 of the United States. Thank you all very much. Good morning and welcome to the White House. I had to get used to calling this the White House, but I understand it's part of it. But I'm delighted to have this chance to speak, even if it's just for a few minutes with you, to talk about the opportunities for us as we develop the frontiers of space. I'm often accused of being an optimist and I plead guilty that the space age is barely a quarter of a century old and it's been only 15 years since we witnessed the wonders of the human voice being transmitted from Tranquility Base. But those footprints on the moon showed us that America's future can be determined by our dreams and our visions. And this week's maiden voyage of the space Shuttle Discovery tells me that our future will be determined by our dreams and our visions. Discovery was a wonderful success, launching three communications satellites, as I know you well know, testing an extendable solar power array, producing a pharmaceutical sample in weightlessness and solid performance from the newest shuttle to join the fleet. And I know that you have seen a film and about this, so it would be a purpose for me to come on after what you have seen. Now, there are some, however, who may believe that space is a luxury that we can't afford. They may work to protect the past and I believe it's up to us to invent the future. Pushing back the frontiers of space is a critical investment that will lead to better times still to come. We marveled at the earlier Mercury flights and Gemini and Apollo and the Shuttle, and yet we've only seen the beginning of this great human adventure. And you're the people who write about our space program and you know how we've pushed civilization forward with our advances in science and technology. And as we reach out to new opportunities, I know you understand that your best stories are yet to come. As long as we challenge our imagination and aim high, there's no end to the potential of space and no end to what we can accomplish in space to improve life on Earth. And of course that's the whole point of the program in the first place. We're going to keep pushing back the frontier of space and keep opening new doors of discovery, opportunity, and progress. We're going to do it with the Shuttle program and within a decade we're going to do it with the MEND Space Station. And the benefits our people will receive literally dazzle the imagination. In partnership with business and private enterprise we can produce rare medicines with the potential of saving thousands of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars. We'll be able to open the door to new opportunities for important breakthroughs in cancer research in diabetes and in other diseases. We'll be able to manufacture superchips that improve our competitive position in the world computer market. And we'll be able to develop new metals that are lighter and stronger than any we've ever known. And in partnership with industry and academia the opportunity to expend basic research will grow and grow and there will be new discoveries and breakthroughs new progress. So the promise and the potential are there and believe me when you write about it the stories won't be science fiction. The promise is the promise of accomplishments. By accepting the challenge of space we're carrying forward the same courage and indomitable spirit that made us a great nation. And with people like Elizabeth Dole and Jim Beggs and Tony Calio and Bud Evans to lead the effort there's no doubt that America's space program will lead to a better America and a better life for all your people. And all our people will be a visit to Goddard Space Center. And there I saw already some of the things that I've been talking about here in general I saw specific examples that we'll soon be seeing both in the field of great improvements in health science but the improvements in fabrics and materials developed in outer space that are going to mean great savings of time and money to some of our productive industries and increase their production at the same time that they do all those things. It was really a brief trip through wonderland so that's the answer to those who in the very beginning fought so hard against the continuation of some of these space programs and the basis that they thought they were just kind of experiments in intellectual curiosity. Well they're not they're real and they're practical so I've used up more than my time so I've been told I have to get out of here so may surprise you you thought that probably I gave the orders no no but thank you all very much. God bless you all