Bolden discusses his career at life at thehis military, and decisions to attend United StatesNaval Academy. Charles olden, if you had your choice, would you rather be shuttle, or in the run the National Administration . I am running since the nasa right now, i would rather be doing what im doing. I am a person, i live in the moment. Know, i tellow me them, i do not regret anything, no matter how bad. What is done is done. I would not change anything because i have three beautiful granddaughters who are 6, 10, and 13. I am fearful if i went back and changed any minor thing, that might not happen. 135 missions with the Space Shuttle. 200 billion. 30 years. Was it worth it . Every dime. Think start with what i the shuttle did for the nation over its incredible 30 years that most people will never think about unless somebody tells them. Which inical world in live is very nondiverse. There are not a lot of people who look like me. In fact, in the history of this Space Shuttle program, there are only two islets of African American descent in 30 years. There are a lot of Different Reasons for it, some of which we are not proud of because i think we did not work hard enough. To shuttle brought diversity an incredibly Technical Program and allow people of all walks we have had a farm worker, school teachers, people like me go to space who would have never done that had it not been for the Space Shuttle era. That is a Human Interest side of what the shuttle did. For this nation, for professions to be the shining city on the hill, i think that is important. Nations that other can send humans to space right now, china and russia. Other than the fact russia helps us get people to space, there would be very little diversity in who goes to space with the Russian Program and no diversity with who goes to space in the chinese program. It is a program in its infancy. It has only been chinese with the chinese program. What is your guess that space travel would be like 10 years from now and how many countries will be involved in it and will there be people landing out during space . 10 years from now, we will still be operating, i hope, on the International Space station. I would love to say 10 years from now, humans will have landed on mars, but it is not the course on which we are embarked. The president challenged us to put humans on mars in the 2030s. That is a little far outside the 10 year window. We should be there and should have been there now. Moon may be humans on the inside that 10 year window is nasa is successful in fostering the development of commercial space and entrepreneurial space to the extent we are trying to do right now. Are private in enterprises who believe they can put humans on the moon. We have formal agreements with some of them to provide assistance in a nonreimbursable basis. It is conceivable. Is that it islief probably a little bit outside the 10 year time frame. What about russia or china . Not in 10 years. Of doinghe capability it. We are about leading the world and exploring deeper into space than ever before. That is why we embarked on two big human enterprises over and above the International Space station right now. By 2020 five, humans should have come in contact with an asteroid. Call it translucent her, but there will be in orbit around the moon, but interacting we have beenoid working on for several decades now. Formally introduced as part of the 2010 budget. If we are able to develop the technologies from that mission, solar electric propulsion, increased efficiency in our life support Environmental Control the cabin inas which humans live, cannot stand 88 an eightmonth trip to mars and living in Something Like that for a prolonged time, and new new spacesuits spacewalk suits and all kinds of things. Radiation protection is probably for angest challenge extensive trip all the way out to mars. Where did you grow up . I grew up in columbia, South Carolina. My wife and i are proudly from columbia, South Carolina. My wife, Jackie Bolden as people know her. We are both the products of teachers. My parents were lifelong teachers until they died. Jackies parents were lifelong teachers until they died. We both grew up in the segregated south. So my being here is very improbable. If anyone had asked if i would be here growing up, i think it would have been a resounding no. How did you get into the Naval Academy . I fell in love with the Naval Academy. They talked about life in the Naval Academy. There was a west point story. There were a lot of military stories when i was growing up. I saw the uniform. Thats probably the biggest thing. And the fact that lots of girls and the fact that lots of girls came to the Naval Academy on the weekend. With no knowledge of the navy or the Naval Academy, i said, thats where i wanted to go. I decided to go to the Naval Academy in seventh grade. In ninth grade i started writing my congressmen, two state senators, and the president of the United States and Vice President saying i really want to go to the Naval Academy. Each year i would get a letter back saying, a little too early. Write to us when you are a senior. I became a senior. I graduated in 1964. Most people who are my age or close will remember in november of 1963, we lost president kennedy. Lyndon johnson became president. I was no longer eligible for an appointment from him. I said i know you cant help, but i cant get an appointment out of South Carolina. Can you do something . About a week later a Navy Recruiter showed up at my front door and said, i understand you are interested in going to the Naval Academy. A couple months after that, a retired federal judge by the name of judge bennett traveled around the country at the behest of president johnson looking for young men of color who were interested in going to the service academies. So between judge bennett and the Navy Recruiters, i got an appointment through congressman william dawson. Who was africanamerican . He was africanamerican. He was an army veteran. I never met him. I mean, hes long gone now, but i never had an opportunity to meet the person who was helpful to me. Who was the congressman in South Carolina . Olin johnston and Strom Thurmon were the two u. S. Senators and Albert Watson was the congressman. In each case they all responded Strom Thurmon was the most honest. He said politically infeasible to do this. Because of color . Because of color at that time. Olin johnston offered to appoint me to the marine academy. I wasnt interested. I never heard from Albert Watson. My mother to this day believes Strom Thurmon played a role, because every single milestone in my life until he died i would get a note from Strom Thurmon. You go to the academy, and you switched your uniform. I sure did. The United States marines. I knew two things when i graduated from high school. And they were both negative. Under no circumstances was i going to go into the marine corps. You have to remember, i lived in columbia, South Carolina, an hour, hour and a half drive from island. Where else would they go . They would go to columbia, the Swimming Pool where i worked. I got to see marines up close and personal. They were crazy. And i did not want to fly airplanes. I thought that was inherently dangerous. The two things i knew, i would not fly, and i would not be a marine. Any first year at the Naval Academy, my Company Officer was a gentleman by the name of john riley lowe. He was an infantry officer so much like my dad. He was tough, but incredibly helpful. He so impressed me, i said, i want to be like him. How many sortis over vietnam . I flew 100 missions into north vietnam, laos, and cambodia. So during the campaign, i flew cal combat planes. What kind of planes . I was an a6 fighter pilot. The best arpte god ever made. It was an attack aircraft. No super sonic flight flying. No sonic flying. All we did was deliver weapons to a target on the ground. Most of my flying was done offer in north vietnam. They were generally night, low level interdix missions interdiction missions. You seldom went out with more than one airplane. How young . I was young and foolish. I was a first lieutenant. So i was probably 24 or 25. So you think back to those missions over north vietnam. Whats the motion moment that you remember . The one moment i remember is the time i didnt think i was coming home. I didnt think i was going to get back. It was just a mission we went in. We had a particular back then we were kind of stupid about how we did things. The target times were almost always the same. Everything was repeatable back then. So we were at liberty to arrange our ingress anyway we wanted to do it, but the targets were going to be the same no matter what. There was one area, an area called qenky bridge that was in the Southern Area of north vietnam. Every time you went in there, they knew you were coming, they knew what time you were coming, and they started shooting every even before you got there. This time the firing was incredibly intense. We were inbound to the target. There was stuff all around. We knew the worst of it would be to turn around and go out because you are going to spend that much more time. We pressed onto the target. We were 500 feet above the ground. So you knew that they could see that thre were depending on sound. And probably not picked up on radar. We just didnt think wre we were going to make it that night. I distinctly remember that. Came back, not a scratch on the airport. You know, our trousers may have been damaged. Other than that, everything was ok. Where were you playing out of . Flew out of a place calls nam pong thailand. We affectionately called it the rose garden. I was taking my wifmente my son had just turned 1 year old. Hes a commander now . Hes a lieutenant commander, a drone squadron in cherry point, north carolina. Hes been in cherry point twice. He went over 20 years in the marine corps last week. It could be his first time being there and last time. I took my wife and son back to columbia where my mom and dad and jackies mom were and put them in an apartment. We went from Travis Air Force base to what i thought was going to be iwankanichi, japan. I brought my dress drawers and a trunk. I landed, and they said, squadron, thats yesterday. Take your trunk, go over to the hanger, and get out enough underwear and flight suits for a month. Because you are going south. I said going south where . They said, cant tell you. When i called my wife, she said, whats this secret airbase . I said what are you talking about . She said it is on the cover of time magazine. I ened up in the jungle. The c. D. s had gone in and cleared all the cobras and the jungle out. The air force had started putting in a runway for the f 111, but could never get it to run the way they wanted it, so they abandoned it. They gave us an extra 1,000 strip, and we lived there for a year. Ill come back to the personal stuff, but how big is nasa . Roughly 18,000 people, so approximately the same size as the Third Air Force command i retired from the retired from. What is the budget . This year well spend 16. 8 billion. The budget was 17. 7, and thats what the president requested for 2014. But under sequester we took a 20 budget cut, so instead of spending at 17. 7, were spending at 16. 8. An historical nasa budget. One of the things to look at is percent of the budget. If you go back to 1966, which was the highest, 4. 4, and if you come up to 2012, it is. 48 of the budget. Whats the difference . Why the difference . Why. A number of things. Primarily apollo is the time twad it was apollo is the time it was 4. 4 . We had a russian enemy, the evil empire, and president kennedy determined we would not be second to the soviets when it came to space and exploration. And it is historic now. He uttered the challenge to nasa to put man on the moon before the end of the decade and bring him safe wli home. Thats where that 4. 4 billion. And it is a gradual ramp down from the apal owe apollo era to where we are today. Our enemy is us. We do still have an enemy. The enemy is wlnch we the fight is whether we will maintain our position as the dominant nation in the world tech logically. The president talks about it all the time. The nation that out inknow vates, out educates, and out the nation that outinnovates, out educates, and out builds, will be the greatest nation in the world. Education is really under a lot of strain. The president has really tasked all of us and challenged all the federal agencies to come up with a stem program to get our kids interested in science and math, so when you and i go to deliver a commencement address, were not going to see all the kids going to engineering being from other countries today. The way it is today. We have a big challenge. You were electrical . I was supposed to be an electrical engineer, but i flunked electrical cal magnetic, so i got a masters. And you went where . A university of california. It was a system u. S. C. Put together. When you left the marine corps, your rank was . A major general. Twostar general. Here is some video. It is back from the 2012 campaign. It is gingrich. Ill show you what he has to say and allow you to reflect on this. We will have the First Permanent base on the moon, and it will be american. [cheers and applause] we will have commercial near earth activities that include science, tourism, and manufacturing that are designed to create a robust industry precisely on the model of the development of the airlines in the 1930s, because it is in our interest to acquire so much experience in space that we clearly have a capacity that the chinese and the russians will never come anywhere close to matching. [cheers and applause] s and by the end of 2020, we will have the first continuous propulsion system in space capable of getting to mars in a short period of time. Because i am sick of being told we have to be timid, and i am sick of being told we have to be limited to technologies that are 30 years old. How much of what he said do you believe . He had read the president s i am serious. I am certain he had read the president s, you know, National Space policy, and he had read the president s president ial Campaign Space platform. So much of what he says we are is already true, as a matter of fact. We have been living and working in space on the International Space station now for almost 13 years. Spines science and engineering investigations Technology Development goes on there every single day. We Just Launched our latest crew last week. Karen nyberg is the american astronaut. Thees shes one of two american astronauts there. The other is chris kasteny who fought as a navy seal and is now an astronaut. There is an italian who is there along with russians. So we are doing that part already. We provide commercial exploration for cargo. Which is not a big business. Not a large industry provider, traditional provider. We have a stecked Company Called orbital appliances from right here in dulles, virginia, that loun muched their anteris rocket from island, 2 1 2 hours drive from here. Well have two American Companies carrying cargo to the International Space station. If we can get the president on board if we can get the congress on board with the president s plan, we will select probably one to one and a half ato three american competitors to carry our crews to space. It is criminal to me that i have to authorize my budget people, my financial people to write a check for 454 million, a little bit more than a month ago, to extend our contract with the russians to continue to carry our crews to the International Space station on souyuz because we have not yet brought the capability that comes with our american crew program. The president s budget calls for 28 million for commercial crew. We are not halfway there. My job is to try to persuade the congress that the plan is good and that were going to be efficient users of the taxpayers money. I have not been successful on that yet. Were up to 525. As i told every member of congress to whom ive talked, 824 million for the 2014 budget is vital if we are to make the 2016 date. So what Newt Gingrich said is true, so that americans are transported to space from american transport. When he talks about faster propulsion, thats what were doing with the Asteroid Program that we have proposed. Larger solar electric systems that are made available through much larger solar cells. The engine is sized by the power that drives it. Tech logically we dont have giant solar cells, but were getting there. When did you command the shuttle with the rugs . 1994 was