 of the United States thank you all I'm slowing you down only because the president asked me to but I'm with you are the deputy chief of chaplains the United States Air Force will now give us the invocation radio general Stuart E Barstead chaplain oh Lord our Lord how majestic is thy name and all the earth when I look at thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou has established I too ask with the psalmist what is man that thou are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him forgive us father when we ask the question but don't wait for the answer that the creator of the heavens and the earth the infinite space and the tiny atom also created us in his image and crowned us with glory and honor and gave us dominion over all of creation oh Lord our Lord how majestic is thy name and all the earth as we explore this universe and expand our knowledge and understanding of space may we do so not as enemies or intruders but as friends and honest seekers after truth for we do it with the power of our God-given abilities and with the knowledge that you have called us to be co-creators in this world may our goal always be a safer freer and more just world for all of your creation and as we reach out into space and move back the boundaries of the unknown help us to never lose the personal touch of caring and sharing with our brothers and sisters here on earth who sorrow and suffer and struggle each day we ask a special blessing on the president of this great nation as we thank you for his dynamic leadership and pray that you will bless all those who carry the mantle of leadership with him both military and civilian that together we might forge out of this world's disharmony a world of peace our thanks now for all that nourishes and sustains us each day we offer this prayer in your holy name amen thank you please be seated the luncheon will begin this year it's my pleasure and it's my one way of getting him into the picture our incoming for his inspirational leadership and vision in establishing new national goals assuring United States preeminence in the use of space for peace thank you Chuck distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen I would like to express my appreciation to the board of governors for honoring me with this magnificent trophy one of the fun things about my current job is being able to get personally involved in history making endeavors like the American space program Nancy and I have watched space shuttles take off and land as you all have and we've spoken with the astronauts I've learned space that space has some interesting characteristics for example sound doesn't travel in space I'm not really going to believe that until I see Sam Donaldson up there but seriously though I'm proud to have been selected as the recipient of this coveted award I accept it with thanks and unbeat half of those tens of thousands of individuals across our great country who with their hard work creativity and faith in the future have built the American space program and laid the foundation for a better tomorrow Robert Goddard our American rocket pioneer for whom this award is named exemplified the ingenuity the perseverance individuals who make lasting commit contributions to their fellow countrymen and to mankind doctor Goddard persevered for decades of intense research and development and so often happens his genius was not apparent to many until after his success Arthur C. Clarke distinguished author of science and fiction says ideas often have three stages of reaction first it's crazy and don't waste my time second it's possible but it's not worth doing and finally I've always said it was a good idea and Dr. Goddard's case the New York Times claiming rockets would never work in the vacuum of space ridiculed his effort he only seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools the Times editorialized I seem to remember when they were saying the same thing about Reaganomics due to the efforts of Dr. Goddard and other individuals of vision and tenacity America is now on the edge of a new era by standing on the shoulders of giants like Robert Goddard this generation is moving forward to harness the enormity of space in the preservation of peace in increasing our economic well-being and in expanding the horizons of human freedom beyond the greatest dreams of our founding fathers American freedom was once protected by musket and ball today scientific advancements are changing the way we think about our security two years ago I challenged our scientific community to use their talents and energies to find a way that we might eventually rid ourselves of the need for nuclear weapons starting with ICBMs we seek to render obsolete the balance of terror or mutual assured destruction as it's called and replace it with a system incapable of initiating armed conflict or causing mass destruction yet effective in preventing war now this is not and should never be misconstrued is just another method of protecting missile silos the strategic defense initiative has been labeled Star Wars but it isn't about war it's about peace it isn't about retaliation it's about prevention it isn't about fear it's about hope and in that struggle if you'll pardon my stealing a film line the force is with us technology is with us as well 20 years ago we simply could not build systems which would prevent ballistic missiles from reaching their targets because of new advances in technology that may be that may no longer be true that's why we've embarked on a vigorous research program a program that does not violate treaties or threaten world stability the means to intercept ballistic missiles during their early on boost phase of trajectory would enable us to fundamentally change our strategic assumptions permitting us to shift our emphasis from offense to defense what could be more moral than a system designed to save lives rather than to avenge them what could be more peaceful than moving away from reliance on our ability to threaten global annihilation and toward reliance on systems which are incapable of threatening anyone we're not discussing a concept just to enhance deterrence but rather a new kind of deterrence not just in addition to our offensive forces but research to determine the feasibility of a comprehensive non nuclear defensive system a shield that could prevent nuclear weapons from reaching their targets and sdi research is not aimed only at protecting the United States our security is inextricably linked with other free peoples an essential element of sdi research is the eventual ability to defend the United States and our allies from both long and short-range ballistic missiles thus we will not be consulting with our allies on sdi research but working actively with them in fact we have extended formal invitations to those allied nations which want to join us in making sdi a fully cooperative research effort the secretary of defense will be coordinating these bilateral programs of cooperation with our allies our activities in space are already helping keep the peace providing us early warning and enabling us to verify arms agreements and far from being a violation of existing arms agreements once our adversaries fully understand the goal of our research program it will add new incentives to both sides in Geneva to actually reduce the number of nuclear weapons threatening mankind by making missiles less effective we make these weapons more negotiable if we're successful the arms spiral will be a downward spiral hopefully to the elimination of them we must as sdi research would permit expand the opportunities the options for peace and arms reduction at the same time through our strategic modernization program we must ensure that our current weapons remain capable of performing their essential task until we reach that day that they may be replaced by a defensive system but history record that in our day America's best scientific minds sought to develop technology that helped mankind ease away from the nuclear parapet let us move on to a happier chapter in the history of man and I would think any scientist would be proud to help turn that page we have used and will continue to use space to make ours a safer world space is also making this a more prosperous world and in this endeavor we've only scratched the surface space technology is already revolutionized communications and is assisting everyone from farmers to navigators industries that seem far removed from any direct tie with the space program have benefited beyond expectation recently the presidential commission on industrial competitiveness composed of leaders from business labor government and academia reported that America's leadership in science and technology is the key to future us competitiveness space can give America the edge and this is true not only for high tech industries like computers and biotechnology but for mature ones as well innovation often spurred on if not inspired by the space program is vital to the modernization of our steel automobile and textile industries the grandeur of the space shuttle taking off and then landing after a successful mission has been a source of inspiration to America we can't put a price tag on this and we cannot take our achievements in space for granted just 15 years ago the first two Americans landed on the moon and captured the imagination of the world in 1969 the space program had momentum and we seemed on the verge of moving permanently into space instead in the 1970s America hesitated well luckily however we did invest in the shuttle program and today we have an operating fleet of three soon to be four space shuttles and I have asked NASA and the Department of Defense to study the next generation of space transportation systems for use in the 1990s as you were aware last year we took the next step toward future achievements in space a permanently manned space station the space station will serve as an orbiting laboratory for scientific and industrial research it will give us vital new capabilities to work and learn in space and provide us a gateway to future space goals our friends and allies have been invited to join us as partners in the space station effort the response has been very exciting we can fully expect that in less than a decade space will shine as an outstanding area of cooperation between the free peoples of this planet but we expect more than inspiration from our commitment to space space should and will become an increasing sphere of investment and commercial activity a center of attention for entrepreneurs and businessmen already many companies see great potential in using space as a new environment for industrial research and product development as free enterprise expands into space not only will innovative ways be discovered to produce the goods and services we now enjoy but new opportunities inconceivable in the confines of earth will come to light before the end of the century many billions of dollars of commercial activity will be taking place in and because of space individual freedom of the profit motive with the engines of progress which transformed an American wilderness into an economic dynamo that provided the American people with a standard of living that is still the envy of the world we must make certain the same incentives that work so well in developing America's first frontier are brought to play in taming the frontier of space let us always remember that our space program first and foremost belongs to and should address the needs of the American people last year I approved a national space strategy which identifies areas of high priority necessary to accomplish this personally I like space the higher you go the smaller the federal government looks seriously though to maximize our benefits we must look beyond short-term steps to develop long-term goals for our national civilian space enterprise I am accordingly happy to introduce today our appointees to the national commission on space which will devise an aggressive civilian space agenda to carry America into the 21st century the commission with the participation of the brightest minds in and out of the space community will bring into focus a vision of America's future civilian opportunities and develop a set of civilian space goals to ensure America is ready for tomorrow the members will talk with a broad sampling of Americans to keep our space efforts on target with a hopes dreams and aspirations of the people and it gives me great pleasure to announce to you that the chairman of the national commission of space will be dr. Thomas Payne who has a long history of leadership within the space program would you stand up dr. Payne man right there we have other members of the commission with us today and would they please stand up I want to thank all of you for taking on this task we have faith in your dedication in your judgment your imagination thank you for being willing to give of yourselves this way and you deserved that round of applause but while we're recognizing the people or people I just like to thank many of you in this room we're helping out with a private sector initiative dear to my heart the young astronauts program our space efforts are by nature future-oriented and I can't think of a better idea than giving young people a chance to get involved one fascinating aspect of space travel is as Einstein pointed out the faster you travel the less you age and now you know my real motive for supporting space exploration the challenge of pushing back frontiers as part of our national character and as we face the vast expanses of space let us recapture those stirrings in our soul that make us Americans space like freedom is a limitless never-ending frontier on which our citizens can prove that they are indeed Americans dr. Goddard once wrote a letter to H. G. Wells in which he explained there can be no thoughts of finishing for aiming at the stars both literally and figuratively is a problem to occupy generations so that no matter how much progress one makes there is always the thrill of just beginning well let us America hope that Americans never lose that thrill thank you for letting me be with you today and thank you for the honor you've done me God bless you all