The President’s Commission Implementation of United States Space Exploration Initiative PUBLIC HEARING Air Force Museum, Space Gallery 1100 Spaatz St., Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH Wednesday March 3 and Thursday March 4, 2004 Pete Aldridge Good afternoon. I'm Pete Aldridge. I'm the chairman of the President’s Commission on the implementation of the U.S. Space Policy. As we have shortened it to say the President's Commission on the Moon, Mars, and Beyond. We're delighted to be here and it seems only appropriate that the Commission's first hearing outside of Washington would be held here in Dayton for the workshop for controlled power flight, move from a dream to reality. It seems fitting that we come here as we move forward to sustain the journey of the Wright Brothers that began more than 100 years ago now. First let me introduce my fellow Commissioners. I began on the audience left. Carly Fiorina serves as the chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard, which she joined in July 1999. Her roots are deep in technology, having served as senior executive leadership positions in AT&T and Lucent Technologies. Michael Jackson is a Senior Vice President for ACOM Technology Corporation. He is a former U.S. Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary. Dr. Laurie Leshin. Laurie is the director of the Arizona State University Center for Meteorite studies and a professor Center for Meteorite Studies and the Professor of Geological Sciences at the university. No stranger to Dayton. General Les Lyles. General Lyles was in the Air Force for more than 35 years, rising from the Air Force ROTC program, to become a four star general and commander of Air Force materiel command. Dr. Paul Spudis is the planetary scientist at the John Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory. His specialty is geology of the moon. He has also studied the geology of mars, mercury and many other worlds. Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. Dr. Tyson is an astrophysist and the director of the planetarium in New York City. His professional research interests include star formations, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies and the structure of the Milky Way. Retired Congressman Bob Walker. Robert Walker is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Wexler and Walker Associates, a firm specializing in the telecommunications and technology issues. Mr. Walker served in the U.S. congress from 1 1977 to 1997, representing his home state of Pennsylvania. While in congress, he was the chairman of the house science and technology committee with NASA oversight. Dr. Maria Zuber. She's the E.A. Griswald Professor of Geophysics and Planetary Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and leads the department of earth atmospheric and planetary sciences. Dr. Zuber has been involved in more than half a dozen NASA planetary missions aimed at mapping the news, mars mercury and several asteroids. And our executive director, Mr. Steven Schmidt. Steve is the Special Assistant to the NASA administrator and is the federally designated official for this presidential advisory committee. Now it is important I think to review the process of this Commission. We've been appointed by the President to make recommendations as to how to implement the space vision, which he set out on the 14th of January 2004. He has given us a firm direction and it's our job now to recommend to him the most important strategies or steps to accomplish this vision. This is a sustained journey. More than many, many presidential terms are covered by this plan. We are listening to experts and the public along with drawing upon our own expertise to generate this plan. I envision that we will select maybe 10 key strategies to recommend what we believe will lead to putting us back on the moon and on to mars and beyond. Certainly with yesterday's announcement of findings regarding the high likelihood that mars once had a good habitable environment, it encourages us to drive forward to put pioneers on the moon and explorers on mars. In addition to experts, we're listening to the American public, the ultimate customer for this vision. Through our website, we're accepting comments from people around the world who want to be heard on this subject. And lots of folks want to be heard. We received more than 4,700 responses to our feedback opportunity on the web. Lots of folks are accessing the web pagement as of earlier this week, we received more than 1.8 million hits. I want you to know that every input is being read. We're listening. You may be interested to know that about 75% of those contacting us through the web are in favor of our sustained journey. Many of those who express their concerns about the process do so because of cost. As we approach this task of the Commission, we're looking at it through four themes or approaches. We see that we must make recommendations that are affordable, and therefore sustainable over several decades. I emphasize this is not a journey, -- this is a journey, not a race. So the management of such large projects and maintaining it’s affordability are crucial elements of this endeavor. Also, we recognize a need to inspire a nation's young people and encourage literacy in science and math and engineering. We need those skills in our country to maintain our leadership position in the world. Also we've been chartered to layout the science agenda for the next several decades. What should we be pursuing? What makes the best use of our investment? And finally, we're looking at the strategies that will ensure our nation's competitiveness and maintain our prosperity. In addition to Dayton, the Commission plans to visit three more additional cities: Atlanta, San Francisco, and New York. Then we will write our report and give it to the NASA administrator or the 2 President. We have many distinguished Guests, some of whom have come to testify and we'll meet each of those in turn. On behalf of the Commission, I want to acknowledge the support and effort of many folks here in Dayton who have made it possible for us to be here today: the Air Force Materiel Command under General Gary Martin's leadership. Speedy martin, I don't know him from any other name than that. Our host: U.S. Air Force Space Museum. A terrific staff here. General Metcalf, formally with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab, the 88th Air Base Wing, the Aeronautical Systems Center and the Air Force Institute of Technology. Also, we may have the first person on mars in this room here today. I would like for the students from the Hadley E. Watts middle school in Centerville, Ohio to stand up. Please stand up. Do you want to go to mars? Raise your hand. Their science teacher, Melissa Layman, has brought them here today to observe our proceedings. They have been studying space exploration as part of their curriculum. We welcome you and hope that you're studying hard to be able to lead this great journey we're on. Commissioners, I call your attention to three student essays that are included in your reference material today. And thank you Mrs. Layman and we wish you the best in supporting the education of our future explorers. Thank you very much. Our first witnesses today are indeed educators and among those we're counting on to guide the development of the next generation of space explorers. With us this afternoon, we have Dr. Patricia Arnold who serves the U.S. space foundation in Colorado spring as Vice President of Education. Mrs. Margaret Finarelli, Vice President of the North American operations of the international space university in Strasbourg, France. Dr. June Scobee Rodgers, founding chairman of the challenger center for space science education, and Mr. Brett Williams, a teacher from Fredericksburg high school aeroscience program from Fredericksburg, Texas. We welcome you and look forward to your testimony. Dr. Arnold, I believe you're going to be first. Please proceed. Patricia Arnold Chairman Aldridge and Commissioners, on behalf of the space foundation, I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the importance of education and the Role that NASA and the United States space exploration plan might play in the renaissance of education. Now is the time to reignite the passionate interest in space and science education. However, the manner that we go about doing this is critical to success. We cannot be content with short-term solutions for ideas or thinking. Over the last 15 years, the number of American college students earning degrees in science, technology, engineering and math, hereafter referred to as stem, has continued to decrease. In 2000-2001, United States students earning engineering degrees was only a little over 58,000. That is compared to other countries such as India with 80,000, Japan with 200,000, and china with 800,000. If the United States is to retain our technology 3 leadership and our ability to compete in the global marketplace, it is imperative that the United States levels the playing field. America's new space exploration policy represents a journey over time. So does the reinvention of education. It must start with our very youngest students beginning in preschool and build through the graduate programs. NASA cannot be expected to solve all of education's problems. However, the agency will once again be embarked in programs that excite young people and in position to help our students develop a passion for learning and to turn dreams into reality.