Our Future in Space (and on Earth) Begins in America’s  Classrooms

The Hill - March 7, 2007

In an historic address to Congress in May of 1961 President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to reach for the moon. “Now it is time to take longer strides--time for a great new American enterprise – time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.” Kennedy’s call to action inspired hundreds of thousands of Americans to dedicate themselves to realizing the greatest scientific and engineering feat in human history.

Not only did our space program advance beyond our wildest dreams, but the research and development needed for the space program helped usher in a period of entrepreneurship and innovation which cemented America’s position as the world’s unrivalled economic powerhouse.  Today, nearly four decades after Apollo 11, NASA’s exploration of the cosmos continues to draw new graduates into the sciences, but the pace has slackened, threatening both the future of our space program and our economic growth and prosperity.

Each year I see the continuing capacity of the space program to inspire a new generation of Americans to take up President Kennedy’s challenge, when I invite an astronaut to visit one of my schools.  Most recently, Dr. James Newman, a veteran of four space shuttle missions accompanied me to a middle school in Pasadena.  He posed a difficult math problem to the assembled students concerning the number of sunrises and sunsets that a shuttle astronaut would observe during a 24 hour period orbiting the earth.

After a great many wrong guesses, one youngster raised his hand with the correct answer -- 32.  This student was truly gifted, but it wasn’t clear to me whether he was even aware of his gift, or whether his friends, family, school or country would make use of that gift.  America has benefited from an enormous brain drain from the rest of the world that has in part compensated for declining interest in the sciences here at home.  But this infusion of brilliant minds has slowed with ever-increasingly difficult immigration laws, and unless we can discover and cultivate our own talent – like this child – our future is in jeopardy.

Two weeks ago, the results of the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress were released and they were not encouraging.  Only 23 percent of all American 12th graders were considered “proficient” in mathematics, and American high school seniors were below average in science education compared to their peers in other countries.  This slide in math and science education could cost our nation to lose its competitive advantage in the global marketplace unless we act now to reinvigorate interest in our youngest generation to pursue paths in these critical fields.

Even as American students turn away from math and science, young Chinese, Indians, and others are embracing these fields.  American universities graduate 70,000 engineers a year.  India graduates 400,000, while China mints 700,000 a year.  It is imperative that our nation continue to lead the way in science and technology innovation and the space program can be a catalyst in stimulating our youth to pursue interests in math and science.

America’s space program is now in the midst of its first fundamental transition since the end of the Apollo program and the introduction of the Space Shuttle.  After completion of the construction of the International Space Station in 2010, the Shuttle will be retired.  Four years later, the Orion spacecraft and the Ares launch vehicle will begin to carry humans and their equipment into space.  And at the same time, we will be continuing our national effort to explore space using unmanned space probes and orbiting telescopes through the pioneering work of institutions like the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Just as the Apollo project inspired a generation, so too can the goal of establishing a permanent presence on the moon, preparing for a trip to Mars in the decades to come and finding worlds beyond our solar system that may support life.  After he finished telling students about his experiences in space, one inquisitive fifth-grader asked Dr. Newman how he became an astronaut.  Dr. Newman told the boy that he had studied physics and explained how physics related to space travel.  As the child turned to leave, I heard him exclaim, “Physics - that’s the thing for me.” 

Discovering the hidden talent that is so plentiful in the elementary and middle schools in this country, inspiring those children to make use of these gifts, and teaching them well, will insure a successful space program.  More than that, as Kennedy divined, it also holds the key to our future on earth.