Remarks Came During 'Twitter Town Hall' Wednesday
Responding to a question posed on Twitter during and event
described as a "Twitter Town Hall" Wednesday, President Barack
Obama said NASA needs to re-focus its efforts and shift its
vision.
"Now that the space shuttle is gone, where does America stand in
space exploration?" asked a person named Ron, who was participating
in the event through his Twitter account.
"We are still a leader in space exploration," the President
said. "But, frankly, I have been pushing NASA to revamp its vision.
The shuttle did some extraordinary work in low-orbit experiments,
the International Space Station, moving cargo. It was an
extraordinary accomplishment and we’re very proud of the work
that it did. But now what we need is that next technological
breakthrough.
"We’re still using the same
models for space travel that we used with the Apollo program 30, 40
years ago. And so what we’ve said is, rather than keep on
doing the same thing, let’s invest in basic research around
new technologies that can get us places faster, allow human space
flight to last longer.
"And what you’re seeing now is
NASA I think redefining its mission. And we’ve set a goal to
let’s ultimately get to Mars. A good pit stop is an asteroid.
I haven’t actually -- we haven’t identified the actual
asteroid yet, in case people are wondering." The crowd laughed at
that point, according to the official transcript. "But the point
is, let’s start stretching the boundaries so we’re not
doing the same thing over and over again, but rather let’s
start thinking about what’s the next horizon, what’s
the next frontier out there.
"But in order to do that, we’re
actually going to need some technological breakthroughs that we
don’t have yet. And what we can do is for some of this
low-orbit stuff, some of the more routine space travel -- obviously
no space travel is routine, but it could become more routine over
time -- let’s allow the private sector to get in so that they
can, for example, send these low-Earth orbit vehicles into space
and we may be able to achieve a point in time where those of you
who are just dying to go into space, you can buy a ticket, and a
private carrier can potentially take you up there, while the
government focuses on the big breakthroughs that require much
larger investments and involve much greater risk."
The remarks came just about 48 hours before the final shuttle
mission is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center in
Florida.