Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration told a Mississippi State gathering Monday Americans overwhelmingly support U.S. plans to return to the moon and explore the solar system beyond.
Despite "pressing issues" on Earth, Michael Griffin said "75 percent of Americans support or strongly support" President George W. Bush's expressed mandate to extend human missions to the moon as early as 2015, eventually probe the mysteries of Mars and search for the "possible existence of life in the cosmos."
"Space exploration is the frontier of our time," Griffin said in inaugurating a new distinguished lecture series at the university's Hunter Henry Center. "It is the quest of our age.
"You are the first generation to be alive in a time when there will always be people living and working in space," he told the audience, which included about 200 MSU students. "It is America's obligation to seize this moment."
Tapped by President George W. Bush as NASA's new administrator nearly a year ago, Griffin's appearance was sponsored by the university's W.L. Giles Distinguished Professors. The group of approximately a dozen veteran faculty members is headed this year by David Shaw, professor and director of MSU's GeoResources Institute.
Richard Gilbrech, an MSU aerospace engineering graduate and currently director of NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, introduced the speaker.
During his remarks, Griffin cited a new $9.6 million NASA grant Shaw and colleague Robert Moorhead of the GeoResources Institute will use to help the space agency develop a stronger and more accessible earth science research database for use by a wide variety of U.S. governmental agencies.
He also praised the ongoing research work of two MSU professors of computer science and engineering:
--Eric Hansen, a computer science professor who is helping NASA develop a new generation of roving robots that can "think" their way out of tight spots while securing valuable data in the far reaches of outer space; and
--Ed Luke, who is leading a team from MSU's Computational Simulation and Design Center in the development of unique, high-performance computer codes to help NASA design safer and more efficient rocket-propelled vehicles of the future.