Dr. Stephen Hawking, a professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, left, and his daughter Lucy Hawking talk about their co-authored children's book "George's Secret Key to the Universe" Monday, April 21, 2008, at George Washington University's Morton Auditorium in Washington. Stephen Hawking also delivered a speech entitled "Why we should go into space" during a lecture that is part of a series honoring NASA's 50th Anniversary, Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul. E. Alers)
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, speaks to those in attendance at an Education Summitt, Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Brian Cairns, from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, talks about the launch of the GLORY mission during a news conference at NASA Headquarters, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011, in Washington. NASA's newest Earth-observing research mission is scheduled for launch form Vandenburg Air Force Base in California on Feb. 23. The mission will improve our understanding of how the sun and tiny atmosppheric particles called aerosols affect Earth's climate. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Former NASA Administrator James Beggs is seen during a dialogue with present NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on the future of the space program, Friday, March 4, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Beggs was NASA's sixth administrator serving from July 1981 to December 1985. The dialogue was part of the program “The State of the Agency: NASA Future Programs Presentation” sponsored by the NASA Alumni League with support from the AAS, AIAA, CSE and WIA.Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Panelists are seen during a media briefing to discuss the upcoming Orbiting Carbon Observatory mission, the first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Retired Navy Captain and commander of Apollo 17 Eugene Cernan testifies during a hearing before the House Science and Technology Committee, Tuesday, May 26, 2010, at the Rayburn House office building on Capitol Hill in Washington. The hearing was to review proposed human spaceflight plan by NASA. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Dr. Stephen Hawking, a professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, delivers a speech entitled "Why we should go into space" during a lecture that is part of a series honoring NASA's 50th Anniversary, Monday, April 21, 2008, at George Washington University's Morton Auditorium in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul. E. Alers)
STS-125 crew members from left, Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Gregory Johnson, Mission Specialist Michael Good, Mission Specialist Megan McArthur, Mission Specialist John Grunsfeld, Mission Specialist Michael Massimino and Mission Specialist Andrew Feustel, are seen during a press conference, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009, after astronomers declared the NASA's Hubble Space Telescope a fully rejuvenated observatory with the release Wednesday of observations from four of its six operating science instruments at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Ed Mango, of the NASA Commercial Crew Office, speaks during a NASA Social, Friday, May 18, 2012, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. About 50 NASA Social followers attended an event as part of activities surrounding the launch of Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, demonstration mission of the company's Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Adminiistrator Charles F. Bolden, left, and Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), shake hands, Friday, Sept. 11, 2009, after signing a Space Transportation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Dr. Anita Cochran, Assistant Director, McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas-Austin, speaks during a symposium commemorating a quarter-century of comet discoveries, Friday, Sept. 10, 2010, in the Knight studio at the Newseum in Washington. The International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) spacecraft flew past the comet Giacobini-Zinner on Sept. 11, 1985 which established a foundation of discoveries that continue today. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Twitter followers attending the STS-135 Tweetup are seen through the helmet of a NASA space suit, Thursday, July 7, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. About 150 NASA Twitter followers attended the event. The STS-135 mission will be NASA's last space shuttle launch. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Sara Seager, Professor of Planetary Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington about the scientific observations coming from the Kepler spacecraft that was launched this past March. Kepler is NASA's first mission that is capable of discovering earth-sized planets in the habitable zones of stars like our Sun. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., addresses the audience at the 2011 NASA Future Forum, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011, at the Riggs Alumni Center on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, Md. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Dr. Mary Voytek, NASA Astrobiology Program Manager, second from right, talks during panel discussion as Dr. Jennifer Elgenbrode, from Goddard Space Flight Center, left, Dr. John Grant and Dr. Michael Meyer, NASA Mars lead scientist, right look on during a Mars Program Update where prominent scientists discussed evidence of water on Mars, current Program status, including the 7th Anniversary of the Mars rovers and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission and previewing exciting discoveries to come, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Emil de Cou conducts the Space Philharmonic during a program entitled Human Spaceflight: The Kennedy Legacy, Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in the concert hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The event marked the 50th Anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs in which he stated "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth". Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
A student from the Maryland School For the Blind asks a question while learning about Meteorites, Asteroids and Comets during NASA's Disability Mentoring Day, Thursday, April 7, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washignton. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
A student from the Maryland School For the Blind explores an object while learning about Meteorites, Asteroids and Comets during NASA's Disability Mentoring Day, Thursday, April 7, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washignton. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden delivers opening remarks at the beginning of a program entitled Human Spaceflight: The Kennedy Legacy as Emil de Cou, conductor of the Space Philharmonic, right, looks on, Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in the concert hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The event marked the 50th Anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs in which he stated "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth". Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA astronaut TJ Creamer talks about his experience in space during a "Tweetup" at NASA Headquarters, Thursday, July 29, 2010, in Washington. Creamer, who spent 161 days living aboard the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 22/23 crew, set up the orbiting outpost's live Internet connection and posted updates about the mission to his Twitter account, sending the first live tweet from orbit. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Jack Lissauer, a planetary scientist and a Kepler science team member at NASA's Ames Research Center, speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2010, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Scientists using NASA's Kepler, a space telescope, recently discovered six planets made of a mix of rock and gases orbiting a single sun-like star, known as Kepler-11, which is located approximately 2,000 light years from Earth. "It’s amazingly compact, it’s amazingly flat, there’s an amazingly large number of big planets orbiting close to their star - we didn’t know such systems could even exist," he said. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
STS-125 astronaut John Grunsfeld stands behind a display of Hubble memorabilia during a press briefing at the new "Moving Beyond Earth," a new exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum in Washingon, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009. Moving Beyond Earth is an immersive exhibition that places visitors “in orbit” in the shuttle and space-station era to explore recent human spaceflight and future possibilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, in yellow jacket, stands with participants from the NASA Social underneath the engines of the Saturn V rocket at the Apollo Saturn V visitor center, Thursday, May 18, 2012, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. About 50 NASA Social followers attended an event as part of activities surrounding the launch of Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, demonstration mission of the company's Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Apollo astronaut Alan Bean, center, laughs at a comment made by Apollo astronaut Charles Duke, right, as Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, left, looks on during a live television interview on Monday, July 20, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Monday marked the 40th Anniversary of the historic landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Dr. Marcello Coradini, a European Space Agency (ESA) Program Coordinator, left, makes a point as Doug McCuiston, Director, Mars Exploration Program, looks ons during a Mars Program Update where prominent scientists discussed evidence of water on Mars, current Program status, including the 7th Anniversary of the Mars rovers and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission and previewing exciting discoveries to come, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Actress June Lockhart livens up the audience after donning a NASA cap during a program entitled Human Spaceflight: The Kennedy Legacy, Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in the concert hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The event marked the 50th Anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs in which he stated "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth". Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
STS-129 Mission Specialist Leland Melvin speaks to students at the Howard University Middle School of Math and Science, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010, on the campus of Howard University in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, right, and Doug Comstock, left, stand with David Masten, of Masten Space Systems, during a ceremony for winners and participants of NASA’s 2009 Centennial Challenges, Friday, Feb. 26, 2010, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The year-long competition addresses a range of technical challenges that support NASA's missions in aeronautics and space with a goal of encouraging novel solutions from non-traditional sources. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, left, speaks to members of the Congressional Black Caucus during their weekly meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Apollo astronauts from left, Walt Cunningham (Apollo 17), James Lovell (Apollo 8 Apollo 13), David Scott (Apollo 9 Apollo 15), Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), Thomas Stafford (Apollo 10) and Eugene Cernan (Apollo 17) are seen during the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and the walk on the moon press conference, Monday, July 20, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
STS-132 astronaut Piers Sellers, left, and Dr. John Mather are seen with a replica of Mather's Nobel Prize, Tuesday, July 27, 2010, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Sellers returned the replica that is in the museum's collection and was flown aboard STS-132 Atlantis. The prize was won by Mather and University of California, Berkeley researcher George Smoot in 2006 for their work using the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite to understand the big-bang theory of the universe. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Dr. John Mather, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scientist and Nobel Laureate, center, presents Gen. John R. “Jack” Dailey, director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, left, with a a replica of Mather’s Nobel Prize medal that flew in space aboard STS-132, as astronaut Piers Sellers looks on, during a ceremony at the museum, Tuesday, July 27, 2010, in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Tweetup participants along with NASA engineers and Robonaut 2 stand at the launch clock, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011, prior to the launch of the space shuttle Discovery (STS-133) at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. During the 11-day mission, Discovery will deliver the Italian-built Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) and Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4) along with another Robonaut 2, which will become the first humanoid robot in space. Discovery, on its 39th and final flight, is NASA's most flown shuttle. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Former NASA Administrator James Beggs, left, and present NASA Administrator Charles Bolden conduct a dialogue on the future of the space program, Friday, March 4, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Beggs was NASA's sixth administrator serving from July 1981 to December 1985. Bolden took over the post as NASA's 12th administrator in July 2009. The dialogue is part of the program “The State of the Agency: NASA Future Programs Presentation” sponsored by the NASA Alumni League with support from the AAS, AIAA, CSE and WIA.Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
STS-135 Tweetup participants are seen outside launch pad 39a and space shuttle Atlantis following the Rotating Service Structure rollback, Thursday, July 7, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.About 150 NASA Twitter followers attended the event. The STS-135 mission will be NASA's last space shuttle launch. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
President Barack Obama delivers a speech at the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Thursday, April 15, 2010. Obama visited Kennedy Space Center to deliver remarks on the bold new course the Administration is charting for NASA and the future of U.S. leadership in human space flight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Walt Cunningham (Apollo 7) speaks during the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and the walk on the moon press conference, Monday, July 20, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Musician Diana Krall sings ""Fly Me to the Moon" during a memorial service celebrating the life of Neil Armstrong at the Washington National Cathedral, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, died Saturday, Aug. 25. He was 82. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden conducts a discussion during an Education Summitt, Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Errol Korn, seated left, deploys a dropsonde experiment over the Gulf of Mexico during a flight aboard the NASA DC-8 as Janel Thomas, a University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) graduate student, and Bob Pasken, look on , Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010. The Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment is a NASA Earth science field experiment in 2010 that is being conducted to better understand how tropical storms form and develop into major hurricanes. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Members of the audience look on as Dr. James L. Green, Director of Planetary Science at NASA, right, speaks with Dr. Robert Farquar, an executive for space exploration at KinetX Inc., during a symposium commemorating a quarter-century of comet discoveries, Friday, Sept. 10, 2010, in the Knight studio at the Newseum in Washington. The International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) spacecraft flew past the comet Giacobini-Zinner on Sept. 11, 1985 which established a foundation of discoveries that continue today. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Rex Geveden, President of Teledyne Brown Engineering, makes a point during a press conference, Wednesday, May 4, 2011, to discuss NASA's Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission which has confirmed two key predictions derived from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which the spacecraft was designed to test at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The experiment, launched in 2004, used four ultra-precise gyroscopes to measure the hypothesized geodetic effect, the warping of space and time around a gravitational body, and frame-dragging, the amount a spinning object pulls space and time with it as it rotates. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
A parade-goer holds dressed in a Stars and Stripes coat waves a flag while watching the 2013 Inaugural Parade honoring President Barack Obama, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Photo Credit : (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Dr. Steve Squyres, from Cornell University, left, talks during a panel discussion on the Mars Program, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington as Dr. Jack Mustard, from Brown University and Dr. John Grant, moderator, right, look on. Prominent scientists and the head of the Mars Exploration Program gathered at the Smithsonian to discuss evidence of water on Mars; current Program status, including the 7th Anniversary of the Mars rovers and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission also giving previews of the exciting discoveries to come. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Apollo astronauts from left, Walt Cunningham (Apollo 17), James Lovell (Apollo 8 Apollo 13), David Scott (Apollo 9 Apollo 15), Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), Thomas Stafford (Apollo 10) and Eugene Cernan (Apollo 17) are seen during the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and the walk on the moon press conference, Monday, July 20, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
A NASA Social follower holds up a mobile device as NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, left, and Kennedy Space Center director Robert Cabana appear at the NASA Social event, Friday morning, May 19, 2012, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. About 50 NASA Social followers attended an event as part of activities surrounding the launch of Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, demonstration mission of the company's Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Members of the Cathedral Choirsters sing "For the Beauty of the Earth" during a memorial service celebrating the life of Neil Armstrong at the Washington National Cathedral, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, died Saturday, Aug. 25. He was 82. Photo Credit:(NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Visitors to the USA Science and Engineering Festival look on at one of the many exhibits, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, on the National Mall in Washington. NASA, joined with more than 500 science organizations this weekend to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers during the first national science and engineering festival held in the nation's capital. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
The hands of Maryland School for the Blind student Andrea Washington and science teacher Colleen Shovestull use their sense of touch on a topographical map of the solar system during a visit to NASA Headquarters in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Seven students from the Maryland School for the Blind visited NASA and participated in activities to learn about NASA'smission, functions, and careers. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Susie Bodman, Twitter handle @sciwhat, tweets during the STS-135 Tweetup, Thursday, July 7, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. About 150 NASA Twitter followers attended the event. The STS-135 mission will be NASA's last space shuttle launch. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson, flight engineer on Expeditions 23 and 24, left, and Doug Wheelock, Expedition 24 flight engineer and commander of Expedition 25, discuss their mission to the International Space Station during a visit to NASA Headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2011. (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Dr. Edward Crawley, Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT and co-chair, NASA Exploration Technology Development Program Review Committee speaks during the final meeting of the Human Space Flight Review Committee, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Children react as a tiny Mars Rover rolls over their backs at the USA Science and Engineering Festival, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, at Freedom Plaza in Washington. NASA, joined with more than 500 science organizations this weekend to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers during the first national science and engineering festival held in the nation's capital. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Michael A'Hearn, EPOXI Principal Investigator, University of Maryland, holds a plastic bottle containing ice to illustrate a point during a press conference, Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The press conference was held to discuss the Nov. 4 successful flyby of Comet Hartley 2 by NASA's EPOXI Mission Spacecraft. Images from the flyby provided scientists the most extensive observations of a comet in history. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Musician Herbie Hancock bows to the audience after perfrorming during a program commemorating Human Spaceflight and the Kennedy Legacy, Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in the concert hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The event marked the 50th Anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs in which he stated "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth". Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, left, and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver along with Assistant Administrator for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs L. Seth Statler, seated right, meet with STS-128 astronauts Patrick Forrester, Jose Hernandez and Christer Fugelsang, of the European Space Agency, at NASA Headquarters, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA astronaut TJ Creamer talks about his experience in space during a "Tweetup" at NASA Headquarters, Thursday, July 29, 2010, in Washington as Twitter followers looks on. Creamer, who spent 161 days living aboard the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 22/23 crew, set up the orbiting outpost's live Internet connection and posted updates about the mission to his Twitter account, sending the first live tweet from orbit. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Ralph Basilio talks during a media briefing to discuss the upcoming Orbiting Carbon Observatory mission, the first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, left, meets with STS-128 astronauts Patrick Forrester, Jose Hernandez and Christer Fugelsang, of the European Space Agency in his office at NASA Headquarters, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Pamela Conrad, an astrobiologist from Goddard Space Flight Center, speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth. Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, seated left, responds to a question during a live television interview on Monday, July 20, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington as Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean and Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke, right look on. The three sat in for interviews with morning talks shows covering the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Actress Nichelle Nichols, best known for her role as communications officer Lieutenant Uhura in the series "Star Trek", bows as Emil de Cou, right, applauds, Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in the concert hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The event marked the 50th Anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs in which he stated "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth". Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
President Barack Obama delivers a speech at the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Thursday, April 15, 2010. Obama visited Kennedy Space Center to deliver remarks on the bold new course the Administration is charting for NASA and the future of U.S. leadership in human space flight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Dr. John Grant, seated right, moderates a discussion with Dr. Jack Mustard, from Brown University, and Dr. Steve Squyres, from Cornell University, seated left, during a Mars Program Update, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Prominent scientists discussed evidence of water on Mars, current Program status, including the 7th Anniversary of the Mars rovers and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission and previewed exciting discoveries to come. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Stephanie Stilson, space shuttle discovery processing director, speaks to participants at the two-day STS-132 Launch Tweetup at Kennedy Space Center, Thursday, May 13, 2010, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA Twitter followers in attendance will have the opportunity to take a tour of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, view the space shuttle launch and speak with shuttle technicians, engineers, astronauts and managers. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Spectators look to the sky with cameras and other devices as the space shuttle Endeavour flies over prior to landing Friday, Sept. 21, 2012, at Los Angeles International Airport. Endeavour, built as a replacement for space shuttle Challenger, completed 25 missions, spent 299 days in orbit, and orbited Earth 4,671 times while traveling 122,883,151 miles. Beginning Oct. 30, the shuttle will be on display in the California Science center's Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion, embarking on its new mission to commemorate past achievements in space and educate and inspire future generations of explorers.Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette, right, a mission specialist on STS-127, talks with two unidentified students during a visit to Anne Beers Elementary school, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, in Washington. Payette, along with the rest of the crew from STS-127, visited with students at the school Thursday. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Former NASA Administrator James Beggs smiles during a dialogue on the future of the space program, Friday, March 4, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Beggs was NASA's sixth administrator serving from July 1981 to December 1985. The dialogue was part of the program “The State of the Agency: NASA Future Programs Presentation” sponsored by the NASA Alumni League with support from the AAS, AIAA, CSE and WIA.Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Astronauts Scott Altman, left, and Leland Melvin speak of their fallen comrades during a program commemorating Human Spaceflight and the Kennedy Legacy, Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in the concert hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The event marked the 50th Anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs in which he stated "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth". Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Dr. Jennifer Elgenbrode, from Goddard Space Flight Center, foreground, talks as Dr. Mary Voytek and Dr. Michael Meyer, far right, look on during a Mars Program Update where prominent scientists discussed evidence of water on Mars, current Program status, including the 7th Anniversary of the Mars rovers and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission and previewing exciting discoveries to come, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Clifford Will, Professor of Physics at Washington University in St. Louis, makes a point during a press conference, Wednesday, May 4, 2011, to discuss NASA's Gravity Probe B (GP-B) mission which has confirmed two key predictions derived from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which the spacecraft was designed to test at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The experiment, launched in 2004, used four ultra-precise gyroscopes to measure the hypothesized geodetic effect, the warping of space and time around a gravitational body, and frame-dragging, the amount a spinning object pulls space and time with it as it rotates. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Tracy Thumm, left, and Justin Kugler both from the International Space Station Program Science Office at Johnson Space Center speak at the STS-135 Tweetup, Thursday, July 7, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. About 150 NASA Twitter followers attended the event. The STS-135 mission will be NASA's last space shuttle launch. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Asher Gendelman, a director of technology at Zephyr Technology, holds up chest belt as he speaks about technology investments and their benefits during a panel discussion at the 2011 NASA Future Forum held at the Riggs Alumni Center on the campus of the University of Maryland, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011, in College Park, Md. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Participants take part in an Education Summitt with NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, Chairman of the Board at BAE Systems, speaks to those gathered at the 2009 NASA Executive Summit, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009, at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. (Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA astronaut TJ Creamer talks about his experience in space during a "Tweetup" at NASA Headquarters, Thursday, July 29, 2010, in Washington. Creamer, who spent 161 days living aboard the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 22/23 crew, set up the orbiting outpost's live Internet connection and posted updates about the mission to his Twitter account, sending the first live tweet from orbit. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Greg Kopp, from the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colo., talks about the launch of the GLORY mission during a news conference at NASA Headquarters, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011, in Washington. NASA's newest Earth-observing research mission is scheduled for launch form Vandenburg Air Force Base in California on Feb. 23. The mission will improve our understanding of how the sun and tiny atmosppheric particles called aerosols affect Earth's climate. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shahspeaks prior to signing a five-year memorandum of understanding with NASA, Monday, April 25, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The agreement formalizes ongoing agency collaborations that use Earth science data to address developmental challenges, and to assist in disaster mitigation and humanitarian responses. The agreement also encourages NASA and USAID to apply geospatial technologies to solve development challenges affecting the United States and developing countries. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Kenneth Silberman, an engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, speaks to students from the Maryland School for the Blind during a visit to NASA Headquarters in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Seven students from the Maryland School for the Blind visited NASA and participated in activities to learn about NASA'smission, functions, and careers. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Dr. Jack Mustard, from Brown University, talks during a Mars Program Update where prominent scientists discussed evidence of water on Mars, current Program status, including the 7th Anniversary of the Mars rovers and the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory mission and previewing exciting discoveries to come, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Priniciples of air flow are explained to visitors to the wind tunnel exhibit at the USA Science and Engineering Festival, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, at Freedom Plaza in Washington. NASA, joined with more than 500 science organizations this weekend to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers during the first national science and engineering festival held in the nation's capital. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Susan Kool, a researcher from the Langley Research Center, works on monitoring the Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft, Monday, Aug. 16, 2010, at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. LASE probes the atmosphere using lasers and is part of the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) experiment is a NASA Earth science field experiment in 2010 that is being conducted to better understand how tropical storms form and develop into major hurricanes. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, left, and Sesame Street's Elmo speak at the STS-135 Tweetup, Thursday, July 7, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Elmo asked the astronauts questions about living and working in space. About 150 NASA Twitter followers attended the event. The STS-135 mission will be NASA's last space shuttle launch. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Madhulika Guhathakurta, SDO Program Scientist, speaks during a briefing to discuss the upcoming launch of NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory, or SDO, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The mission is to study the Sun and its dynamic behavior. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Emil de Cou conducts the Space Philharmonic during a program entitled Human Spaceflight: The Kennedy Legacy, Wednesday, May 25, 2011, in the concert hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The event marked the 50th Anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs in which he stated "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth". Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Anna Michalak, an Orbiting Carbon Observatory science team member from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, speaks during a media briefing to discuss the upcoming Orbiting Carbon Observatory mission, the first NASA spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
An unidentified member of the media tries out an interactive display during a press briefing at the new "Moving Beyond Earth," exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum in Washingon, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009. Moving Beyond Earth is an immersive exhibition that places visitors “in orbit” in the shuttle and space-station era to explore recent human spaceflight and future possibilities. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Apollo astronauts from left, Walt Cunningham (Apollo 17), James Lovell (Apollo 8 Apollo 13), David Scott (Apollo 9 Apollo 15), Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), Thomas Stafford (Apollo 10) and Eugene Cernan (Apollo 17) are seen during the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and the walk on the moon press conference, Monday, July 20, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Students from the Maryland School for the Blind learn about astronauts during NASA's Disability Mentoring Day, Thursday, April 7, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washignton. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA STS-129 mission pilot Barry Wilmore, second from left, demonstrates weightlessness in space with Trent Petersen, a student at Stuart-Hobson Middle School, left, as crew members Mike Foreman, Leland Melvin and Randy Bresnick, right, look on during a presentation about their recent mission, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA Tweetup participants stand at the launch clock, Friday, July 8, 2011, prior to the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Space shuttle Atlantis is set to launch on the final flight of the shuttle program on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. The STS-135 crew will carry the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module containing supplies and spare parts for the space station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Craig Nelson, author of "Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon" speaks during an Apollo History and Legacy roundtable discussion, Thursday, July 16, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, Chairman of the Board at BAE Systems, speaks to those gathered at the 2009 NASA Executive Summit, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009, at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington. (Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, far left, Sesame Street's Elmo and NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock, far right, speak at the STS-135 Tweetup, Thursday, July 7, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Elmo asked the astronauts questions about living and working in space. About 150 NASA Twitter followers attended the event. The STS-135 mission will be NASA's last space shuttle launch. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
STS-133 Commander Steven Lindsey, far left, presents a montage to President Barack Obama as crew members Michael Barratt, Pilot Eric Boe, Nicole Stott, and Stephen Bowen look on during a visit to the Oval Office in the White House, Monday, May 9, 2011, in Washington. Also in attendance but not seen, was Mission Specialist Alvin Drew. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA astronaut TJ Creamer talks about his experience in space during a "Tweetup" at NASA Headquarters, Thursday, July 29, 2010, in Washington. Creamer, who spent 161 days living aboard the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 22/23 crew, set up the orbiting outpost's live Internet connection and posted updates about the mission to his Twitter account, sending the first live tweet from orbit. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
William Bo-Ricki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center, second from left, is joined by Jon Morse, left, Sara Seager, and Alan Boss while speaking at a press conference, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington about the scientific observations coming from the Kepler spacecraft that was launched this past March. Kepler is NASA's first mission that is capable of discovering earth-sized planets in the habitable zones of stars like our Sun. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson, flight engineer on Expeditions 23 and 24, left, and Doug Wheelock, Expedition 24 flight engineer and commander of Expedition 25, discuss their mission to the International Space Station during a visit to NASA Headquarters in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2011. (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Maryland School for the Blind students Andrea Washington, left, and Derontay Taylor, right, along with science teacher Colleen Shovestull, center, use their sense of touch on topographical maps to learn about the Moon during a visit to NASA Headquarters in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Seven students from the Maryland School for the Blind visited NASA and participated in activities to learn about NASA'smission, functions, and careers. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
NASA chief historian Steven Dick, seated left, along with John Logsdon, Roger Launius, Michael Neufeld, Cristina Guidi and Craig Nelson, are seen at an Apollo History and Legacy roundtable discussion, Thursday, July 16, 2009, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)