1 00:00:04,828 --> 00:00:06,709 Here's what happened in the 1960's 2 00:00:06,709 --> 00:00:08,411 we were at war with the Soviet Union, 3 00:00:08,411 --> 00:00:09,574 Cold War, 4 00:00:09,589 --> 00:00:11,825 and a little bit Hot War over in Southeast Asia. 5 00:00:11,825 --> 00:00:16,212 So we fear them because they put up Sputnik, 6 00:00:16,212 --> 00:00:18,500 which by the way, people forget, 7 00:00:18,500 --> 00:00:22,296 was an emptied out casing of an intercontinental ballistic missile. 8 00:00:22,296 --> 00:00:26,462 And Sputnick itself means "fellow traveler" so it was all peaceful. 9 00:00:26,462 --> 00:00:30,410 But it was a ballistic missile head without explosives. 10 00:00:30,410 --> 00:00:33,545 So that a signal and we freaked in America. 11 00:00:33,545 --> 00:00:38,075 So NASA got founded on the fear-factor of Sputnik. 12 00:00:38,075 --> 00:00:40,660 Alright so, we then go to the moon 13 00:00:40,660 --> 00:00:43,786 on the fear-factor that Russia will control the high ground. 14 00:00:43,786 --> 00:00:47,084 Then we go to the moon, space entusiasts say 15 00:00:47,084 --> 00:00:52,577 "oh, we're on the moon in '69 we'll be on Mars in another 10 years." 16 00:00:52,577 --> 00:00:55,873 They completely did not understand why we got to the moon 17 00:00:55,873 --> 00:00:57,019 in the first place. 18 00:00:57,019 --> 00:00:58,292 We were at war. 19 00:00:58,292 --> 00:01:01,495 Once we saw that Russia was not ready to land on the moon, 20 00:01:01,495 --> 00:01:03,040 we stopped going to the moon. 21 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:05,910 That should not surprise anyone looking back on it. 22 00:01:05,910 --> 00:01:10,242 Meanwhile, however, that entire era galvanized the nation. 23 00:01:10,242 --> 00:01:13,994 Forget the war, it galvanizes all to dream about tomorrow. 24 00:01:13,994 --> 00:01:16,578 To think about the homes of tomorrow, 25 00:01:16,578 --> 00:01:17,787 the cities of tomorrow, 26 00:01:17,787 --> 00:01:18,963 the food of tomorrow. 27 00:01:18,963 --> 00:01:21,250 Everything was futureworld, futureland. 28 00:01:21,250 --> 00:01:26,501 The World's Fair, all this was focused on enabling 29 00:01:26,501 --> 00:01:29,659 people to make tomorrow come. 30 00:01:29,659 --> 00:01:33,712 That was a cultural mindset that the 31 00:01:33,712 --> 00:01:35,327 space program brought upon us. 32 00:01:35,327 --> 00:01:39,073 And we reaped the benefits of economic growth because 33 00:01:39,073 --> 00:01:42,325 you had people wanting to become scientists and engineers, 34 00:01:42,325 --> 00:01:47,041 or the people who enable tomorrow to exist today. 35 00:01:47,041 --> 00:01:50,705 And even if you're not a scientist, or a technologist, 36 00:01:50,705 --> 00:01:52,537 you will value that activity. 37 00:01:52,537 --> 00:01:56,827 And that in the 21st Century are the foundations of tomorrow's economies, 38 00:01:56,827 --> 00:01:58,834 and without it we might as well just slide back into 39 00:01:58,834 --> 00:02:00,576 the caves, because that where we're headed 40 00:02:00,576 --> 00:02:02,356 right now, broke. 41 00:02:03,956 --> 00:02:06,004 I'm tired of saying this, but I have to say it again! 42 00:02:06,004 --> 00:02:11,412 The NASA budget is four-tenths of one penny on a tax dollar! 43 00:02:11,412 --> 00:02:16,658 If I held up the tax dollar, and i cut horizontally into it 44 00:02:16,658 --> 00:02:18,964 four-tenths of 1% of its width it doesn't even get you 45 00:02:18,964 --> 00:02:21,669 into the ink. 46 00:02:21,669 --> 00:02:25,051 So I will not accept a statement that says 47 00:02:25,051 --> 00:02:27,048 "We can't afford it!" 48 00:02:29,078 --> 00:02:33,327 Do you realize that the $850 billion dollar 49 00:02:33,327 --> 00:02:35,908 bank bailout, that sum of money, 50 00:02:35,908 --> 00:02:40,916 is greater than the entire 50 year running budget of NASA? 51 00:02:40,916 --> 00:02:42,876 And so when someone says we dont have enough money 52 00:02:42,876 --> 00:02:44,382 for this space program, 53 00:02:44,382 --> 00:02:45,994 I'm asking, "No, it's not that you don't have enough money, 54 00:02:45,994 --> 00:02:49,358 it's that the distribution of the money that you're spending 55 00:02:49,404 --> 00:02:53,327 is warped, in some way, that you are removing the 56 00:02:53,327 --> 00:02:56,825 only thing that gives people something to dream about tomorrow. 57 00:02:56,825 --> 00:02:59,749 The home of tomorrow, the city of tomorrow, 58 00:02:59,749 --> 00:03:04,299 the transportation of tomorrow, all that ended in the 1970's. 59 00:03:04,299 --> 00:03:05,795 After we stopped going to the moon, it all ended, 60 00:03:05,795 --> 00:03:08,251 we stopped dreaming. 61 00:03:08,251 --> 00:03:09,827 And so I worry that decisions that Congress makes 62 00:03:09,827 --> 00:03:14,827 doesn't factor in the consequences of those decisions on tomorrow. 63 00:03:14,827 --> 00:03:16,834 They're playing for the quarterly report, 64 00:03:16,834 --> 00:03:18,545 they're playing for the next election cycle, 65 00:03:18,545 --> 00:03:22,661 and that is mortgaging the actual future of this nation. 66 00:03:22,661 --> 00:03:24,656 Tomorrow's gone! 67 00:03:34,242 --> 00:03:35,823 If you double NASA's budget 68 00:03:35,823 --> 00:03:37,375 ,right now it's half a penny on the dollar, 69 00:03:37,375 --> 00:03:38,880 make it a penny, go ahead, 70 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:40,334 make it a penny! 71 00:03:40,334 --> 00:03:41,793 Be bold! 72 00:03:41,793 --> 00:03:43,160 That would be enough to go Mars soon, with people. 73 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:44,661 And go back to the moon, and go out to asteroids. 74 00:03:45,999 --> 00:03:47,827 NASA as best as I can judge 75 00:03:47,827 --> 00:03:51,625 is a force of nature like none other. 76 00:03:51,625 --> 00:03:54,371 And so what worries me is that if you take away 77 00:03:54,371 --> 00:03:58,123 the manned program, a program which if you advance frontiers, 78 00:03:58,123 --> 00:04:00,873 heroes are made! 79 00:04:00,873 --> 00:04:05,003 There is a force operating on the educational pipeline 80 00:04:05,003 --> 00:04:08,549 that will stimulate the formation of 81 00:04:08,549 --> 00:04:12,244 scientists, engineers, mathematics, and technologists. 82 00:04:12,244 --> 00:04:14,384 You birth these people into society. 83 00:04:14,384 --> 00:04:18,576 They're the ones that make tomorrow come. 84 00:04:20,961 --> 00:04:22,467 A half a penny! 85 00:04:22,467 --> 00:04:23,660 That buys the space station, the space shuttles, 86 00:04:23,660 --> 00:04:26,577 all the NASA centers, the rovers, the Hubble Telescope, 87 00:04:26,577 --> 00:04:28,827 all the astronauts, all of that! 88 00:04:28,827 --> 00:04:31,117 Nobody's dreaming about tomorrow anymore. 89 00:04:31,117 --> 00:04:33,878 The most powerful agency on the dreams of a nation 90 00:04:33,878 --> 00:04:39,328 is currently underfunded to do what it needs to be doing, 91 00:04:39,328 --> 00:04:42,024 and that's making dreams come true. 92 00:04:44,502 --> 00:04:48,620 How much would you pay for the universe?