鈥淭oday we have to choose. Either we can invest in building up our hard-earned world technological leadership or we can abandon this commitment, ceding it to other nations who are working vigilantly to push the frontiers of space,鈥� Bolden said in his opening statement.
Basic research
Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the committee chair, began a short period of questions by asking Bolden what he would do to revitalise the agency, which Rockefeller characterised as 鈥渁drift鈥� and 鈥渕ore of a splendid story of the past鈥�.
The NASA nominee said his top priority is to improve the safety and efficiency of the agency. But he also outlined a number of other needs, including better leadership in Earth science and outreach to children.
Bolden also highlighted the need for more investment in basic research. 鈥淚 would like to see NASA as the preeminent development agency in the United States,鈥� Bolden said.
He highlighted aeronautics research, which has met with steep budget cuts in recent years, as an area of need. He also spoke of the research benefits of the International Space Station but did not mention NASA鈥檚 astrophysics, planetary science, or solar science programmes.
Private industry
Commercial partnerships, which could soon help the US resupply the space station after the space shuttle is retired in 2010, are important because 鈥渢he government cannot fund everything we need to do鈥�, Bolden said. As an example, he highlighted a partnership with former astronaut , who is developing an ion engine that Bolden said can enable trips to Mars in 鈥�39 days instead of 8 to 11 months鈥�.
Although Bolden told the committee that NASA should accelerate the development of the next generation of vehicles that will take astronauts to space after the retirement of the shuttle, he did not outline a plan for human exploration. 鈥淭he nation has to decide where it wants to go. I think it鈥檚 beyond low-Earth orbit,鈥� Bolden said.
The agency is still operating under a plan outlined in 2004 by then president George Bush to return astronauts to the moon by 2020, an objective Obama supported in his first budget request.
But plans may change depending on the outcome of a blanket review of NASA鈥檚 plans that Obama ordered in May. The committee is expected to release its report by the end of August.
