Bolden and Garver Visit NASA Langley

(Above) NASA Administrator Charles Bolden arrives at Langley and greets Center Director Lesa B. Roe.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver addressed a standing-room-only crowd in Langley’s Reid Conference Center on Wednesday, while another group of employees watched from a quarter-mile away at the Pearl Young Theater.

Bolden spoke for 40 minutes about research, aeronautics, education, space and almost anything else anyone wanted to talk about. The people at Langley Research Center listened intently, and many heard the words of support they were waiting for from their new boss and his deputy. Garver noted that she has special affection for Langley because it is the only NASA center with a woman director. The director, Lesa Roe, introduced the two at the event.

(Above) With NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver in the background, Charles Bolden addresses a packed house at the Reid Conference Center at NASA’s Langley Research Center.

Questions from employees elicited thoughtful, sometimes unexpected answers. It was Bolden’s first visit as NASA administrator to the place he repeatedly referred to as the “Mother Center.” Several old friends Bolden knew from his 14-year career as a shuttle astronaut were present in the audience.

Bolden remarked in response to one question that while any operation “is always at a crossroads . . . NASA is at a critical crossroads.”

“My vision is that we will find ways to do a little bit of all of the things that we need to do,” he said.

With answers come “challenges,” which Bolden said he said he doesn’t consider a politically correct synonym for “problems.” NASA, he said, is about research. He described a third-grader’s drawing that soon will be on his office wall in Washington; it says “We’ll never know if we don’t go.”

“That’s why we do what we do,” he said. “What we do is research and experimentation. We are a research organization, but we don’t do enough R and D, basic research. I’ll go down on my hands and knees if I need to, but we have got to find more money for you all to do basic research.”

Bolden interrupted building applause in the room and told the audience to wait for action instead of words. “It’s easy for me to stand up here and say that,” he noted. “You’ve got to back this stuff up.” Bolden also asked for employees’ assistance.

“I need your help,” he said, “because we’re going to find ways to get back to basic research as well as applied research.”

NASA, he said, is about research, and Bolden harkened to a child’s drawing that soon will be on his office wall in Washington. Lettered on that third-grader’s art is “We’ll never know if we don’t go.”

After a questioner offered a possible solution to several project issues, Bolden challenged employees to have the courage of their convictions. He encouraged center directors to support and nurture that courage.

In response to a question on the “10 healthy NASA centers philosophy,” Bolden said he has spent time working at Langley as well as NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Marshall Space Flight Center and Goddard Space Flight Center. Visits to other field centers will come soon.

“You never make an assessment or a judgment about how everything is working until you have a chance to see it,” he said. “It appears to be working.”

In response to a query about the cost of industry’s use of NASA facilities, Bolden said he hoped to convene a summit of the major players in the aerospace industry.

“I need your help,” he said, “because we’re going to find ways to get back to basic research as well as applied research.”

NASA, he said, is about research, and Bolden harkened to a child’s drawing that soon will be on his office wall in Washington. Lettered on that third-grader’s art is “We’ll never know if we don’t go.”

After a questioner offered a possible solution to several project issues, Bolden challenged employees to have the courage of their convictions. He encouraged center directors to support and nurture that courage.

In response to a question on the “10 healthy NASA centers philosophy,” Bolden said he has spent time working at Langley as well as NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Marshall Space Flight Center and Goddard Space Flight Center. Visits to other field centers will come soon.

“You never make an assessment or a judgment about how everything is working until you have a chance to see it,” he said. “It appears to be working.”

In response to a query about the cost of industry’s use of NASA facilities, Bolden said he hoped to convene a summit of the major players in the aerospace industry.