NASA chief unveils his vision for the agency
In his first major speech as NASA administrator, Sean O'Keefe presented a sweeping mission for the agency Friday but did not unveil any new initiatives involving the space program or international space station.
Speaking to an audience at Syracuse University's Maxwell School for Citizenship and Public Affairs, where he formerly held a professorship, O'Keefe committed the agency to three broad goals: understanding and improving life on Earth, exploring the universe and searching for life on other planets, and inspiring the next generation of explorers. NASA will form partnerships with other agencies and the private sector and will use the Bush administration's management agenda, including competitive sourcing, to pursue these aims, he said.
"The biggest difference is that the mission is science-driven and that it will be carried out in a new commitment to fiscal responsibility and wise use of our assets, and with the synergy that comes from working with other government agencies, industry and academia," he said.
Among other things, this mission will include sharing NASA technology and imagery data with other agencies to help protect against terrorist attacks, O'Keefe said. As part of his emphasis on leap-ahead technologies, NASA could develop homeland security systems, he said.
"It is not a technology leap to design systems to preclude the use of commercial aircraft as weapons," said O'Keefe. "This goal we're working on is an imperative inspired by the events of Sept. 11, which touched us all-and NASA was no exception."
O'Keefe stressed that NASA must do its part to encourage more students to study math and science. As part of this effort, he announced that Barbara Morgan, a former Idaho elementary school teacher and longtime NASA employee, will be sent to the space station in 2004 as an Educator Mission Specialist.
Morgan trained with the crew of the space shuttle Challenger in the mid-1980's and was the backup to science teacher Christa McAuliffe on the 1986 Challenger mission that claimed the lives of McAuliffe and her six crewmates.
Morgan will complete the educational mission started by McAuliffe, according to O'Keefe.
"NASA has an unfinished mission," he said. "The mission was begun in 1986, but it ended in tragedy for the seven families, for the NASA family, and for the world." NASA will work with the Education Department to recruit more teachers for the Educator Mission Specialist program, he said.
O'Keefe said the agency will use the Bush administration's government reform agenda as a template for management reform, but he offered no new details on reforms that may be in the works.