WEBVTT 00:02.000 --> 00:04.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: This summer will mark the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's first setting 00:04.433 --> 00:07.466 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% foot on the moon, a moment for the ages. 00:07.466 --> 00:12.233 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% But ever since the space shuttles were retired, there's been a renewed debate over what NASA's 00:12.233 --> 00:13.633 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% mission should be. 00:13.633 --> 00:16.733 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% As it turns out, what's old is new again. 00:16.733 --> 00:20.333 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% There's a big push to return to the moon. 00:20.333 --> 00:24.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Miles O'Brien looks at those questions and the man who tasked -- is tasked with overseeing 00:24.666 --> 00:29.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% it for our weekly segment about the Leading Edge of science, technology and health. 00:31.566 --> 00:35.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: One year into his tenure as NASA administrator, Jim Bridenstine is a man 00:36.866 --> 00:39.366 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% on a new mission for the space agency. 00:39.366 --> 00:43.033 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% MAN: Please join me in welcoming Jim Bridenstine. 00:43.033 --> 00:45.133 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% (APPLAUSE) 00:45.133 --> 00:49.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: It made him a star at the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, the annual 00:50.766 --> 00:53.266 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% convening of the cosmic cognoscenti. 00:53.266 --> 00:56.566 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% JIM BRIDENSTINE, NASA Administrator: So many in this room are familiar that we have been 00:56.566 --> 01:01.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% given now a new charge, that we are going to place humans on the surface of the moon 01:03.866 --> 01:05.900 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% in five years. 01:05.900 --> 01:09.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% For a number of years at NASA, they weren't really allowed to talk about going to the 01:09.866 --> 01:11.333 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% moon. 01:11.333 --> 01:13.433 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% And now they not only can talk about going to the moon. 01:13.433 --> 01:17.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The idea that we're going to be there in five years has everybody extremely excited. 01:17.033 --> 01:22.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: U.S. astronauts on the moon by 2024, Vice President Mike Pence dropped 01:23.866 --> 01:26.000 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% that gauntlet at the end of March. 01:26.000 --> 01:28.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MIKE PENCE, Vice President of the United States: Now, make no mistake about it. 01:28.500 --> 01:33.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% We're in a space race today, just as we were in the 1960s, and the stakes are even higher. 01:35.833 --> 01:38.533 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% MILES O'BRIEN: A space race with whom? 01:38.533 --> 01:43.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% A private mission designed by Elon Musk and SpaceX or also China, which landed on the 01:45.433 --> 01:49.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% far side of the moon in January, and vows to build a permanent encampment there in a 01:50.333 --> 01:52.033 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% decade. 01:52.033 --> 01:55.633 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% It's a time frame that invokes another race, another era. 01:55.633 --> 01:59.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN F. KENNEDY, President of the United States: We choose to go to the moon in this decade 01:59.566 --> 02:04.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and do the other things, not because they are easy, because they are hard. 02:04.533 --> 02:09.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: NASA delivered on President Kennedy's audacious challenge 50 years ago 02:10.266 --> 02:12.300 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% this July. 02:12.300 --> 02:16.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% That moon race was fueled by rivalry with the Soviets, the desire to honor the wishes 02:16.833 --> 02:20.933 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% of a martyred leader, and a blank check from taxpayers. 02:20.933 --> 02:24.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% A lot of things just lined up perfectly to make that happen. 02:24.100 --> 02:25.633 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% JIM BRIDENSTINE: That's right. 02:25.633 --> 02:26.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: Do you see the similar ingredients right now? 02:26.866 --> 02:28.600 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% JIM BRIDENSTINE: So, it's a different era. 02:28.600 --> 02:31.166 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% That kind of competition doesn't exist right now. 02:31.166 --> 02:36.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But what does exist now that's unique that didn't happen back then is all of the partnerships 02:37.033 --> 02:39.533 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% with international players. 02:39.533 --> 02:42.966 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: During the symposium, the former Navy fighter pilot, who wasn't even alive 02:44.333 --> 02:47.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% during Apollo, met with those international partners. 02:47.533 --> 02:49.433 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% He had some convincing to do. 02:49.433 --> 02:52.700 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% U.S. space policy has shifted with the political wind. 02:52.700 --> 02:57.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% In 2004, President George W. Bush retired the shuttle program and set his sights on 03:00.233 --> 03:03.933 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% the moon, a program called Constellation. 03:03.933 --> 03:08.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But when Barack Obama became president, he made it clear the moon didn't interest him. 03:10.933 --> 03:14.666 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% So, in 2010, he canceled Constellation after an independent committee determined the NASA 03:16.133 --> 03:19.500 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% budget fell far short of the ambition. 03:19.500 --> 03:24.500 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% The agency was left with a vague underfunded notion to go to Mars. 03:26.533 --> 03:29.900 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% But in December of 2017, President Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1, which put NASA back 03:32.133 --> 03:34.733 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% on course to the moon. 03:34.733 --> 03:39.733 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% NASA policy has been as dizzying as the stomach-churning gimbal rig test endured by the first astronauts. 03:42.800 --> 03:47.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% When you talk to your counterparts, as you did earlier today, and you tell them, we're 03:47.533 --> 03:50.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% going to be there in five years, we need your help, are they kind of hanging on to their 03:50.866 --> 03:51.866 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% wallet a little bit? 03:51.866 --> 03:54.500 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% Are they a little skeptical? 03:54.500 --> 03:57.466 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% JIM BRIDENSTINE: We are anxiously anticipating the resources that come from these other countries. 03:57.466 --> 04:01.500 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% But you're right, not every country will participate at the same level, and we're OK with that. 04:01.500 --> 04:06.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: All the big spacefaring nations were here, except China, conspicuous in its 04:07.900 --> 04:09.900 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% absence. 04:09.900 --> 04:13.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% What are your thoughts on whether China should somehow be brought into this partnership? 04:13.233 --> 04:17.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JIM BRIDENSTINE: So, that goes above the pay grade of the NASA administrator. 04:17.266 --> 04:21.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% What I will tell you is that we follow the law, and the law says that NASA is not going 04:21.533 --> 04:24.866 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% to do any bilateral kind of cooperation with China. 04:24.866 --> 04:29.033 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: So what will this international sprint look like? 04:29.033 --> 04:31.100 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% To be determined, quickly. 04:31.100 --> 04:35.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MIKE PENCE: The president has directed NASA and Administrator Jim Bridenstine to accomplish 04:36.766 --> 04:40.033 align:left position:30% line:83% size:60% this goal by any means necessary. 04:40.033 --> 04:45.033 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% You must consider every available option and platform to meet our goals, including industry, 04:46.500 --> 04:48.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% government, and the entire American space enterprise. 04:48.533 --> 04:53.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: Pence gave that address at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville 04:55.200 --> 04:58.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Alabama, where they designed the Saturn V rocket that carried Apollo astronauts to the 04:59.100 --> 05:01.300 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% moon. 05:01.300 --> 05:05.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The even bigger rocket they and Boeing are building now, the Space Launch System, or 05:06.133 --> 05:07.766 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% SLS, is troubled. 05:07.766 --> 05:10.033 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% JIM BRIDENSTINE: It's behind schedule. 05:10.033 --> 05:11.633 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% Yes, it's over cost. 05:11.633 --> 05:13.533 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% Yes, it's been a challenge. 05:13.533 --> 05:18.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Every rocket program in history has had those challenges, but we're almost there. 05:20.466 --> 05:22.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And the problems that it has had historically - - it's been under development now for 10 05:22.433 --> 05:24.500 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% years -- we're getting those problems fixed. 05:24.500 --> 05:29.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: Elon Musk's SpaceX is in early development of a huge rocket for missions 05:31.566 --> 05:35.400 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% to the moon and Mars, but it is unlikely a commercial alternative to SLS would be ready 05:36.733 --> 05:38.800 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% in time. 05:38.800 --> 05:43.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Besides, politics dictates this rocket be at the center of this program. 05:45.333 --> 05:50.000 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% The powerful delegation from Alabama will have it no other way. 05:52.266 --> 05:55.233 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% When he came to NASA, Bridenstine was in his third term as a Republican congressman from 05:55.833 --> 05:57.366 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% Oklahoma. 05:57.366 --> 06:00.800 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% He understands technology through a political prism. 06:00.800 --> 06:02.433 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% JIM BRIDENSTINE: There's two kinds of risk. 06:02.433 --> 06:06.000 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% There's the technical risk and then there's the political risk. 06:06.000 --> 06:08.600 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% As a member of Congress, I can tell you, I have seen it. 06:08.600 --> 06:12.500 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% The technical risk is irrelevant if the politics aren't right. 06:12.500 --> 06:17.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: Bridenstine has already gotten a taste of the skepticism he is facing among 06:17.300 --> 06:18.500 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% his former colleagues. 06:18.500 --> 06:20.600 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% REP. 06:20.600 --> 06:23.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (D-TX): The simple truth is, is that we are not in a space race to 06:23.133 --> 06:24.933 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% get to the moon. 06:24.933 --> 06:27.200 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% We won that race a half-century ago. 06:27.200 --> 06:31.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson chairs the House Science Committee. 06:31.566 --> 06:33.566 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% REP. 06:33.566 --> 06:37.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON: Rhetoric that is not backed by a concrete plan and believable cost 06:37.366 --> 06:41.200 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% estimates is just hot air. 06:41.200 --> 06:46.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And hot air might be helpful in ballooning, but it won't get us to the moon or Mars. 06:48.266 --> 06:52.133 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% MILES O'BRIEN: Even if SLS works, NASA needs a lot more hardware, like the Orion crew capsule 06:54.933 --> 06:59.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% built by Lockheed Martin and its service module built by the European Space Agency. 07:01.966 --> 07:06.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But the agency also aims to build a small outpost orbiting the moon called the Lunar 07:06.233 --> 07:07.533 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% Orbital Platform-Gateway. 07:07.533 --> 07:11.833 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% And, of course, it needs a lander. 07:11.833 --> 07:16.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Bridenstine is hoping for help from international partners or maybe commercial players. 07:18.233 --> 07:20.833 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% Why five years? 07:20.833 --> 07:24.033 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% A lot of people look at it and say, this synchs up with the political calendar perhaps a little 07:24.033 --> 07:25.233 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% bit suspiciously. 07:25.233 --> 07:26.766 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% Is there a political motivation to all this? 07:26.766 --> 07:28.400 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% JIM BRIDENSTINE: I don't think so at all. 07:28.400 --> 07:30.400 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% If there is, nobody has talked to me about it. 07:30.400 --> 07:32.366 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% So, I will tell you what I think it is. 07:32.366 --> 07:37.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The idea that these long timelines allow the agency to be cast to and fro by political 07:38.400 --> 07:40.533 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% whims, that's what we're trying to avoid. 07:40.533 --> 07:45.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: The plan is more than a sprint, followed by flags, footprints and photos. 07:47.966 --> 07:51.300 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% NASA hopes it will be the beginning of a permanent outpost near the lunar south pole, a base 07:52.700 --> 07:56.533 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% for science and a proving ground for a mission to Mars. 07:56.533 --> 07:59.933 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% The concern has always been that, on paper, that's a great idea. 07:59.933 --> 08:01.666 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% It's a springboard to Mars. 08:01.666 --> 08:03.766 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% It also could be a cul-de-sac or a dead end. 08:03.766 --> 08:05.266 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% JIM BRIDENSTINE: Right. 08:05.266 --> 08:06.200 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: Because there's only so much money and interest. 08:06.200 --> 08:07.433 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% JIM BRIDENSTINE: That's right. 08:07.433 --> 08:08.233 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% MILES O'BRIEN: And it could lose momentum. 08:08.233 --> 08:08.966 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% JIM BRIDENSTINE: Yes. 08:08.966 --> 08:10.933 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% So you're right. 08:10.933 --> 08:14.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% If we get bogged down on the moon and we put all of our resources there, then we're not 08:14.633 --> 08:15.966 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% going to get to Mars. 08:15.966 --> 08:17.900 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% So we don't want that to happen. 08:17.900 --> 08:22.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: Speed, sustainability and safety all at once will not be cheap. 08:24.233 --> 08:28.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% There is an expression in the space world made popular in the 1983 movie "The Right 08:28.633 --> 08:29.566 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% Stuff": 08:29.566 --> 08:31.633 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% ACTOR: No bucks, no Buck Rogers. 08:31.633 --> 08:36.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MILES O'BRIEN: And in those glory days, NASA had a whole lot of bucks, more than twice 08:40.100 --> 08:42.733 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% the budget it gets now. 08:42.733 --> 08:47.733 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% So the administration is poised to ask Congress to up the ante on space. 08:47.733 --> 08:51.100 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% It will require bipartisan support. 08:51.100 --> 08:56.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Sure, NASA can send a man to the moon, but politics is not as easy as rocket science. 08:58.733 --> 09:03.400 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Miles O'Brien in Colorado Springs.