Senate Proceeding on Mar 8th, 2010 :: 2:02:20 to 2:11:09
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2:02:15 to 2:02:20( Edit History Discussion )

Ben Nelson: administration doesn't know where they're going and they may not get there.

2:02:20 to 2:11:09( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Bill Nelson

2:02:21 to 2:02:42( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: now, i said perception, mr. president. becausen reality the president has laid out a visionary manned space program. but the way the administration rolled out the space program,

2:02:43 to 2:03:03( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: much to the chagrin of a number of us that were trying to get through to the white house about the way that they could roll it out, it was rolled out as a part of the budget and left for people to draw their own conclusions. and i can tell you, mr. president, that among the

2:03:04 to 2:03:24( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: aerospace and space community, particularly in areas like houston, at the johnson space center, huntsville, at the marshall space flight senator, and florida, at the kennedy space center, i can tell you that the perception is that the president has killed the manned

2:03:25 to 2:03:45( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: space program. well, in fact, mr. president, that's the farthest thing from president obama's mind. he is an enthusiastic fan of the space program. as a matter of fact, you've heard him talk many times about how his little boy, his

2:03:46 to 2:04:07( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: grandfather, took him to see the return of some of the apollo astronauts coming back from the moon. and when he tells that story, his face just lights up and you can see the enthusiasm that he has. you can see as he interacts by radio with the astronauts on

2:04:08 to 2:04:28( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: board the space station and on board the space shuttle, you can see the enthusiasm that he has. unfortunately, some of his advisers have not given him correct informati about how to lay out his vision. and so,

2:04:29 to 2:04:49( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: of the wreaked the president has -- over the course of the weekend, the president has said that he's going to come to florida april the 15th, and he's going to lay out his vision for the space program. now, what is it? well, we can anticipate that the president will say what he

2:04:50 to 2:05:13( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: already had his administrator at nasa say in our committee hearing last week. and that was the goal is mars. mars is the next logical goal. we were on the moon 40 years ago. there could well be interim

2:05:14 to 2:05:34( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: steps on the way to mars. possibly the moon. possibly renedevous and landing on an ateroid and possibly to go to one of the

2:05:35 to 2:05:57( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: before actually going to mars. why? because it would expend a lot less energy to land on a moon of mars and return than it would to go on down to the red planet. the president actually laid out

2:05:58 to 2:06:19( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: in his proposal to the congress for the budget a robust budget that was a $60 billion increase for nasa over the course of the next five years. compared to other agencies of the government, nasa did very well.

2:06:20 to 2:06:41( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: the president also is to be commended in his budget proposal that he said what everybody knew he had to say, which the bush administration had ignored, which was we've got thi this $100 billion asset up there in orbit, called the international space station.

2:06:42 to 2:07:02( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: we're just completing it now. we're just equipping it now where we can get a crew of several astronauts, not just one, two, or three on board to usit as a national laboratory, which it is technically designated. and what he said was that we're

2:07:03 to 2:07:25( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: not going to stop it in 2015. we're going to at least carry it out to 2020. again, mr. president, that was a logical thing that everybody knew, but if you can believe it in the previous administration, it had not been budgeted for to continue beyond 2015, the

2:07:26 to 2:07:50( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: international space station, which we haven't even completed yet. and of which this last four flights will not only complete the construction, the equipping, but will take up major scientific experiments such as

2:07:54 to 2:08:15( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: the alpha magnetic spectometer, which if it works, it is going to open up our understanding of the universe and what are the origins of the universe. so the president laid out a fairly good plan that had some good things in it, but he left

2:08:16 to 2:08:36( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: himself open to miss interpretation so that not only is there the perception that the president has killed the manned space program, but there is outright hostility toward president obama and his proposals for the nation's human

2:08:37 to 2:08:57( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: space program. now, what did that occur? well, number one, the president didn't make the declaration. why is that important? because only a president can lead the nation's human space program. and, of course, the best example

2:08:58 to 2:09:19( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: of that was that after the soviets had surprised us in the 1950's with pu sputnik and then they surprised us again by putting the first person in orbit, and we didn't even have a rocket that was strong enough to get us into orbit with our little mercury spacecraft.

2:09:20 to 2:09:40( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: and we had the plan to go into sub orbit with allen shepard and after shepard came back, took that bold stroke of president kennedy to say in nine years we're going to the moon and safely returning. now, that's leadership.

2:09:41 to 2:10:02( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: that's a declaratory judgment. that's stepping out and being bold. and if we're going to mars, it's going to take say that. and in saying that, not to tell his nasa administrator in the space subcommittee hearing of the united states senate last

2:10:03 to 2:10:25( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: week that the administrator can say that the goal is mars. it's got to take the president to say that and he's got set out a specific time frame. it can be approximate, but it has to be a reasonable time frame.

2:10:26 to 2:10:49( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: and he has to then say to nasa, you figure out the architecture. you set the benchmarks. so is it to go back to the moon for a temporary mission? is it to go to an asteroid, is it to go on to go straight to mars? and then to unleash the creative

2:10:50 to 2:11:12( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: spirit, the human ingenuity of americans in what we have seen in this extraordinary program that the heartbeat of every american beats a little faster when they see some of the extraordinary heroic accomplishments that we've had in the american space program.