CBS News interviewed NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver today (July 21, 2009). Gen. Bolden told CBS’ Bill Harwood that the message to him from President Obama was very brief and explicit — “incite inspiration in young people and the country again.”

Gen. Bolden acknowleded that he and Ms. Garver need to gain the “confidence of Congress, the Office of Management and Budget and even the President” in order to move the agency forward. He believes the Augustine panel will provide “reasonable options that we can make work.” He said Mr. Augustine and he share a concern that the multiyear “gap” between the termination of the space shuttle and the availability of a new system not be prolonged.

Ms. Garver expressed optimism that Gen. Bolden and the White House will have options to choose “which will take us beyond Earth orbit in a way that all of America and the world can again be proud.”

The video from the cameras on Endeavour’s Solid Rocket Boosters is now available on NASA’s YouTube site.

The Augustine panel that is developing options for the future of the human spaceflight program is seeking comments on scenarios identified by its Exploration Beyond LEO subcommittee. Go to the panel’s website to see what options the subcommittee is considering and send in your comments. The subcommittee plans to complete its first round of analysis by the time of the panel’s July 28-30 public meetings.

The subcommittee’s task is to:

“examine the following questions: (1) What are the appropriate destinations and sequences of exploration for human exploration beyond LEO; (2) What should be the mode of surface exploration (if any); (3) What is the strategy within the human space flight program for coordinating human and robotic exploration; (4) What are the assumed launch vehicle(s) to LEO (in terms of mass to orbit and shroud diameter); (5) What are the options for in-space fuel/oxidizer storage and transfer; (6) What is the role that space technology research and development will play; (7) What is our strategy for engaging international partners in the development of the program; and (8) What is our strategy for engaging commercial entities?”

The Marshall Institute and the Space Enterprise Council/TechAmerica will hold a third seminar in their series “A Day Without Space” on July 28 from 8:30-12:00 at TechAmerica, 601 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., North Building, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. RSVP required. See the agenda for further details and RSVP information.

The Marshall Institute website has transcripts of the prior Day Without Space meetings:
A Day Without Space: Economic and National Security Ramifications
A Day without Space: National Security Ramifications

For anyone who missed the BIG EVENT at the National Air and Space Museum last night featuring the Apollo 11 crew — Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins — you can view the webcast here.

The astronauts’ talks really are worth a listen. For those who don’t have time to watch the entire hour and a half webcast, Buzz begins at minute 38:50, Mike at 54:45, and Neil at 1:08:40. .

President Obama met with the Apollo 11 astronauts, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver this afternoon. According to CNN, he hailed the Apollo 11 crew as “three American heroes” and with regard to the future:

“We expect that there is, as we speak, another generation of kids out there who are looking up at the sky and are going to be the next Armstrongs, Collinses and Aldrins,” Obama said. “We want to make sure that NASA is going to be there for them when they want to take their journey.”

Also, there was this exchange about the future of the space program during the daily White House press briefing by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

Q I want to briefly change the subject to the manned space program. I know the President is going to be talking about this momentarily, but from a budgetary standpoint, does the President think that America can afford to go back to the Moon or to Mars? I know it’s under review, but in the larger sense is he not worried about the cost?

MR. GIBBS: Well, again, as I said to the most — two previous questions, you’re always worried on any expenditure about cost. I know that the administration is committed to human space exploration. We’ve said that throughout the campaign. And as you mentioned, there is a committee set up through NASA to evaluate this and come back with recommendations as to NASA’s policy going forward I think later in August. And the President looks forward to seeing those commission recommendations, and I have no doubt that the President will get an opportunity to listen to astronauts that walked on the Moon 40 years ago — listen to their perspective and get a sense of what those missions did for scientific discovery and how that will impact the future.

Q It’s been estimated that in today’s dollars the Moon project would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Is it conceivable that that kind of money could be spent in this environment?

MR. GIBBS: Well, I think, without looking at that study, my assumption is that if you have no space program and start a space program, there are significant start-up costs, development costs, R&D costs that I think, factoring 40-year-ago dollars into current decisions, may not extrapolate quite as perfectly as one might presume. But again, the President looks forward to the commission’s recommendations.

Marcia Bartusiak has written a very entertaining and thought provoking op-ed for today’s Washington Post (July 19, 2009). She reminds us not just how big the universe is — and what a tiny part of it we are in — but that it may not be a UNiverse at all. Maybe we are in a MULTIverse of many parallel universes. Sound outrageous? Sure, but so was Copernicus’ idea that the Earth was not, in fact, the center of the universe. Science is full of surprises. That’s what makes it so cool.