White House Press Secretary on New NASA Strategy

April 15, 2010 at 8:50 am | Posted in Space Law | Leave a comment

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From the White House:

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 14, 2010
Briefing by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, 4/14/10

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:32 P.M. EDT . . .

. . . Q Robert, can you respond to Neil Armstrong’s criticism of the administration’s plans for NASA? He read the new fact sheets that you guys put out and still has the same criticism, this idea that the space program is going to become mediocre.

MR. GIBBS: You know, I watched some of the reporting on this. I would say that, first and foremost, an independent commission has looked at NASA, at its budget, and at its programs, and found that they — the programs were years behind schedule, massively over budget, that we weren’t going to meet the time frame of going to the moon under any circumstance. In fact, the commission itself found that the idea of going to the moon under the timetable prescribed was un-executable. That’s their word.

Q So why not fix that process, improve that, rather than scrub the program?

MR. GIBBS: Again, they — again, Chuck, and I’m sure you all have dug into this and found that given the time frame and given the budget and given the ability to meet the goals that they laid out, again, the commission found that that was simply not attainable.

The President will outline a renewed strategy tomorrow in Florida that will provide more jobs for the area, greater investment in innovation, more astronaut time in space, more rockets launching sooner, and a more ambitious and sustainable space program for America’s future.

That’s why, again, there have been many, including Buzz Aldrin, who believe that what the President will outline represents our best opportunity and our best effort to get this agency and program back on pace to put astronauts and rockets into space, as the President so strongly desires.

Q That sounds like you take issue — it sounds like you take issue with this — the idea that jobs are going away. Because that’s what a lot of people in Florida — Senator Bill Nelson is concerned about this — that jobs are going away. You’re saying there are going to be additional jobs —

MR. GIBBS: There will be additional jobs. Again, remember —

Q — there are going to be a bunch of jobs going away.

MR. GIBBS: Remember that there was a decision made in 2004 to retire the shuttle program. The deadline actually had been extended. But the plan that the President will outline actually would result in more jobs for the area than would have been had the plans simply been carried out. So I think that, again, the President will outline this in more specificity and detail tomorrow, but this is a sustainable investment in our continued returning to space.

Q But to Chuck’s point, won’t there still be jobs lost because of the programs that are being discontinued?

MR. GIBBS: Again, that was a decision made more than six years ago to discontinue the shuttle program.

Q But, Robert, on the same thing —

MR. GIBBS: Again, the President is going to get into this in great detail tomorrow.

Q But what response does he have to someone like Neil Armstrong, who has now been out —

MR. GIBBS: The same one I just gave to Chuck, based on —

Q What about the specific comment that America is giving up its leadership?

MR. GIBBS: Understand this. As I said, an independent commission was formulated to study where the program was, whether it was capable of fulfilling what it said it was going to do. The commission — and, again, an independent commission — came back and said that was un-executable, not going to happen. What the President has done is put in place something that is sustainable, that will return astronauts and rockets to space, increase our investment in cutting-edge research and innovation, and provide us the best opportunities.

Q But you’re changing from what — he’s making changes from what he had earlier this year.

MR. GIBBS: He is.

Q And what caused that?

MR. GIBBS: Again, a strong desire to see our nation continue to lead the world in space exploration. But understand — Major just asked the Secretary and myself about unsustainable budgets. No one has been immune to this. The President froze non-security defense — non-security discretionary spending for a three-year period of time. We have lived for a long time beyond our means. So the original program, again, envisioned would not have been available to return to space until 2028 to 2030.

Q — regards the space program, though, as part of the national security — is a national security issue.

MR. GIBBS: Well, there are — well, again, I think there are obvious and cutting-edge research and innovation investments that a whole host of people in this administration and out believe are tremendously important. That’s why the President’s renewed program protects that and, again, provides something that is sustainable. The program that had been in place, Chuck, was not going to — just simply not going to happen. . . .