manned space program and maybe bring more funding back to it. thank you very much. host: gary, are you old enough, do you remember when sputnik was sent up in space and all the headlines and news about that? caller: yes. i was in the navy at that time and we were stunned. my friends and i, we had been studying man in space and also comic books about it since we were children, and so it was kind of stunning to have russia beat us to space, but i think we, i don't know, overcame that and did a very good job with it. host: all right. thanks for calling in this morning, gary. now on c-span at about 11:15 eastern time this morning, nasa t.v. will be simulcasting from cape canaveral so you can watch

the endeavour process, et cetera. debbie in texas, you are our last call this morning. caller: i'm actually from amarillo, texas where the guy that died from columbia is from and we have a monument at our international airport and i just wanted to take the opportunity really to thank nasa for all that they have ever done, because it's just an incredible, intelligent group of people, always wanted to watch a space launch and didn't have a chance to, unfortunately, but just to, you know, watch their website and see when the international space station is coming by or when the shuttle is up there and both of them pass over and, you know, it's just an amazing thing to me. i mean, i get out there and i'm like, thank you, god, for letting me see this

because it's so amazing, and so thank you for letting me at least take the opportunity to thank nasa for all that they have done and the hours that they put in and, i mean, just their intelligence is amazing and i hate to see it end, you know. host: debbie, thank you for calling in. thanks to everyone for calling in, as we talk about the future of nasa and america's space program. we also thank the air and space museum for allowing us to broadcast the last hour of the washington journal from their front steps here on the national mall. well, just to let you know, this weekend on c-span, the white house correspondents' dinner. our coverage of that dinner will begin at 6:45 p.m. eastern time on saturday. if you go to c-span.org, we've got a whole website devoted to dinner coverage. you will be able to look it up, see who's there, et cetera, but obviously on c-span, we will be broadcasting all the speeches, entertainment, et cetera, saturday night. that begins at 6:45 p.m. eastern time. also this weekend, on book

t.v., c-span 2 on the weekend, is the los angeles times festival of books. that is live saturday and sunday, all sorts of panels, all sorts of call-in guests, including larry flynt and we have our in depth bram on book t.v. sunday noon to 3:00. go to book t.v..org and you can get all the information about the l.a. times. weekend.e rest of your [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] ... #

>> rick santorum has formed a presidential exploratory committee and will be joined by other potential candidates speaking at the americans for prosperity foundation spent -- presidential summit on spending and job creation. also includes former madden -- massachusetts governor mitt romney, tim pawlenti, minn. congresswoman michelle bachmann. you can watch and listen live on c-span, cspan radio, and ed c-

span.org. yesterday, former senator rick santorum outlined his vision for u.s. foreign policy at a forum in washington very he called president obama's foreign policy and confusing and criticize the president for not -- not promoting freedom around the world. this is a speech at the ethics and public policy center and it lasts for about one hour. >> thank you for coming. i am the program director. senator santorum establish this program more than four years ago and we have featured more than 20 public events with notable speakers such as bernard lewis and pervez musharraf. the program has provided regular

commentary on emerging threats, international religious freedom, radical islam, and other global challenges that america faces. america's freedom is not a new passion for the senator nor is foreign affairs a new issue for him. he served eight years on the senate armed services committee to help modernize and strengthen our military. he also served on the senate finance committee with his jurisdiction on international trade issues. he was the co-founder of the congressional working group for religious -- international religious freedom and the work on debt relief for impoverished masons. he was also a leader of u.s.- israel relations and authored the syria accountability act and the iran freedom and support act which he successfully fought to pass in spite of initial opposition by president bush. he also fought to read the scourged of aids and malaria from the continent of africa and in 2006, he gave a speech here at the national press club on

the gathering storm of threats that face america. senator santorum + speech today will focus on where we have come since he left the senate. after the speech, he will look forward to your questions. i ask that you state your name and organization prior to your success in question. it is my pleasure to introduce senator rick santorum. [applause] >> i want to speak today on our country and president obama's foreign-policy. many americans have invested their hopes and dreams in this administration, looking for to a new day of respect, a new era of international relationships and ushering in a new peace in the world. how're we doing? how is the world doing?

are we closer to a more peaceful world that respects human freedom, protect human rights, and promotes human flourishing? the original title of my talk was "america and the world." i tasted to "americans and of the world." it had become clear to me that the citizens of the rest of the world look to us, the choices we make, the concerns we elevate, and the values and virtues we americans esteem. why? because of our military might, our pop culture, our strong economy, our star athletes or because of our social welfare programs? unlike president obama, i believe we were a great country even before the great society programs of the 1960's. they look to us because we were great from our birth, the declaration of independence. it said we hold these truths to

be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed within -- with certain inalienable rights for that proposition itself was not completely novel. it had historic and theological roots in western civilization. no country until america dedicated itself to that proposition. we cast off the doctrine of the divine right of kings. we cast off the notion that any man had a right to rule and the other man and held instead that all people had the right to fulfil their own god-given potential. americans are not born to the service of the state. the state existed to keep men free. what does this have to do with foreign policy? in my opinion, everything. it took a long time for us to meet the goals and principles we set for ourselves but led by

people who did not ignore the moral issues of the day like abraham lincoln, we extended those principles to all americans. lincoln understood the global and the eternal meaning of our founding principles. lincoln said of our founders, " they erected a begin to guide their children and their children's children and the countless marriage who inhabit the earth in other ages." wiest states and the tendency of prosperity to breed tyrants and they establish these great sales -- self of the troops so that truth and justice and mercy in all the human and christian virtues might not be extinguished from the land so that no man would year after dare to limit and circumscribed the great principles on which the temple of liberty was being built. " this has been our legacy. this has been our mission.

it is who we are and for the most part, we have been. , a courageous people who speak the truth: seek justice, and practice mercy. a people who stood against both the harbingers and realities of tyranny and oppression. a people of and committed to the very best principles of western civilization. america, in a nutshell, is all about you. and your freedom. so you could reply for yourself and serve those who you love. your family, your god, and your neighbors not to provide for the government to do it for you. that freedom belongs to each of us equally because we recognize that we are all created equal, not in ability, wealth, or character, but in the eyes of our creator. america is truly a moral enterprise.

sometimes, we have done this through sacrifice, blood and might and sometimes we have done this for simply letting out our own creed faithfully. tony blair recently wrote about how we are examples, how are about -- our allies -- our example and that people around the world. he said ""for those people in the bleak wilderness, america does stand out. it does shine. it may not be a house and their land they can aspire to but it is a house they can see in the distance and in seeing, knowing that how they do live is not how

they must live." what are the unique features of the american experiment, the soft power of example the rest of the world has known this for? i would argue that there are four fundamentally american contributions to the world that define not only how we organize our government but how we have organized our lives. first, free markets which are rooted in excellence, hard work, and innovation. i like the bill gates language of creative capitalism, entrepreneurship and commerce that creates opportunities and rewards success and tolerates failure. it is not in itself a moral and immoral behavior is essential for its efficient operation and of course, it is faith which rightly informs our moral behavior. if we can nurture the combination of the untapped a entrepreneurial genius of our age with properly formed

consciences, our market economy can become the new frontier of freedom and opportunity. that brings me to the second contribution, religious pluralism. this means that people of faith have the right to pursue their beliefs and not be abused either by government or by the majority. americans have stayed unique ground between a harsh secular cleansing of the public square and the establishment of the church by the state which has been the european history and it appears to be the future of islam. this is the only ground upon which we can truly live in peace with our differences and also advance the moral teachings which are essential for free and to thrive. generosity and humanitarian is third. america has a unique robust still society as observed almost 200 years ago by alexis de

tocqueville. this is how we primarily love our neighbors. we are generous with their time and their treasure. finally, a system of governance that promotes human flourishing, six the common good, and maximize personal liberty. rule 0 block, checks and balances, separation of church and state, and federalism -- our founders understood that man's nature is inclined toward self and sen and that no one person or institution should have the opportunity to consolidate power less the freedom of others the taken away. can nevertheless, the soft power of charity is not enough. it is not against pardon dictators who threatened to blow out all moral lights around us. even though our current leadership may have forgotten, i will never forget the open letter several world leaders including from spain and the czech republic wrote in 2003.

they wrote," thanks in large part to american bravery, generosity, and farsightedness, europe was set free from the two forms of tierney that devastated our continent in the 20th century, nazism and communism. nice, too, to the continued cooperation between europe and the u.s.. we have managed to guarantee peace and freedom for our continent." that the bravery and generosity has marked not only -- has marked us not only in times of peace but also in times of war. we have gone to war and done so not for ridges or greed or for national expansion. instead, we have done so to defend our freedoms and to make a safer by helping others the freer. freedom has been our watchword, our anchor, and our moral guide for nearly every cause both here and abroad.

today, we have lost this mission because our president does not believe in it. he has asked point blank whether he believes in american exceptional is an and his answer was -- people of every culture think they are exceptional. when he speaks of our regions as a country, he ties it to our modern social welfare system. when he confronts other countries on their human rights abuses, which he does only rarely, i might add, he does so by pointing out that we, too, have problems to apologize for. as if on an equal plane with countries like china. a president who does not understand the greatness of america and the american experiment cannot confidently advance for interests. if he will not or cannot lead, who are around the world will follow?

americans are worried about our current foreign policy because it was reset in a series of apologies to the world for our past actions. john kennedy never apologized to the world for dwight eisenhower. ronald reagan never apologize for jimmy carter or bill -- or george bush or bill clinton. each present set their own agenda but they each did so base and a view that our power and our greatness was what was most important. , not our own domestic political victories and recriminations. each understood this because each understood the long term virtue and value of america,

both here at home and abroad. now we have caused "various stages things on the world stage, confusion and doubt. we now have a confused foreign policy in the hottest spots of the world especially in the middle east. we have allies and freedom fighters all over the world who doubt our time tested and time- honored commitment to them. of the past four years, i focused my time and attention on national security matters through the ethics and public policy center's program to promote and protect america's freedom. it is a program i found it to write and talk about the great threats that continue to face our country. and from the world around. my work has been focused on two countries, iran and venezuela and perhaps nothing has illustrated the failure of president obama's foreign-policy more and how we have dealt with

iran both its leadership and its people. iran has been a war with us for over 30 years. in 2009, there was a chance to end that. there is a chance for freedom in iran. i have been a believer and an advocate for that possibility since my years of service in the senate. i authored the iran freedom support act which among other things provided millions of dollars for the pro-democracy movement in iran. at first, my bill was opposed by both president bush and senator obama. both eventually relented and the bill was passed. neither of them, as president, implemented their provisions. as a result, we're not ready when the spark struck. rather than supporting the dissidents there, dissidence asking for our help, the president continued his policy of engaging and effectively supporting the mullahs.

the dissidents were built -- brutally crushed. instead of facing leaders who would be a cripple for today in iraq, we still have the same leadership in around it wants to destroy us and our allies in the region. let's make no mistake about what happened there in 2009. we sided with evil because our president believes our enemies are legitimately aggrieved and thus we have no standing to intervene. in 2003, i offered and secure the passage of the syrian accountability act which was used as leverage to pressure iran's of vassal state syria to get out of lebanon. yes syria continued to destabilize lebanon, open hostility to israel and support for terrorism and it has been rewarded by this president. after years of withholding diplomatic recognition, this administration restored it.

as our secretary of state was publicly broadcasting that the assault regime was committed to reform, it was at the same time cracking down even harder and killing its own people. in egypt this year, we chose not to stand by another authoritarian leader. this letter was not a longtime enemy but an ally. it seems almost by definition that our allies are seen by this administration as composite with our past sins, there for our policies have been to consistently turn our backs on them. in this case in favor of what looks like a power vacuum being filled by the moslem brotherhood. as for libya, is a morass. if we were going to support the rebel forces, we should have acted swiftly and decisively in the early days of the band does the uprising by recognizing and arming the rebels and

immediately enforcing a no-fly zone, the size of action against gaddafi would have been the end of him but that is not what we did. instead, the president delayed any comments for several days that announced his support for expelling gaddafi. he then tethered by doing nothing to effectuate that policy and ultimately deferred to the arab league, french, and the un. with the proviso that our policy was now a different, not to overthrow gaddafi. in the meantime, because we have abdicated our leadership, nato has been put in a state of disarray. what we are witnessing in the middle east is akin to other abdications of moral authority that have marked the past several years in dealing with other authoritarian threats militant socialism. from acquiescence to the china's saber rattling in the south china sea to infinites in the

use of venezuela petrodollars to expend its bowl of aryan revolution into our hemisphere, president obama has at best refused to defend our interests. americans are more than familiar as a country with our long battle with secular ideologies of national socialism, fascism, and marxism. with few exceptions, are leaders from roosevelt to reagan were clear into funny men and judging them for the evil that they represented. today, our leaders have opted for political correctness, referring to our theological motivated energies as simply terrorists. as i said in 2006, terrorism is a tactic, not an ideology. the new existential threat to america, sharia and it is the oddism is yet -- and jihadism

is yet to be defined adequately. it includes a non-violent efforts to insinuate shaira law and western cities including our own. according to this administration, our enemies theology and ideology does not matter. the administration has decoupled what fuels the enemy from their behavior. that is why the administration's review of the fort hood massacre inexplicably does not mention the word muslim, islam, sharia or jihad. the enemy is motivated by an interpretation of islam, sharia that is at the -- antithetic to american civilization. we were taught to render unto caesar as things caesar's and unto god the things which are gods. to the jihadists, there is one of religious and secular law,

sharia. all man-made laws are an affront to this god-given code. as bernard lewis has pointed out," the dichotomy was crucial to western civilization but has no equivalent in political islam. the profit is the state." understanding this conflict is crucial to understanding why jihadists are trying to kill us. they know we stand for, of freedom and equality. they have a world view that opposes freedom of conscience or as our world view is built on it. they press women and minorities and we view them as equals that we must respect for a day abuse and kill christians, jews, and other muslims who are -- who affirm that the freedom to believe is as important as freedom itself, excuse me, the belief itself. millions of such muslims here and abroad want no more than to submit to the barbaric sharia

laws that do the rest of us for if they are our natural allies in this fight against this common enemy. we should have no aleutians about the extent of this threat. radical islam is extending its tentacles from africa to america and that part of this threat is iran which is aggressively pursuing a nuclear weapon while at the same time it continues to fund jihad organizations' like hezbollah and hamas. in the past two years, ignoring or appeasing this threat has not been successful. have offers of talks and negotiations deterred the threat? there will full abandonment of the terms relating to sharia law doctrine violence create a less aggressive than a? no, no and absolutely no.

prior to their enrichment from oil, many such countries did not have the technology and resources to project power or fund jihadist cells. our continued reliance on foreign oil will continue to cost us jobs and as we see growth but it threatens our national security. the best way to start the state sponsored jihadists of resources is to produce more liquid fuels here in america. as for the other main threat to the world, militants' socialism, we see it in many guises in many places. there is the soft economic socialism that is turning much of europe into a toothless tiger and and an economic basket case that has begun to -- that it has begun to do here. there's the hard socialism and all its forms that we see in places like china or in north korea. then there is our very own hemisphere latin-american out. i speak of our hemisphere today,

the birthday of james monroe, the man who giveth the monroe doctrine, a doctrine that said we would make no colonias' claims abroad but neither would we tolerate the crushing of sovereignty and our own hemisphere. can we honestly say that latin america's is better off than it was two years ago? it is a reason for writing with prosperity, freedom, 70, and democracy? no, we cannot. i focused on venezuela at eppc. i complained from the beginning that we were ignoring a hugo chavez and his ambitions and threats. we've gone from bad to worse. two years ago when honduran democratic institutions, real democrats, were fighting a proxy battle with hugo chavez, we sided with the job as ally. in south america a, the

president has sided with our best ally on the continent and has had to fight drug cartels and stand up to hugo chavez, columbia. without u.s. support, columbia has been isolated to the point where they have recently chosen to appease its hugo chavez and his drug trafficking friends over the interests of the united states. let's be clear -- venezuela is growing in influence in latin america, a teeming with iran and russia and china in supporting drug cartels and jihadist training camps. hugo chavez has nationalized company investments, shutdown the free press, arrest jews and christians and jailed opponents. our response has been to ignore it. it was just reported that one of the most wanted to jihad criminals and the world came to brazil via iran state airline. it was a flight called aero-

terror by the intelligence community. it was for most likely transported terrorist suspects to south america. in fact, the venezuelan government shields passenger list from interpol on that flight. rabani came to recruit brazilians to train in iran to build bridges of understanding or reciprocate? if you believe that i have another bridge to sell you. immediately to our south, we despair over mexico. it is not a failed state but it could be. by several criteria, it is certainly more valuable than iraq is to better the violence and drug running is a threat to our country and critical to our border states. consider the growing presence of jihadism south of the border. why hasn't the president secure our borders? here is another case of putting

domestic political objectives above the national security of our country. let me be clear again -- to negotiate with hard and socialist states or to whitewash and ignore the threats and actions in this hemisphere or elsewhere is to accommodate the leaders and aggression and that is surrender. i remain an optimist about america's potential to again lead the world and i don't mean leading from behind. by reclaiming our legacy of liberty, i know we can make ourselves more secure and help the rest of the world become more stable and free. let me suggest a 10-point plan to reverse their course, restoring our greatness and reestablishing america's standing in the world. first, we need to begin by seeing the world the way it truly is. we need to see people for what it is an confront i9t and we

need to see decency for what it is and nurture it. earlier this month, the president suggested deep cut our military, wrong signal, wrong effort, at the wrong time. now is not the time to not only -- now is the time to not only be increasing our military preparedness have to finish the task of comprehensive missile defense systems. nothing is so helpful to negotiations toward peace, as ronald reagan showed, as overwhelming strength in defense. to ignore this lesson in the pursuit of utopian ideals of a nuclear-free world is both irresponsible, not leave, and dangerous. we should restore our missile defense commitment to poland and the czech republic, another case of turning our backs on friends to appease a potential foe. what small country in need of friends will see any advantage to being our ally if we do not

reverse such decisions? second, we need to understand that we are in a war, a hot war as well as a war of ideas. failure to define our foes lest we be politically incorrect does not dissuade them from seeking our destruction. they know who they are. they tell us who they are. they can see our obscured of reality as signs of weakness. such behavior causes despair among allies and confusion here at home. we should begin by reversing course and define what animates sharia and enlisting moslems that agree with us to help us to feed them. third, we need a reinvigorated human intelligence apparatus in the middle east so we can better understand the enemy and identify opportunities to counteract them. fourth, we need to change our information operations abroad,

to promote our core values of freedom, equality, democracy just as we did with soviet empire in the 1980's. we are in a class of civilizations and we will ultimately win with ideas and ideals, not words of appeasement and certainly not flimsy hollywood culture. fifth, we must seize our verbal, moral, and diplomatic equivalent between good and evil. syria does not deserve an ambassador. the protesters deserves support. israeli housing starts should not be put on a level moral plane as hamas terror attacks. china should be challenged on religious liberty rather than be given a veto on human rights activists we wish to support. sixth, having supported popular sovereignty abroad, but this and the previous administration had erred.

in failing to sufficiently support the conditions of liberty and the institutions necessary for successful democracy. too often, we have erred in thinking the first rule of democracy should be a the british should be consummation and not commencement to the democratic process we have reached nightmares. we get that backwards from 1930's germany to hamas and the gaza strip to what looked like to be the case in egypt. seventh, we need to keep our commitment to humanitarian aid, specifically in africa. china and islam are competing for the hearts and minds of much of africa. we cannot turn our back from the investment and investments we have made. i helped lead many of those efforts to address third world debt from a global aids, and that investment that i work on when i was in the united states senate has paid off.

over 200,000 babies do not have aids today in africa who would otherwise have it and millions of people are alive today due to american-provided nt retro viral drugs. this is wife -- this is what i call pro-life foreign policy. it is one of our best international investments, especially considering less than 1% of our budget goes to such aid. eighth, we must stand by israel especially at a time when it appears increasingly to be standing alone. the recent dislocation of the old order in the middle east will usher in a new one and anti-israel elements are working overtime all across the world to take advantage of this opportunity. the danger will grow exponentially if iran succeeds in its procurement of a nuclear weapon. ninth, the tradition of speaking up and out about prisoners of conscience and dissidents in prison.

never mind american hostages, from the middle east to asia, it needs to be restored. when president reagan instituted the policy of reminding the world and america that there are others in sales because of their beliefs, it not only reminded us of our blessings, it gave dissidence a sense of hope and knowledge that someone cared about them, that a great country was on their side. finally, we need to have a national effort to restore the teaching of american history and our nation's schools. it is our children's worst subject. they simply don't know their own story and thus, when they are told ours is a history of aggression and immorality, they have no counter narrative to refute it. it is worth remembering that ronald reagan's final wish in his final address was to ask america to instill in our youth a renewed informed patriotism. unfortunately, we ignore this

lesson and we are reaping the consequences. this world will soon consider the life and contribution of ronald reagan's partner in reshaping the world, pope john paul ii. he along with another polish 0 lech walesa, help to bring freedom back to poland. john paul ii warned of the death of a true freedom and observed that for itself and needs to be set free. the pope visited our nations * he said, "the united states is the only superpower. today they leave the world and nobody has doubts about it militarily. they also lead economically but. they are getting weak don't lead morally and politically anymore. the world has no leadership. the united states was always the last resort and hope for all

other nations. it was the hope whenever something was going wrong, one could count on the united states. today, we have lost that hope." i have not. my sense from traveling the country is neither of the american people. they are bursting at the seams to have a leader believes in them and in our country again. in his farewell address to the nation, president reagan reminded us of this when he told the story of the uss midway that was patrolling the south china sea in the early 1980's. a sailor on the midway sought a tiny boat filled with refugees from indochina. a rescue launch was sent to them. as the american came into view, one of the refugees smiled and chatted," hello, american sailor. hello freedom man."

that's who we are, freedom men, freedom men, women, and children. let's not forget that privilege or neglect that legacy. thank you and i look forward to your questions. [applause] >> you mentioned the word 'reset' in your title. people point out that is becoming increasingly repressive. how do you think the u.s. should be paid -- should be haven help the pro-democracy movement inside russia? what should the u.s. policy be with russia? >> i would just reiterate my 10

points. we need to stand up for the principles that our country represents and stand by the dissidents to seek freedom. we need to do so in countries that are not just run by governments that are friendly to the united states but also in countries where governments are not necessarily so friendly. have had a good record of doing the first and not such a good record of doing the second. again, i believe the consistency whether it as russia or china or iran or libya or wherever, we can stand up for those principles. that does not mean we need to get military involved but we need to step up for those principles. >> i am from the german weekly. thank you for your interesting speech. i have two questions. the first one is about american

exceptional listen. what is so wrong when others say there other nations are exceptional, too? aren't we living in a changing world? we have emerging powers like china, brazil, turkey, south africa and others. america is now in the midst of a changing world that will inevitably also change america possible role and its relation to china and a growing debt and a growing dependence. do you really think america can continue leading the world as it used to or does it have to change, may become its policy? >> i would say that we have an obligation to speak for what makes america exceptional and what has in fact change the world.

when america has -- the last century, we saw a transformation of the world, not just the united states as becoming a global power but the ideas and ideals that make america exceptional, the concept of people not being servants of the state, but in fact being free. that has infected in a good way the world. we now have governments all over the world. the number of governments that practice principles of the least some level of freedom have dramatically increased over that 100 year period of time. we have won them argument and we need to continue to make that argument. you are talking about our own economic situation and our ability to be able to be a dominant economic and military power. that is different than having

what i believe is the truth about what the human condition should be. and what the role of government should be. i think you can continue to advocate that even though we have a government and leadership in this country that do not necessarily practice it in this country as much as we should. that is a domestic and internal issue that will be worked through in the next election. hopefully, to a desirable result. it will certainly be a big issue in this election which is the role of the government in this country. your observation that the changing nature of america as how we relate to our own citizens will have an impact on the world, i would agree with that that is why i think you say the angst in america, we don't want to change back to a president who believes in us -- we want to change back to a

president who believes in us rather than a president who believes in himself and the people in power in washington. >> this is a pretty comprehensive foreign policy speech. you did not mention afghanistan. why and what is your sense of the mission there and where it stands? if you were president, would you concur -- continue the 2014 timetable? >> the narrative was a looking for a type of speech. i did mention some of the current conflicts but i tried to not get bogged down on that but pain more of a larger vision of our overall policy. my belief in afghanistan is that we need to conduct a war if we need to conduct or and i believe we should. i supported it.

we need to conduct a war in a way where we will cease successful person we need to work in concert with all the people that you assign to the region. talks and, for they plan that has buy in and execute it. i sense that is not happening very we have conditions that were set by the said demonstration, time limits, limits on resources that the people on the ground or not in favor of. i think we also have some other factors at play. the bottom line is, a president should not involve the american military unless it has a clear path to victory. pursues that path aggressively. >yes? with trilogy advisers.

defense secretary of state to the incoming secretary panetta support significant defense cuts to the military budget. how concerned are you about america's ability to deal with the china naval buildup and insure american dominance of the seas and securing access for shipping through strategic channels in the indian ocean? >> that is an important point and there are many others with respect to our military capabilities. i would say that you look at what the president has suggested with respect to reducing the size of government, he has picked up the one area which is the only area that is the sole purview of the federal government. the one exclusive mission that no state, no group of individuals can do, defend the

united states of america is the only area the president believes we should reduce spending. that is a man who has his priorities upside down. i do not say that we cannot find substantial savings in the defense department. i served on the armed services committee. if you look at my record, we found lots of savings in the defense department. i was chairman of the procurement committee and we made lots of defense cuts. most of them we plowed back into reshaping our military. my argument is that we should in fact cut defense in places that need to be reduced. we need to plow that money back in to the areas of importance. my proposal would be that we would maintain the funding of the defense department, not cut it, and we should improve -- and

you mention one area -- one area that i concerns about is our navy and our ability to be able to control commerce. we are seeing that with a bunch of somali pirates. imagine if it was a more systematic problem. as others begin to feel their oats and want to take stronger regional stances, this may be a bigger problem in the future. yes, ma'am? >> i'm with the national journal. you said that the president's suggestion to employ a deeper military cuts is the wrong message at the wrong time. is there any defense cuts he would consider putting on the table and what would they be? >> i will not lay out any specific defense cuts today. there is enough here for everybody to talk about at some

point in the future, i will lay out a more comprehensive defense strategy. i know all about that budget and served on the committee for a long time. there are things going on already in the military were significant savings are coming about that can be applied broader. we will lay out a clear agenda as we move forward. i have not decided to jump into this presidential thing and when i do you have all sorts of details. yes, sir, over there. >> you mentioned that sharia law is an existential threat to the united states. there seems to be some confusion how to define that. how do you define it? can you point to instances where it is taking over? >> if you look at where it is taking over, already in the financial sector, you have

sharia compliant finance for funds and people doing investments are deferring to people put up by groups, some of which are suspect as the authority as to what these funds can be invested in in a sharia compliant way. banks are paying less than reputable people a lot of money to give their blessing for their types of investments. that is a problem. that is a way -- what they are investing in is a way resources go to places i am not sure our in our national security interests. you also have situations where you have movements in this country to try to cordon off and create family courts or other

types of laws where moslems are only held accountable to religious law as opposed to the civil laws in this country. that has gone on extensively in europe but it is coming here and is actually being advocated for in this country. here are concrete examples of how that is occurring in america today. i would argue and clearly i am not making the argument that america is by any way in the lead on this. the bigger problems and the more notable cases are clearly in places where the higher concentration of muslims and exist and that is primarily in western europe, not here. sharia is a code, a civil code of how the government is to operate, things as mundane as

personal hygiene, religious practices. it is made up of various texts, that is ahe qur'an, code by which muslims have to live. yes, sir. >> do you see a connection to this administration's foreign policy and the middle east? what direction do you see them going in? do you see a blanket policy or various theaters of various solutions? >> i think i laid out what i say. unfortunately, it is a consistent policy, the white house said it is leading from behind. i don't know anybody that can successfully lead from behind.

particularly if you're talking about deploying our military. if you are going to say to our men and women in uniform that he will go out there and represent an get in the line of fire to defend this country, how dare you stand behind them? you stand in front of them. if it is worth their sacrifice, it is worth taking at least the political heat to be out in front them. instead of hiding behind them. it is clear that this president is trying to hide so does not take political heat. it is also clear that this is a president who believes that our policies around the world were wrong and should be apologized

for. anyone who was composite with us in our policies, by their very nature, is suspicious. therefore, not to be trusted and not to be supported. if you are an ally of united states, look at our most important and traditional allies. are any of those relationships better today than they were when barack obama took office, any of them? pick one that is better today than it was. look at all of those who have lined up to oppose us. have any of them been confronted? have any of them not had some elements of all branches or alms giving in order to appease their anti-american notions? to have a president -- you have a president that does not believe -- that did not believe

american foreign policy. i don't believe that he believes that america is an exceptional and has anything to offer the world. when you believe that, there is no reason to advocate for that. i will get somebody else. is there somebody else? let's go here and go here and wrap up. yes, ma'am? >> i'm with the american independence. what are your plans as far as aids and hiv prevention in africa? >> i was one of the authors and work with the president on petfar and i worked on the global aids bill, worked on securing funding beyond with the administration requested for that, saw that as a first and foremost national security

issue. the idea was that states in the past which borders and includes in many cases it large islamic population is a breeding ground for these failed states are breeding grounds for terrorists and state sponsored terrorism. obviously, when you're population is being decimated by disease, it is hard to be a successful economic enterprise as a state. i believe it was in our security interest to do it. given the enormity of our budget, it is a relatively small amount of money and i think it has been a great investment, not just in keeping the states from becoming terrorist havens and terrorist sponsors but in fact,

promoting the very ideals i talked about in this speech of america is and as we have seen in other areas around the world, when america makes the kind of commitment at a time of great need to a country, that as long term value for our country, long-term value with the people in that region and that country. it builds relationships that can be to our benefit from a national security perspective for a very long time. >> you spoke about worries about defense being cut too much. you have the converse question of where you would cut more. my question is -- are there any particular areas that you worry have already been cut too much? >> i believe we should employ a

missile defenses. that is first and foremost for it we should be pursuing that. there is some real threats to our country that nobody talks about that i believe are serious, electromagnetic pulses, the ability for a rogue nation to do something that can be debilitating to our country and if we don't have the ability to respond to that, it would be devastating for the future of our country. there is no reason not to pursue it, no reason not to protect us from such an obvious and consequential threat. that is just one missile threat. there are certainly other types. that is certainly, in my opinion, the most consequential. i will come back to you. what everybody to get one question. go ahead. >> thank you, sir.

in 2006, on the campaign trail, you said that the united states was engaged in a war against islamic fascism, largely perpetrated by iran. short of direct military action, how do you intend to stand up against this islamo-fascism and for democracy around the world? >> i think i have laid that out. if you want to talk about iran says was illegally, we need to be engaging from an intelligence -- a run specifically -- iran specifically, we need to be engaging from an intelligence perspective in countries where we have a tremendous strategic interests. i think iran is one of those countries. i think we overtly identify iran for what it is. the fact that we have been timid in identifying these murderous thugs, theocrats in

iran, for 2 1/2 years, is -- has a depressing effect on those in iran, who would normally think they can count on us. it is certainly well known that, when you do. in the middle east -- do polling in the middle east, countries which the united states is favorable toward tend not to be favored by the people . when we are truthful about the accordion -- authoritarian nature of the regime's these people live under, we tend to be popular. they like americans. we've thrown away in iran. we had strong support in the streets, not publicly, of

course, because you cannot say that. but, probably, we had strong support -- privately, we had strong support. we have let go that because we turned our backs on their striving for freedom. >> [inaudible] bilateral talks, negotiations -- obviously, we're not going to do that. the multilateral approach has not worked either. what do you suggest we do ? >> we have to continue to isolate north korea. we have put in a compromise position because of our own economic spending binge, being in a position to leverage the chinese more now the army have

been able to in the past. it seems clear that it is in china's interest to have brought three it as a buffer, as a point of attention and destruction -- to have north korea as a buffer, as a point of attention and -- and distraction. showing that we will be good allies will also help. go ahead, sir. >> if you were in charge tomorrow, what would you do with libya and syria. you mentioned a bit in your speech. i want to know more directly. >> first, i would have to -- i do not have the information, necessarily, to make those kinds of judgments in a way that i would feel comfortable answering

that question. i would have to have a lot more intel than is available publicly as to the nature of the rebels and the conditions on the ground. we have created a no-win situation, as far as i can see, in libya. if we continue on with this feckless approach, we're going to be in a standoff for a long time. we have a constant irritant and a constant problem with respect to the supply of oil. that will keep our gasoline prices high. ending the conflict would be a positive thing, i think, to accomplish. the question is, who are the people we're dealing with. what would result in something better than what we have in place with gaddafi? the same situation in syria. many in israel are rather sing

-- are saying we would rather have the devil we know than the devil we didn't -- do not. i find it harder to believe that assad is -- that there is anybody out there in the street that is much worse than assad. but i know there is -- i would have to understand that better and make a decision about what to do to go forward. i would make the argument -- and said this in my speech. if we were going to get involved, this is what we should have done. i did not say we should have gotten involved. i am not convinced that we really did have a strategic interest, given the situation of gaddafi. maybe, with more information, i would have been more comfortable making that decision. in syria's case.

nothing would do out -- in serious case -- in the case of syria, we have people who have caused great harm, not just in their own country, but lebanon and to israel. i think replacing bashar al- assad with a better book folks, if that is possible, could certainly be in the national security interests of our country and is something that we should get involved with. i am not in a position to say that is what we should do. i would need more information. yes, ma'am. >> [inaudible] -- and advocated it as a form of leadership. he talked about leading cattle from behind, impairing the most able and powerful to god for it. only if there is danger do you go our friend -- and powerful do

you go out front. only if there is danger do you go out front. >> i am not suggesting we always have to lead. but when we do engage, we should lead. just the answer i this gave. if it is not in the national security interest of our country ticket involved in another country, then we should not do it. we should not involve -- to get involved in another country, then we should not do it. it is not sufficient reason to get involved in another country using military force. only get involved if there is a national security interest at stake. >> should we take economic interests into concern, too? >> there are all kinds of things you can do with military

leadership. that is when you would lead from behind. i would not ter it that -- term it that way. there are ways you can impact conditions in the other countries, other than through military action. i will give you a chance. even though there are other questions. you have been patient. >> you offered a 10-point plan. one was not we might stand by israel. the environment for israel is getting tougher due to the change in government and the neighbors. what kind of government are you going to have? how autocratic, how open will they be? there are people in your party and the democratic party who say it was a mistake to support the democratic movement and to drop a more autocratic government

like mubarak. what is your take? >> i think i have said it in my talk. we were quick to side with the rebels in egypt against an ally of the united states, but we will not ally with the rebels against unknown enemy of the united states? -- a known enemy of the united states. i do not understand it. i have called for better intelligence in the region. i think i made comments at the time that we should be standing by our allies before all this happened. we should be pushing for, as i mentioned, freedom.

freedom, as i also said, does not mean democracy right away. it might not mean democracy for a long time. if you do not have the conditions present to support a democracy that will end with freedom. the object is freedom, not democracy. that is what we have to be clear about. we need to sometimes move our friends slowly. just like our policy with china. we're clearly trying to influence the chinese to become more politically and religiously and culturally free. we do not seem to have any real issues with that. we should be doing that with our allies in the region, and support them while they do that. we did not. we decided that we were not going to -- that the president was going to reject involvement

in other countries, because, again, no are we to say that we're better than anybody else? -- who are we to say that we are better than anybody else? now we're living with the consequences. yes, ma'am? will take one more. go-ahead -- we will take one more. we wil go ahead. of course, you would be the furthest from the microphone. >> i have a question about japan. one of the important allies, japan is facing its largest catastrophe ever since world war ii, the earthquake and nuclear power crisis is still going on. could you give a comment on that? is there anything you would do if you were in power, something different from the obama

administration? what kind of impact do you see to the u.s. economy because of the decline in the japanese economy due to the earthquake? >> i am not an economist. i know there have been lots of economic reports about the effect on gdp and what global gdp is. i will let the economists figure that out. i will not comment specifically on the obama administration. and not 100% up to date on all the things -- i am not 100% up- to-date on all the things they have done. we should be working as closely with japan as our best friends and neighbors that they are to help work through this difficult time. that is what the policy would be, to try to be as helpful as possible to them through this difficult time.

did in japan back on its feet is not only to the benefit of japan, but -- getting japan back on its feet is not only to the benefit of japan, but to the world. we should be all hands on deck in that regard. >> [unintelligible] >> i know this is going on. the public and private sectors have deployed resources to japan to try to help the situation. that has gotten off the front page a little bit. i'm not particularly current on all of the things that are open on. again, i would say that we should deploy whatever resources are necessary to be helpful and to be sure we contend that problem. thank you very much. we sure appreciate you coming out today. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> rick santorum will be part of ourroad to the white house -- our "road to the white house" coverage tonight. it will also include tim and michele bachmann. you can watch it tonight on c-span. the president and first lady have arrived at tuscaloosa regional airport in alabama. they are there to tour the city

as part of observing the aftermath of the tornado that struck tuscaloosa and many other locations across the south. the associated press says some 300 people have been killed by those storms. the first lady and president obama arriving earlier today, within the last half hour or so, and tuscaloosa. it will be on to cape canaveral shortly. they will watch -- they will be on to kick canaveral shortly. they will watch the shuttle takeoff. president obama will be delivering the commencement address at miami-dade college. we'll take you to coverage of the launch of space shuttle endeavour. as is the final flight of the show which was authorized by congress -- and this is the final flight of the shuttle, which was authorized by congress in 1987. the crew will include captain martelli -- mark kelly, the

husband of congresswoman gabrielle giffords. the of astronauts will be don their flight suits -- the astronauts will don their flight suits. they will be entering the shuttle. count thank begin at about 2:32. -- coverage will begin at about 2:32. >> doctor, thank you very much. we will be looking forward to the first data. the first data will come through when? >> sometime in the middle of may. >> thank you very much. we know you're looking forward to the first round as a move -- first rendezvous that endeavour has. as soon as we're at the station,

they will be preparing ams to attach to the station and the signs will be coming in. >> thank you. it is an honor to be here. >> we're acting - three hours and holding. this is shuttle launch control -- we are at t-minus three hours and holding. this is shuttle launch control.

this is shuttle launch control. t-minus three hours remaining. joining us now is a lieutenant colonel who led been working closely with cathy winters on the forecast for the launch today, as well as the weather that we have been observing over

the last 24 hours. colonel, could you tell us a little bit about last night? it really began to get interesting around 7:30 or 8:00. what was going on? >> what we had -- we have the front passing through this morning. that caused the condition that we saw this morning. that was to our north. they have a good thunderstorm that had developed to the north. with that thunderstorm, we get some boundaries and some energy pushing out ahead. that interacted with the sea breeze that we had locally. with the local moisture. produced the severe thunderstorms that we saw last night. that happened to have a lot of energy and the town of oyster, as we do normally have here on the coast -- and a ton of moisture, as we do normally have

here on the coast. >> coming into this morning, it looks like things were still active. what were you seeing now around 7:30, 8:00? them and that is when we saw the frontal system that we have been watching -- >> that is when we saw the front of system we have been watching it actually passed through us. we had thunderstorms develop on that boundary, with that system. which we were expecting. we were expecting to see something develop. we did get a little bit of lightning. most of the bigger storm had passed to our south, which was fortunate. it was a transitory feature we were watching and maintaining. we expected that. it is pushing south to was currently. we have a few remnants of with clouds. we expected that also. that will clear out this afternoon, having to launch

-- heading to launch time. >> tell us what the forecast is. >> clouds around 4,000 feet. good weather overall. we do have a concern. the winds are expected to come out of the northeast at 12 to 18 knots. that is our biggest concern right now, the impact that will have on the return to launchsite forecast. we have a constraint out of the northeast direction of 19 knots. we will continue to monitor that. we will expect favorable conditions, a 70% chance of having good weather for the launch. >> contained in that 30 percent chance, what are the two things we're watching? >> their concerns for low-level clouds. friend or to slow down -- there are concerns for low-level clouds. if the french were to slow down -- front were to slow down.

or if the winds were increasing. the pad constraints are not seem to be as a concern. it is the return to launch site winds. >> thank you 3 much. we will continue to watch over the afternoon as it looks like the weather moves on gradually to the south. we will have good weather when we get to the launch today. thank you very much. we have about 28 minutes, 53 seconds remaining in the built- in hold. we are at t-minus 3 hours and holding. this is shuttle launch control.

>> this is a shuttle launch control-- this is shuttle launch control at t-minus 3

hours and holding. we will see our astronauts, mark kelly, gregory johnson, michael fincke, greg chamitoff, andrew feustel, and italian astronaut roberto vittori. we expect to be going up into the room a few minutes from now. after the astronauts touched down on tuesday, since then, commander mark kelly and gregory johnson have been honing their landing skills. they did a final inspection of space shuttle endeavour.

they had a fit check for the suits they are donning right now. they receive some briefing on the payloads. they have been watching the updates come in to the weather forecast. they always have a final medical exam. yesterday, they did a final review of their flight plan and packed their associated flight data files before they were stowed aboard along with their personal effects last night. 23 minutes 50 seconds remaining in the hold. we're standing by for live video from the astronaut quarters. at t-minus 3 hours and holding, this is shuttle launch control.

this is shuttle launch control, t-minus 3 hours and holding. we are seeing the final inspection team on the mobile launch platform, having walked

down almost the entire 3000-foot structure. they are measuring temperatures, looking for any ice buildup, and performing a final check for any f.o.d., final -- for an object and very -- foreign object debris. we are standing by to go up into the room where are six astronauts are suiting up. activities under way during the past hour have included the initial measurement -- inertia

measurement calculation, the alignment of the antennas with the launch pad, and activating the navigation aids. we have completed all of the initial communication checks with the air force eastern range.

our commander mark kelly and pilot gregory johnson have just completed their weather briefing, which concludes -- includes the launch weather here at the kennedy space center as well as the overseas landing sites. here is commander mark kelly in the suit-up room. he is our commander, making his fourth light on the space shuttle. he has logged more than 38 day sin space on -- days in space. here is gregory johnson, our pilot, making his second space flight.

pilot on sts-123. currently chief of the astronauts safety branch. he has logged over 4000 hours in different spacecraft. here is mission specialist michael fincke. as is his first space shuttle flight. he has logged 365 days in space, with over 26 hours in space walks. greg chamitoff. he is mission specialist #four -- number four and this is his second space shuttle flight. he has logged 183 days in space aboard the space station.

is canadian, bo -- he is canadian, born in montreal. he was a crew member on the aquarius undersea. this is andrew feustel, mission specialist number three, his second trip into space. he flew on the fifth and final hubble space telescope servicing mission and has accumulated nearly 13 days in space and has performed three space walks. here is roberto vittori, mission specialist number two, selected as an astronaut by the european space agency. he is from italy. he flew to the international space station twice. he worked initially in the space shuttle operation system branch in houston, and in the new

generation space vehicles branch. shortly, we will be watching the astronauts walked art from the crew quarters to board the astro van for the ride out to launch pad 39a. we will be joined here by astronauts jim kelly, who will be with us throughout the boarding process for our six astronauts of sts-134. have 10 minutes, 45 seconds in this plant -- we have 10 minutes, 45 seconds remaining in this planned, built-in hold. we are at t-minus three hours

remaining. this is shuttle launch control.

this is shuttle launch control, coundown clock resuming its countdown. our next planned activity is

that the astronauts will be leaving the crew quarters. that is about 5 minutes from now. for the 20-minute ride out to 39a.h pad the final inspection team has left launchpad. the closeout crew is now in the white room and ready for the astronauts to arrive. we're watching all of the

weather move off to the south. by this afternoon, we should be mostly in the clear.

we expect to see the crew walked out here in about another two to three minutes -- walk out here in about another two to three minutes.

here come our sts-134 astronauts beginning their ride down the elevator to ride out to launch pad 39a in the astronaut transport plan -- van. the folks waving goodbye as they

make this traditional elevator trip down to the third floor. that elevator is the same elevator that has been in use since apollo. in just a moment, we will see them leave the elevator and walked out of the crew quarters out of the -- walk out of the crew quarters to where there is a large crowd gathered farewell.em [cheers and applause]

and there they go. [cheers and applause]

the crew is on its way to launch pad 39a. here, the launch team is troubleshooting in issue with the auxiliary power unit number one. it appears that two of the heaters associated with the apu 1 have failed. they are trying to determine exactly what is going on and why that is happening and what the effect is going to be on the countdown today. that auxiliary power unit is necessary in space, as well as for landing and on the ground. if we have a couple of failed heaters associated with it, they want to understand what is going

on. what we can do to work around that problem. and here comes the crew, now headed northbound. right now, they are going past the operations -- rather, the central distribution and switching center, where a lot of our communications between the pad and fire room and other kennedy space facilities is occuring. they are making the turn north.

the test director is looking for launch criteria violations before the crew starts to board. >> they are doing low clouds sailing, but they expect that to improve over the afternoon. all of the team reports are go with the exception of the one issue that is being worked by

the engineering team right now.

the problem with power unit # one, they are trying to verify the status of the thermostat and whether or not they had something to do with the problem of these two apu heaters not working. that troubleshooting discussion will powell we be going on for a while to find out what troubleshooting they can do and how that affects the launch activities before the countdown and what options they have in terms of work around and

other activities to get a better handle on that.

launch is shuttle's control. our launch director has made the decision based on input from the engineering community that we are not able to resolve this situation with the apu heaters in time to make a lot attempt

today. there is not a way to do the kinds of trouble shooting we need to do and still be able to stay in a countdown configuration. so we will be scrubbing for today. right now, it will be at least a 48 hour scrap turnaround until we get a better handle on what will be necessary to understand better what the problem is. as we have been able to piece it together, there will be some entry into the aft necessary to do that kind of commentary. there is a problem with two failed apu heaters and apu number 1 and not being able to

find a satisfactory work around and the problem that caused these two heaters to sail, the decision was made and concurred -- to fail, the decision was made and concurred by flight that we will scrap for today and put together a troubleshooting plan. plant.u b we will put together a 48 hour scrub. we know that it will be no earlier than sunday based on what be troubleshooting plan is that is developed. the crew is going back to the crew quarters. they are now headed back. shortly, we will begin to drain which canal tank,

begin fairly quickly since the astronauts were not on board the ship. we would like to have our launch director come over at some point once they can catch their breath and discuss this problem with our engineers to tell us exactly what they know about what the circumstances are. do have a go to

start cryogenic draining oft he the tank. there is nothing else we can do in this configuration. there is no trouble shooting light up right now. the external tank will be drained right now.

in summer, the engineering team did not understand why this problem occurred. they did not feel comfortable with proceeding with a launch attempt and recommended to the launch director that it be a no- go and that there was no point in continuing with the countdown no way that there was nothing more we could do to trouble shoot until the external tank was trained -- was drained and we get the vehicle in a safe location to do some electrical testing. the mission management team is --ddling around there, sos = their consoles to get a strategy on what we needed to go

forward and what work we will have to do and what that schedule impact would mean.

right now, the launch team meets about two hours to put together a strategy. there will not be any meeting to talk about the go forward plan for the next couple of hours while they put this strategy to get and what the impacts are.

right now, we have confirmation that our launch director will come over and talk to us on our console. he needs another 1/4 of an hour to have something that he can convey to us. we expect that within 15 minutes or so he will come over and explained in a little bit more detail and background what this problem is and what this may mean. i think a lot of details probably will not be available until after a meeting around 2:30 p.m. or so with the launch team and the engineering team to figure out what our troubleshooting plan is. we are down for at least 48 hours, until sunday. again, this is due to two failed

heaters in the auxiliary power umer one, for reasons we do not understand.

this is shuttle launch control.

surely we should have the launch director come over and talk with today.ut our scrub th it is beginning to look like we may need longer than 48 hours to meet all our return to flight configurations for payloads and a number of other things even if we were able to be fully successful with our troubleshooting tonight and tomorrow. i do not think they are at that point to make that judgment yet. hopefully, launch director can tell us more. we are sitting on a 48 hour scrub turnaround. there is other input coming in as we speak about what is necessary to get us back into launch configuration. taking into account we have whatever work needs to be done

on endeavor plus the payload work. until we know how long in debt for needs, we will not know how long the payload needs. this is a developing story. -- until we know how long endeavor needs, we will not know how long the payload meets. this is a developing story.

>> you are watching live coverage with nasa television. nasa has called off today's launch of the space shuttle endeavor because of a heating problem. commander mark kelly and his crew were on the way to the

launch pad when nasa canceled the countdown. a spokesperson for nasa says the next trial will be on sunday at the earliest. we are waiting to hear from the flight director. he is supposed to speak with nasa television shortly. the launch delayed for at least a couple of days. it was expected to lift off today at 3:47 p.m. eastern.

>> courtesy of nasa television,

a live look at the space shuttle endeavor. nasa has called off the launch of the space shuttle for today because of a teacher elite. associated press says nasa reported -- nasa has called off the launch of the space shuttle for today because of a heater problem. the astronauts were making their way to the launch pad. we are waiting for a possible briefing with the flight director. we hope to bring that to you shortly if it happens to you in the next 10 minutes or so. we will bring it to you later in the opera schedule if we get more information about the delay of the endeavor launch. the-we will bring it to you later in our schedule if we get more information about the delay of the endeavor launched -- we

will bring it to you later in our schedule if we get more information about the endeavor launch.

>> this is shuttle launch control. we are still waiting for our launch director to come over and talk with us. right now, he is in a huddle with our manager of shuttle launch integration, our nasa test director, and the manager of shuttle processing here at kennedy. they are trying to assess what is going to be required in how much time we are going to be. we will see how much mike can tell us when he comes over. right now, we have an over the console huddle try to figure out

all the pieces that need to go into this puzzle. >> you just heard an update on the situation. they are waiting to hear an update from the flight director. we're going to break away from our coverage which reminded you can watch it on line act c- span.org. you are looking at a picture from tuscaloosa airport. president obama and the first lady have just wrapped up their visit to alabama. the president was set to head to cape canaveral. they will instead be heading to florida to speak at miami-dade college to speak at the commencement ceremony in miami. we will take you next to a discussion with a group of former nasa space shuttle commanders. they will share their

experiences. we will hear the astronauts who commanded the first space shuttle launch. and we have the first female to pilot and command a space shuttle. they spoke at a national symposium. this is one hour. >> representing the flight test

vehicle enterprise, joe engel. [applause] with three shuttle missions to his credit, duty aboard columbia and one on atlanta, our next commander played a key role of the challenger tragedy. he continues to serve america's space program as a senior executive at the boeing program the but-at the boeing company. -- at the boeing company. [applause] of our next after not's career has ranged from a distinguished naval aviator to nasa administrator. the-our next astronauts's career has ranged from a distinguished naval aviator to nasa

administrator -- our next astronauts's career has ranged from a distinguished naval aviator to nasa administra tor. richard truly. [applause] nasa first female e-mail shuttle commander has been to russia's space station, helped to design be russia x-ray telescope and helped after the columbia accident. representing be orbiter discovery, eileen collins. our next commander is a veteran

of three missions above -- aboard challenger. two of them were dedicated to department of defense payloads. he department -- he retired and continues to consult with the committee. representing atlantis, frank bradley. -- frank greggory. [applause] logging four shall commissions on four different vehicles, he flew challenger, discovery, in denver -- endeavor. representing endeavor, daniel. these are all commanders.

before we get started, will every after not here today who has flown on the space shuttle please stand and be recognized. [applause] thank you. okay, joe. you're up. >> i am not sure if my microphone is hot. i would like to say how proud and honored i am to be part of this symposium and this forum. they are some of us some guys. don't let them hear that. the airplane i am representing is enterprise. one thing that i have told a lot

of people in interviews with the media is bathat, during the approach and landing test program and during the first two flight into orbit, there are only duty people on the space shuttle. the space shuttle is a busy airplane to fly, particularly the orbital version. to have the commander and pilot is a little ambiguous. i shared the duties. the only reason you call one commander is in case something goes wrong, they know which one to -- commanders tried to speak -- try to distribute the task and could be -- tasks as quickly.

-- tasks equitably. my task was to distribute the offline equally. i will show you -- was to distribute the flying equally. i think i screwed up. he got more flying time that i did. we may have to do it all over again and reviewed the test. the enterprise was a unique vehicle from her siblings. she was never intended to fly into and from space. --e did not have a caramel = thermal protection. she would have the same aerodynamic characteristics as air craft returning from light.

it was not be reinforced carbon carbon. she had molded fiberglass. she had a couple of sections that were rcc, but she lost those later on when she went to the smithsonian. she did not have the main engine system and all of the weight of hydraulics. aerodynamically, she was given the same drag and characteristics as the airplane coming back from orbit. the outer mold line -- aerodynamically, she was an orbiter. she only weighed 155,000 pounds as opposed to 205,000 or 210,000 in to wait for the others.

she was a light weight. her job was important. her job was to gather as much air a dynamic data as possible to confirm the aero dynamic data base for the flight engineers to get all of the coefficients and the secondary coefficients so that the aerodynamics would know how much margin there was in maneuvering and in that aerodynamic shape and not have to rely entirely on wind tunnels. there were some areas of uncertainty. her job was important. in addition to gathering as much data as possible to confirm all of these databases, her job was to check out the flight control system and to check out and modify the flight control system where it was needed.