neil armstrong is the first man on the moon. since those years he receded into a quiet life in america. there is no neil armstrong action figure, no chain of restaurants, and while he's walked on the moon, he's never been tempted to dance with the stars. our veteran space correspondent jay barbree exclusively obtained a letter written by neil armstrong and several other icons of the space program. it directly challenges president obama's reported plans to idle the u.s.-manned space program. astronauts armstrong, jim lovell write, "without the skill and experience actual spacecraft operation provides, the usa is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. and on this anniversary of the space disaster, it is the choice a president and nation must face. that's where we begin with tom costello at the kennedy space center in florida. tom, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. the shuttle program is retiring this year. another program, constellation was supposed to replace the program. that program was liter

when neil armstrong speaks out, that is an event.ost self-afacing american hero in our history. he could have been lindbergh and he became j.d. salinger and now he speaks out in an open letter together with sernon, the last guy that walked on the moon and james level the commander of apollo 13 and say this is essentially the end of man in space and it turns nasa into r&d agency for pie in the sky ideas like having humans on asteroids and ends the role as the agency that get us into space and lower in orbit and back. obama spoke about we have done the moon so we are going to do ast stroyeds and mar -- asteroids and mars. this is pie in the sky. on what rocket with what space capsule and with what simulators and training program? there is nothing here of substance. and when kennedy committed us in this decade, as he said, he meant within the presidency he intended to be, he expected he would be president until january 1969. obama is talking about 2025, 2030. all of this is total speculation. what it does is it ends our human dominance

but neil armstrong's crew mate, buzz aldrin, defends the obama plan. >> people with patience, with an open mind and willingness to listen would understand that this is a doable, exciting program. >> is this the same story? depression of the individual of the human entity and going to a machine that they think they can control? >> no. >> is this something a hume condition do in that position as an astronaut as armstrong says that a machine cannot do? >> no. he's saying we're not going to go to the moon again, that we're going to think about sending manned spaceships into the orbit of mars and eventually on mars with a gold date of 2035. >> 20 years from now -- >> because the current program wasn't working and had severe cost overruns. and we don't have the money to fritter away to go to the moon again. [ all talking at once ] >> the interest of the per pet wation of the nasa program to have a humeen in space. is it not because the investment of people in the operation is therefore real? where if it's a machine only it will evaporate and the budget will evaporate? >> i agree. it's a que

. >> i remember you doing something like eight hours with neil armstrong. >> i did and we did a long interview with mr. armstrong at johnson space center right after 9/11. he flew his own plane in from cincinnati where he has a farm, and he was turning 70 and agreed to do one nasa oral history interview. and the late steve ambrose and i got to do it, and we had at him. and it was a marvelous opportunity to talk to him. i grew up in perrysburg, ohio not far from wapakoneta, so neil armstrong and john glenn -- i love john glenn. they were both great boyhood heroes of mine. but i've been -- done a lot when i particularly ran the eisenhower center we would do world war ii oral history interviews. and i liked talking to soldiers a lot because it's hard to understand battle from a perspective, one general's perspective. but if you can get a sampling of 50 people -- i, for example, just got back from haiti and i went around with general ken keen, the head of our southern command, and he's a first battalion army ranger. and then looking at the job that our humanitarian army has done in haiti

neil armstrong first man on the moon. jim lovell, that ill-fated pop lowell 13 flight. gene cernan, "the last man on the moon" are aligned. they say we don't think this is a vision for the future. we don't think this is going far enough. what they're hearing in a few hours, what they are expected to hear but don't think it is quite on the beam. one of the things jim lovell said you don't throw money at research and development without knowing exactly what the ultimate goal is. you set the goal and do the research and development. those are critics. president will try to answer them today. at stake, a lot of jobs on the space coast and around the country because nasa employs a lot of people. megyn: brian, white house put out buzz aldrin to talk about his plan earlier this morning. is there any other astronauts besides buzz aldrin supporting on this plan? >> reporter: there is sally ride. that is name i know you have heard from the shuttle program. she is very much in favor of this there are those in the space program who like what the president is proposing who think it

neil armstrong and john glenn, i love john glenn, they were both boyhood heroes of mind. we would do world war two oral histories and i like talking to soldiers a lot because it is hard to understand battle from one general perspective, but if you can get a sampling of 60 people, for example, i just got back from haiti and it was our first ranger. if you hear the stories of differed soldiers and what they encountered after the earthquake with the death of the devastation and the famine and the amputations and the toll gate madison, to just start talking to all the soldiers, there is only one way to do this. you are talking to all these guys to capture what it was like when the 82nd airborne first arrived and saw the devastation. there were 200,000 people killed. >> where does all this material go and who listens to it? is there a chance that no one does? >> the presidential libraries at a staff of paid historians that would go out and collect all of these memories. if you go to the johnson library or the hoover library, you will find very large collections supplementing t

this is what neil armstrong said. president's plan emphasizes humans traveling away from earth and, perhaps, towards mars at sometime in the future, the lack of developed rockets and spacecraft will assure that ability will not be available for many years without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the u.s.a. is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. >> because they canceled the constellation program that was going to have us go back to the moon and then over to mars. here's what buzz said. >> what this nation needs in order to maintain its position as the 21st century leader in space exploration is a near term focus on lowering the cost of access to space and on developing key cutting edge technologies that will take us farther, further and faster, i believe this is the right program at the right time and i hope that nasa and our dedicated space community will embrace this new direction as much as i do. i applaud the president for his boldness and commitment. you

that is all from the letter signed by neil armstrong, james level and eugene sermon.in another letter to president obama, 27 space experts, including naugh astronaut and os make the points, america is nearing the ending of a shuttle program and to cancel the constellation program. this is wrong for our country for many reasons. we are very concerned about america ceding its hard-earned global leadership in space technology to other nations. we are stunned that in a time of economic crisis this move will force as many as 30,000 irreplaceable engineers an managers out of the space industry. we see our human exploration program, one of the most inspirational tools to promote science, technology, engineering, and math to our young people being reduced to mediocrity. nasa's human space program has inspired all in wonder in all ages by pursuing the american tradition of exploring the unknown. we strongly urge you to drop this misguided proposal that forces nasa out of human space operation for the foreseeable future. from those of us who have accepted the risk and dedicated

that is all from the letter signed by neil armstrong, james level and eugene sermon.n another letter to president obama, 27 space experts, including naugh astronaut and os make the points, america is nearing the ending of a shuttle program and to cancel the constellation program. this is wrong for our country for many reasons. we are very concerned about america ceding its hard-earned global leadership in space technology to other nations. we are stunned that in a time of economic crisis this move will force as many as 30,000 irreplaceable engineers an managers out of the space industry. we see our human exploration program, one of the most inspirational tools to promote science, technology, engineering, and math to our young people being reduced to mediocrity. nasa's human space program has inspired all in wonder in all ages by pursuing the american tradition of exploring the unknown. we strongly urge you to drop this misguided proposal that forces nasa out of human space operation for the foreseeable future. from those of us who have accepted the risk and dedicated

one day he might wake up and look out the window and realize that he and neil armstrong were born on the same day and that must mean something. if it hits him, it will be good for the country. >> a good place to segue to another one of your favorite subject. i have known two children named after byrd, one is charlie, and other parker. you been working on a biography of charlie parker since 1982. when is it coming out? >> volume one should be out within the next year. >> who was he? >> he was a person who was oppression to many people who had to deal with him. he had a self-destructive appetite and a very irresponsible person. >> what did he do? >> he added another style to jazz and he also could play -- i mean he was a perfect musician. it is that simple. he played the alto saxophone. as the leader of the modern jazz quintet said about him, he could play it. if he wanted to play the tune, he could play it. he lived from 1920-1955. >> did you ever know him? >> i might have seen him but i do not recall it. >> why have you taken all these years writing a biography? >> he is a fascinatin

that is all from the letter signed by neil armstrong, james level and eugene sermon. in another letter to president obama, 27 space experts, including naugh astronaut and os make the points, america is nearing the ending of a shuttle program and to cancel the constellation program. this is wrong for our country for many reasons. we are very concerned about america ceding its hard-earned global leadership in space technology to other nations. we are stunned that in a time of economic crisis this move will force as many as 30,000 irreplaceable engineers an managers out of the space industry. we see our human exploration program, one of the most inspirational tools to promote science, technology, engineering, and math to our young people being reduced to mediocrity. nasa's human space program has inspired all in wonder in all ages by pursuing the american tradition of exploring the unknown. we strongly urge you to drop this misguided proposal that forces nasa out of human space operation for the foreseeable future. from those of us who have accepted the risk and dedicate

they had to go so far out of their way to go to searchlight, nevada a place last touched upon by neil armstrong and buzz aldrin lunar land escape where they came to protest and talk about the constitution. you can watch the video. >> quickly, talk about the incident prior to the health care vote. where a group of african-american congressmen were allegedly call the n-word by tea party protesters reported by every major media outlet in the country used to tar the tea partiers as racist. you have done a lot of the analysis, you do see it and you believe it is a hoax. >> i've offered $100,000 to john o'congressman john lewis and the black congressional caucus to prove that incident happened there. was a sea of media everybody was holding up ipods throughout the event. if you heard the n-word, their heads which were caught on video would have moved left or right to the commotion. it didn't happen. this is all a concerted effort to try and detroit the tea party movement by ing it as violent and racist. >> andrew thanks for being with us tonight keep up the great work you are invaluable. >> thank you

that will get a lot of attention, that is neil armstrong, of course and he and three fellow astronautsed an open letter that criticizes the decision to scrap nasa's constellation program to send americans back to the moon, writing: without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operations provide, the u.s.a. is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. and tomorrow we'll be joined by gene sirnin, the cosigner of the letter to the president and we'll ask his take on the future of the space program and what may be lost if we don't invest heavily in that. bill: a great guest. martha: he is a great guest. bill: check in on that tomorrow. >> a one year pay freeze for the year and pay 1.5% of their salary, for the full-time medical benefits that they get, medical, dental and vision. and that would save $800 million, and wipe out all but $20 million of our cuts and there would be no layoffs, and no program cuts, and, all the stuff is about the union's greed, rather than putting the kids first. bill: the new jersey republican governor chris christie on with martha f

then neil armstrong and buzz aldrin became the first to set foot on the moon. aldrin traveled with obama on thursday to show support. his fellow astronaut armstrong remained one of the administration's most vocal critics. we'll be right back. >>> a few programming notes before we go. two important specials coming up on msnbc. today at noon eastern, a discussion debating the black agenda hosted by tamron hall and ed schultz of msnbc. tomorrow night rachel maddow hosts "the mcvay tapes." as for us, this sunday afternoon "meet the press" re-air will be simulcast on sirius channel 90 and xm channel 120. we can be everywhere. that is all for today. we'll be back next week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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however, when i was 7 years old and i saw neil armstrong landing on the moon, it inspired me.irection they could. words that my dad taught me -- you have to continue exploring. you have got to continue going forward. and i think that is what made america great. and i feel that we are losing it. guest: well, i think that it is what makes america great. that really is about more than simply our machines going out there. it is about more than science. it represents the best of ourselves, the best of our values. so if we think there is going to be a human future in space, we have to ask, what kind of values will be out there on that frontier? democracy, tolerant culture, mixed market economy? it is more than, again, simply our machines. so i think it is important for america to be a leader in space, not simply to prove to ourselves how good we are but really to carry our values and those really of our western democracy, allies, all part of this endeavor on the space frontier. so it is plain for really -- big, big stakes. that is why i think the issue is important. host: scott case

what happened and including i'm talking prominent names in the space game -- chief among them neil armstronge first man to stand on the moon. they say we're not sure this is the right plan. they were disappointed that the constellation program was canceled. what say you to that? >> well, the constellation program was not going to get back to the -- constellation, everybody, was a program that included the aries rocket, one and five and included orion space capsule which would hold up to seven people. that constellation program was not going to get us back to the moon before 2020. we've been to the moon 40 years ago. it was>> manager manag mismanagy from people or budgets weren't working and the designs weren't coming out right, so the obama administration decided at last to cut it loose and start over. i remind everybody that canceling of the shuttle program was decided six years ago in the bush administration. >> brian: true. >> that was already on track. the trouble has been the last couple weeks in the states where it's manufacturered. all the money spent in space is really spent on earth

i believe neil armstrong, james lovell, and eugene cernan, said it best: if we followed the administration's plan we will have lost many years required to recreate the equivalents of what will be discarded. this conclusion was echoed by the independent aerospace safety advisory panel which in 2009 stated: to abandon ares what is baseline vehicle for alternative without demonstrated capabilities our proven superiority or even equivalence is on wise and probably not cost effective. in other words, an alternative but to project constellation will take years of additional time and cost billions of dollars more. some opponents argue project constellation is a troubled endeavor. the truth is quite to the contrary, just lost all the world witnessed the launch of the ares one rocket from the kennedy space center and a stunning and successful test. in addition a heavy lift ares five is designed to leverage the technologies used in ares wan. therefore one can surmise in the and there will be overall savings using this comprehensive approach. versus the piecemeal approach proposed by the administration

. >> reporter: eight years later the world watched neil armstrong do just that.me this weekend in alabama created their own moon recover. >> we thought it was cool opportunity. >> reporter: the opportunity of space flight have from the beginning been frought with risk. >> a major malfunction. >> reporter: the loss of challenger and its seven crew members. the loss of seven more aboard columbia. then the disaster averted when heroism and a refusal to accept defeat resulted in what many remember as nasa's finest moments 40 years ago today. apoll l apollo 13 has been called nasa's most successful failure. >> they flipped switches and reset. this can't be. they don't want to believe this. their crew is 200,000 miles from the earth. >> reporter: as the world held their breath. they turned it into a lifeboat to power their way back to earth. after just six moon landings, today's space missions are closer to home. right now seven american astronauts are in orbit above the earth. among them a proud veteran on her third and possibly last voyage who simply wanted to see th

however, when i was 7 years old and i saw neil armstrong landing on the moon, it inspired me.nspired me that america was a strong country capable of moving forward in any direction they could. words that my dad taught me -- you have to continue exploring. you have got to continue going forward. and i think that is what made america great. and i feel that we are losing it. guest: well, i think that it is what makes america great. that really is about more than simply our machines going out there. it is about more than science. it represents the best of ourselves, the best of our values. so if we think there is going to be a human future in space we have to ask, what kind of values will be out there on that frontier? democracy, tolerant culture mixed market economy? it is more than, again simply our machines. so i think it is important for america to be a leader in space not simply to prove to ourselves how good we are but really to carry our values and those really of our western democracy, allies, all part of this endeavor on the space frontier. host: scott pace, thank you. >>

>> that's neil armstrong's point. let's talk about all the tea parties that took place yesterday on tax day. >> there were so many of them and they were well attended but at the same time, the president also seemed to acknowledge that these tea parties were going on but he had a different take than what they were actually saying at the tea parties. listen to what the president said. >> so i've been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies. about taxes. you would think they would be saying thank you. that's what you'd think. >> there's no smiles, you notice after that statement. he does not handle his critics well. >> he's amused. that is just unbelievable. you know, at first tea partiers they were angry. they were, you know, kind of fringe. they've become mainstream. mainstream and main street. they're for smaller taxes many he better take them a little bit more seriously than being mildly amused by the people. >> i mean, there were organizations and demonstrations in ph

all of america stood still huddled at their black and white tv sets when neil armstrong stepped out on the moon. america put a man on the moon, setting the imaginations of our children on fire. feeding that good old american desire to be the best, to achieve, to drome of things not yet -- to dream of things not yet done. but the administration says they're canceling nasa's project constellation. america is surrending their superiority to the russians. unilateral space abandonment is nonsense. so the next time our astronauts wants to go into space they have to hitch a ride with the russians or chinese. i'm sure our buddies, the chinese, will be glad to give us a lift. yeah, right. our children, our future will suffer for this incompetent decision. this ought not to be. but that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico rise? >> without objection. mr. heinrich: mr. speaker, i have often said that innovation is what america does best, and recently i had the honor of meeting one of our great current

i believe neil armstrong, the first, the first amendment, james lovell, the commander of apollo 13 andeugene chernin, the commander of apollo 13 said it best. if we followed the administration's plan, we will have lost the many years required to re-create the equivalent of what will be discarded. this conclusion was echoed by the independent aerospace safety advisory panel which in 2009 stated to abandon areas one of the baseline vehicle for an alternative without demonstrated his ability or proven superiority or even equivalence is unwise and probably not yet, unquote. in other words, an alternative to project constellation will take years of additional time and cost billions of dollars more. some opponents argue project constellation is a troubled endeavor. the truth is quite to the contrary. just saw the world witnessed the want of one ex-rocket from kennedy space center in a stunning and successful test. in addition the heavy lifters five is designed to leverage the engineering and technologies used in areas one. therefore, one can surmise in the end there'll be overall savings usi

neil armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon from america. commander of apollo 11. james lovely commander of apollo 13. and commander to the state that although some of the president's proposals have merit, the decisioning to cansal the constellation program as area one and area five rockets a and the orion space craft is devastating. they say america's only path to low earth orbit tft to purchase space op their -- at a price of over $50 million per seat with significant increases expected in the near future. until we have the capacity to provide transportation for ourselves. the availablity of a commercial transport to orbit as erin visioned. but likely to take substantially longer and be more expensive than we wourmeds -- it appears we will have wasted our current $10 billion-plus and years required to recreate the convince lent of what we have now discarded. for the united states, the leading space-bearing nation for half a century to be without carriage to low earth orbit and with no human expore ration fotch just as our nation to become one of the second or thi

i believe neil armstrong and the commander of apollo 13 and the commander of apollo 17 said it does. if we follow the plan, we will have lost the many years required. this conclusion was echoed by the aerospace safety advisory panel, which in 2009 stated, to abandon for an alternative without proven superiority is unwise and probably not cost- effective. in other words, an alternative will take years of additional time and cost billions of dollars more. some opponents argue part consolation is a troubled endeavour. the truth is to the contrary. last fall, the world witnessed the launch of a rocket from the kennedy space center in a stunning and successful test. in addition, area 5 is used in area 1. one can surmise there will be overall savings using this approach. together the system of rockets provides our nation and astronauts with the most reliable and affordable and safest means of reaching a lower orbit and beyond. let me emphasize that point. this is a safe system. nothing else comes close. the 2005 nasa systems architecture studiey concluded this system is 10 times safer than