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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe

Aired January 25, 2003 - 09:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ROBERT NOVAK, HOST: Welcome to "The Novak Zone." We're at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum with the head of the U.S. space program, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe.
Mr. O'Keefe, as we sit here, overhead somewhere is the "Columbia" space shuttle with the first Israeli astronaut in air. But there are space writers who have written that this is the beginning of the end of U.S. manned air space, that the -- this decade would see the end of manned operations. Is that true?

SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Oh, not at all. I think we're just at the beginning of it. Right now we have a expedition crew of Ken Bowersox, who's our commander of the International Space Station, Don Petit (ph), and cosmonaut Nikolai Baderin (ph). That's the sixth mission of continuous presence in space on the International Space Station. We're half done building that capability, that laboratory in space that we couldn't duplicate here on earth.

We got many expeditions left to go well into the next decade.

NOVAK: However, the spending projections for NASA has kind of leveled out, while other government agencies, naturally, are having some growth. It's pretty tough to fund this program, isn't it, when the U.S. is running big budget deficits and there's a war against terrorism to spend on?

O'KEEFE: Well, stay tuned. I think if you're focused, selective, and very -- think very carefully about where you're going to spend the resources for what objectives, there's a lot of mileage you can get out of a $15 billion program that the American public has entrusted to us for the purposes of exploration and discovery. That's a great charter, and it's one that we take very seriously, and we take every dollar as something that is not to be expected, that we have to earn each and every step of the way.

NOVAK: Mr. O'Keefe, the -- it's been 30 years since the United States put a man on the moon. And that was a time, as you and I well remember, when the names of astronauts were household words. It's very hard now for the man on the street to name one astronaut. What -- do you think it's necessary to get some -- a little bit more public support behind your program? Is it a matter of publicizing the astronauts? Or do we have to start going back to the moon and having something that will excite the ordinary citizen?

O'KEEFE: Well, I think it's less about publicity and more about just recognizing the extraordinary capabilities that each of the astronauts bring to this important set of expeditions that we carry out each and every day, and getting to know them better, I think, is something we can do just as a recognition of the role models for America's youth that have always carried, I think, the education portfolio since the founding of NASA in 1958.

We're going to get to know a lot more about Barbara Morgan in this coming year, our first educator astronaut, and many educator astronauts after her, who are teachers, who can bring to life the wonders of exploration and discovery in the classrooms and excite that next generation of explorers. So we're going to get to know a lot more about her.

We also need to get to know a lot more about, again, guys like Ken Bowersox or Rick Husband, the guy who is the commander of the current expedition that's under way right now. Those are the kinds of folks who -- that we, I think, ought to admire, look up to, and realize the extraordinary capabilities they have and the sacrifice that they make each and every day on our behalf as explorers.

It really is an extraordinary group of people.

NOVAK: Mr. O'Keefe, the International Space Station has gotten a -- kind of a bum press, I would say. And let me just read you what I think is the nastiest, from "The Times" of London just a few weeks ago. Said, "NASA has morphed into a vast bureaucratic undistinguished organization presiding over a $60 billion floating white elephant, the International Space Station." What's your response to that?

O'KEEFE: Well, I'm -- far be it from me to observe what "The Times" of London thinks about anything. But it, nonetheless, I think, is an uninformed characterization of the most extraordinary laboratory, that we could not duplicate here on earth. Microgravity condition is something we can't replicate here on earth.

And as a consequence, the laboratory we're trying to build there, with international partners from 16 different countries, to explore some of the really important medical breakthroughs, physiological challenges, material sciences kinds of things, that could potentially really, you know, break through a series of challenges and problems we've been living with as humans for a long time.

All you need is one of those, and suddenly, I think, that'll become the next Hubble.

NOVAK: If I could use a four-letter word, Mars, is there Mars in the future of the U.S. space program in our lifetime?

O'KEEFE: Any destination, I think, is going to be a difficult challenge to accomplish until we beat two big problems. First one is, we have to get there faster. Our current capabilities right now, it takes you 15 years to traverse the edges just of this solar system, forget about the vast expanse of the universe. We've got to do a lot better than that, and we've got to be able to do that at a much greater pace.

So we're really concentrating on in-space propulsion, power generation capabilities, to enable any destination to be achievable.

Second thing we need to worry about and focus on is the physiological effects on human beings. If we send anybody anywhere beyond low-earth orbit, before you hit the radiation belt, they withstand even in that condition extraordinary doses of radiation, extraordinary degradation of muscle mass and bone mass.

If we can conquer those kind of problems, it'll not only help enable the capabilities for space exploration in the future and achieve any destination you like, be it Mars or any other spot, but it also will help us here on earth by understanding what the challenges are of arresting things like, again, bone mass, which if we could arrest osteoporosis problems, all by itself that would be a breakthrough that would be of enormous capability for us here on earth, and also enable the capabilities for deeper exploration.

Those are the things we're concentrating on.

NOVAK: Now, the big question for Sean O'Keefe. Mr. O'Keefe, when all America was excited about the beginnings of the space program 40 years ago, there was talk about in the 21st Century, there will be space tourism, ordinary people would have space travel. It's now the 21st Century, nothing of that is in sight. What is the outlook for ordinary citizens to be space travelers?

O'KEEFE: It might be just around the corner. If we're able to figure out how to get out of this age of sail, which is where we are right now in space exploration, and at least get to the age of steam in figuring out, how do you accomplish the task of getting anywhere more expeditiously and do it in a way that lends itself to us mere mortals, as opposed to the extraordinary astronauts who are trained for extended periods of time for each and every mission, once we get over that hurdle, that may be in our future. Stand by.

NOVAK: Can you give a date?

O'KEEFE: Next decade, I think, is certainly a possibility that's worth aspiring to.

NOVAK: NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe, thank you very much.

O'KEEFE: Thank you, Bob. Pleasure to be with you.

NOVAK: And thank you for being in "The Novak Zone."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 25, 2003 - 09:28   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROBERT NOVAK, HOST: Welcome to "The Novak Zone." We're at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum with the head of the U.S. space program, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe.
Mr. O'Keefe, as we sit here, overhead somewhere is the "Columbia" space shuttle with the first Israeli astronaut in air. But there are space writers who have written that this is the beginning of the end of U.S. manned air space, that the -- this decade would see the end of manned operations. Is that true?

SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Oh, not at all. I think we're just at the beginning of it. Right now we have a expedition crew of Ken Bowersox, who's our commander of the International Space Station, Don Petit (ph), and cosmonaut Nikolai Baderin (ph). That's the sixth mission of continuous presence in space on the International Space Station. We're half done building that capability, that laboratory in space that we couldn't duplicate here on earth.

We got many expeditions left to go well into the next decade.

NOVAK: However, the spending projections for NASA has kind of leveled out, while other government agencies, naturally, are having some growth. It's pretty tough to fund this program, isn't it, when the U.S. is running big budget deficits and there's a war against terrorism to spend on?

O'KEEFE: Well, stay tuned. I think if you're focused, selective, and very -- think very carefully about where you're going to spend the resources for what objectives, there's a lot of mileage you can get out of a $15 billion program that the American public has entrusted to us for the purposes of exploration and discovery. That's a great charter, and it's one that we take very seriously, and we take every dollar as something that is not to be expected, that we have to earn each and every step of the way.

NOVAK: Mr. O'Keefe, the -- it's been 30 years since the United States put a man on the moon. And that was a time, as you and I well remember, when the names of astronauts were household words. It's very hard now for the man on the street to name one astronaut. What -- do you think it's necessary to get some -- a little bit more public support behind your program? Is it a matter of publicizing the astronauts? Or do we have to start going back to the moon and having something that will excite the ordinary citizen?

O'KEEFE: Well, I think it's less about publicity and more about just recognizing the extraordinary capabilities that each of the astronauts bring to this important set of expeditions that we carry out each and every day, and getting to know them better, I think, is something we can do just as a recognition of the role models for America's youth that have always carried, I think, the education portfolio since the founding of NASA in 1958.

We're going to get to know a lot more about Barbara Morgan in this coming year, our first educator astronaut, and many educator astronauts after her, who are teachers, who can bring to life the wonders of exploration and discovery in the classrooms and excite that next generation of explorers. So we're going to get to know a lot more about her.

We also need to get to know a lot more about, again, guys like Ken Bowersox or Rick Husband, the guy who is the commander of the current expedition that's under way right now. Those are the kinds of folks who -- that we, I think, ought to admire, look up to, and realize the extraordinary capabilities they have and the sacrifice that they make each and every day on our behalf as explorers.

It really is an extraordinary group of people.

NOVAK: Mr. O'Keefe, the International Space Station has gotten a -- kind of a bum press, I would say. And let me just read you what I think is the nastiest, from "The Times" of London just a few weeks ago. Said, "NASA has morphed into a vast bureaucratic undistinguished organization presiding over a $60 billion floating white elephant, the International Space Station." What's your response to that?

O'KEEFE: Well, I'm -- far be it from me to observe what "The Times" of London thinks about anything. But it, nonetheless, I think, is an uninformed characterization of the most extraordinary laboratory, that we could not duplicate here on earth. Microgravity condition is something we can't replicate here on earth.

And as a consequence, the laboratory we're trying to build there, with international partners from 16 different countries, to explore some of the really important medical breakthroughs, physiological challenges, material sciences kinds of things, that could potentially really, you know, break through a series of challenges and problems we've been living with as humans for a long time.

All you need is one of those, and suddenly, I think, that'll become the next Hubble.

NOVAK: If I could use a four-letter word, Mars, is there Mars in the future of the U.S. space program in our lifetime?

O'KEEFE: Any destination, I think, is going to be a difficult challenge to accomplish until we beat two big problems. First one is, we have to get there faster. Our current capabilities right now, it takes you 15 years to traverse the edges just of this solar system, forget about the vast expanse of the universe. We've got to do a lot better than that, and we've got to be able to do that at a much greater pace.

So we're really concentrating on in-space propulsion, power generation capabilities, to enable any destination to be achievable.

Second thing we need to worry about and focus on is the physiological effects on human beings. If we send anybody anywhere beyond low-earth orbit, before you hit the radiation belt, they withstand even in that condition extraordinary doses of radiation, extraordinary degradation of muscle mass and bone mass.

If we can conquer those kind of problems, it'll not only help enable the capabilities for space exploration in the future and achieve any destination you like, be it Mars or any other spot, but it also will help us here on earth by understanding what the challenges are of arresting things like, again, bone mass, which if we could arrest osteoporosis problems, all by itself that would be a breakthrough that would be of enormous capability for us here on earth, and also enable the capabilities for deeper exploration.

Those are the things we're concentrating on.

NOVAK: Now, the big question for Sean O'Keefe. Mr. O'Keefe, when all America was excited about the beginnings of the space program 40 years ago, there was talk about in the 21st Century, there will be space tourism, ordinary people would have space travel. It's now the 21st Century, nothing of that is in sight. What is the outlook for ordinary citizens to be space travelers?

O'KEEFE: It might be just around the corner. If we're able to figure out how to get out of this age of sail, which is where we are right now in space exploration, and at least get to the age of steam in figuring out, how do you accomplish the task of getting anywhere more expeditiously and do it in a way that lends itself to us mere mortals, as opposed to the extraordinary astronauts who are trained for extended periods of time for each and every mission, once we get over that hurdle, that may be in our future. Stand by.

NOVAK: Can you give a date?

O'KEEFE: Next decade, I think, is certainly a possibility that's worth aspiring to.

NOVAK: NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe, thank you very much.

O'KEEFE: Thank you, Bob. Pleasure to be with you.

NOVAK: And thank you for being in "The Novak Zone."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com