Nasa's Charles Bolden talks Future

Waaytv.com (Huntsville): Nasa's Charles Bolden talks Future
Administrator to NASA Charles Bolden visited Huntsville Today. He attended Marshall Space Flight Center's semi annual Small Business Alliance Meeting. The program was established in 2007 to help small businesses pursue Nasa subcontracting opportunities. Bolden took the opportunity to discuss the future of space flight.
Bolden was careful to point out that while there are only 2 missions left in the Space Shuttle Program, they are two pivotal missions, and he stressed the importance of staying focused.

“You may hear people say sometimes, well NASA is kind of adrift, we are not,” said Bolden.

Bolden was careful to point out the financial constraints under which the program operates.

“We've had to make some very difficult decisions about how to live under these tight constraining times, we're living within the elements of the authorization act of 2010 that was signed by the President in November,” said Bolden.

Since that time Marshall Space Fight Center has been named home of the program office for the space launch system for heavy lift vehicle development for space exploration.

“The shell buckling test that we did yesterday demonstrates that we have plenty of margin in a very light weight shell for the rocket itself,” said Bolden.

An advancement Bolden says will launch space flight into the future. But in the mean time STS 134 and STS 135 prepare for lift off. And Bolden says the upcoming mission could spark a universe of insight.

“If we get one hit of a particular particle……….It demonstrates the presence of antimatter. People have talked about that since time began, so we are hoping to rewrite text books,” said Bolden.

And as it travels into space Bolden says STS 134 will carry with it the spirit of humanity.

“It has another mission that's touchy feely. Mark Kelly is the commander of 134, and he is the husband of Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords, and I think it’s a demonstration of the power of the human spirit when Mark and Gabby decided that he should go fly that flight and be with his crew,” said Bolden.

Giffords does plan to attend that launch in April. The final launch is expected to take place in June. At that point the Space Shuttle Program will retire after 30 years.