NASA Gets Two Shout Outs in State of the Union Address

President Obama mentioned NASA twice (and NOAA once) in his State of the Union (SOTU) address tonight.  First he talked about the Orion EFT-1 flight last year and Scott Kelly’s upcoming year-long mission to the International Space Station (ISS) as steppingstones to Mars.  Later he turned to climate change and lauded NASA and NOAA scientists among those warning that humans are affecting the climate.

Part of the coveted currency of Washington politics is getting mentioned in the SOTU.  Agencies and interest groups jockey to get a single sentence in the typically hour-long speech to raise awareness of their issues. The actual value of that currency is questionable, but seems no less desirable as the years pass.  This is not the first time Obama has mentioned NASA or the space program in an SOTU address (he did so in 2011 and 2013), but his one major space policy speech was a separate event at Kennedy Space Center in April 2010.

Thinking back over the history of when being singled out in the SOTU resulted in a significant policy change for NASA, the only one that comes to mind is President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 address where he directed NASA to build a space station “within a decade” and invite other countries to join. That eventually became the ISS program, though it took two-and-a-half decades instead of one.   In 1986, Reagan called for development of an “Orient Express” — a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle that could not only put payloads into orbit but be used as a commercial hypersonic plane to take passengers from Washington to Tokyo in two hours.  The resulting National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) program did not succeed.  (John F. Kennedy’s May 1961 speech to Congress that began the Apollo program was not a State of the Union address, but a separate speech on Urgent National Needs.)

Nonetheless, NASA undoubtedly is delighted to get two mentions tonight.   First was human spaceflight.  Obama does not identify the Orion spacecraft or the EFT-1 mission by name, but refers to a spaceflight “last month” as part of a program to send people to Mars that can only mean that flight.  He also introduced astronaut Scott Kelly, who was sitting in First Lady Michelle Obama’s box.  Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will begin a year-long mission aboard ISS in March.   Here is the text of that portion of the speech as published on the White House website. 

“I want Americans to win the race for the kinds of discoveries that unleash new jobs – converting sunlight into liquid fuel; creating revolutionary prosthetics, so that a veteran who gave his arms for his country can play catch with his kid; pushing out into the Solar System not just to visit, but to stay.  Last month, we launched a new spacecraft as part of a re-energized space program that will send American astronauts to Mars.  In two months, to prepare us for those missions, Scott Kelly will begin a year-long stay in space.  Good luck, Captain – and make sure to Instagram it.”

 

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (in blue flight suit) at January 20, 2015 State of the Union address.  Photo tweeted by NASA
(@nasahqphoto). First lady Michelle Obama is in front at the far left in grey dress; Dr. Jill Biden is third from left in green dress.

Later the President spoke about climate change and mentioned both NASA and NOAA.

“2014 was the planet’s warmest year on record.  Now, one year doesn’t make a trend, but this does – 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century.


“I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act.  Well, I’m not a scientist, either.  But you know what – I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities.  The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe.  The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security.  We should act like it.”

Whether his words will lead to action in the form of more funding for Mars missions or climate change science should become evident on February 2 when his FY2016 budget request is submitted to Congress.

No mention was made of NASA, the space program or climate change in the much briefer Republican response to the SOTU by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA).