Returning to the moon is the “next logical step” in human exploration of space, O’Keefe told a gathering of Lewiston-Auburn business people.

However, the NASA leader warned that space exploration and much of America’s economic foundation could be harmed by the shrinking number of people learning about science and technology.

One quarter of the working scientists and engineers in America will retire in the next five years, O’Keefe said. Yet, enrollment in science and technology schools is declining.

It’s draining much of the creativity from the U.S. economy, he said.

O’Keefe’s appearance was the centerpiece of the gathering by the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council, which held its annual dinner Thursday at Bates College, presenting awards to innovative local companies. He attended with his parents, who live in Bath.

NASA’s top official since December 2001, O’Keefe used the 30-minute presentation as a platform for promoting the President Bush’s space agenda.

He began with a five-minute movie, which outlined Bush’s plans to finish the International Space Station, develop a replacement vehicle for the space shuttle, return to the moon and, eventually, reach Mars.

The film featured moments of Bush speeches, animation of the moon and Mars, and futuristic images of robots, spider-like probes and men in space suits on the red planet.

“It’s a place worth understanding a little better,” said O’Keefe, a former secretary of the Navy. Prior to his work at NASA, he was the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, working in what he described as Washington’s “logic-free zone.”

With NASA, O’Keefe served through triumphs as two golf car-sized rovers landed on Mars. He also led the agency through the tragedy of the shuttle Columbia.

More recently, he has come under criticism for the decision not to send a shuttle on a planned mission to make repairs to the Hubble telescope. He and other NASA leaders believed that the needed shuttle mission could not meet all the new safety rules created by the Columbia Accident Investigative Board.

If nothing is done, the Hubble will last beyond its intended life span, originally forecast to end in 2005, he said. Instead it could keep working until 2007 or 2008.

But people are trying to do more, he said.

Using nuclear power

“The outlook is very, very bright,” O’Keefe said. Some scientists are suggesting that robots be created to go up and do the work.

Plans for the space telescope could be decided “in the next few months,” O’Keefe said.

However, his agency is planning farther trips, such as the one to Mars. The spaceship to get people there will likely be nuclear powered, he said.

He is working to get engineers from the Navy, which has long used nuclear energy on carriers and submarines, to work with NASA’s people.

A space reactor would need to be “dramatically smaller,” he said. But it could solve the problem of power to get us there.

“This will change the whole landscape of space exploration,” O’Keefe said.

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