By Bob Granath
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida
NASA’s Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot was joined on Aug. 15 by Deputy Associate Administrator Lesa Roe and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana for a town hall meeting with employees at the Florida Spaceport. During the gathering, they discussed continued progress toward the agency’s primary goals.
Lightfoot noted that the event came the day after a Falcon 9 rocket launched a Dragon spacecraft on the SpaceX CRS-12 mission to resupply the International Space Station.
“We had a great day yesterday,” he said. “I’m really proud of what you guys are doing and what you are doing for the agency.”
In his presentation, Lightfoot stated that his purpose was to update employees on where NASA is headed and describe the executive branch group established to help bring a renewed sense of purpose to America’s space policy.
“We’re getting started with the National Space Council,” he said. “I think this is a really good opportunity to talk about what we’re going to do at NASA.”
During his recent visit to Kennedy, Vice President Mike Pence discussed President Donald Trump’s executive order signed on June 30, re-establishing the National Space Council. With Pence as chair, the group’s purpose is to coordinate all aspects of the nation’s space power and unlock new opportunities.
Lightfoot explained that looking at NASA’s role in the world, the agency established seven major strategic themes. While some are familiar roles, others are just as important for their impact on the nation and the world.
“We came up with these seven tenets for NASA, stating what we as an agency bring to the nation,” he said. “We shared this with the new administration’s transition team. This was an opportunity to tell what we do.”
1. Making New Discoveries and Expanding Human Knowledge
2. Pushing Human Presence Deeper into Space
“Most people would say this is what we do makes number one and two our ‘day jobs,’” he said.
3. Strengthening Global Engagement and Diplomacy
“This is where we have a huge amount of ‘star power,’” Lightfoot said, pointing to work aboard the International Space Station. “Think of the international partners we fly aboard the station and the experiments we conduct from around the world.”
4. Enhancing National Security and the Industrial Base
“We all share the nation’s same industrial base,” Lightfoot said. “We support other programs in this country.”
5. Catalyzing Economic Development and Growth
“Space technology is creating new industries in this country,” he said.
6. Addressing Societal Challenges
“I love the phrase the station uses, ‘Off the Earth for the Earth,’” Lightfoot said. “If you look at technology like the water recovery system on the station, we modified them. Those are now in third world countries helping people get clean water.”
7. Providing Leadership and Inspiration
“People watch our rockets launch from Kennedy,” he said. “People are inspired by what we are trying to do in space. People look at NASA as a beacon for inspiration and leadership for this country.”
Lightfoot also pointed to efforts led by Cabana in which Kennedy has partnered with industry to allow them to use facilities and launch pads no longer needed by NASA.
“You guys have turned this place into a multi-user spaceport,” Lightfoot said. “Bob had that vision, several of you helped with that vision years ago. It’s really impressive what we’ve done here.”
During their visit, Lightfoot and Roe were given an opportunity to see how Kennedy continues to focus on development of the Orion crew vehicle, Exploration Ground Systems and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that one day will send astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit.
The SLS is a new heavy-lift launch vehicle and will be more powerful than any previously built, capable of sending humans aboard Orion to destinations such as the Moon and Mars. Lightfoot noted that he was impressed.
“To see what’s going on with SLS and Orion is pretty amazing,” he said.