On Saturday, the Family Weekend speaker took students and parents into the halls of Congress and beyond the clutches of the Earth into outer space. John Glenn, a former senator and astronaut, spoke to a near-capacity crowd of parents and students at Bender Arena about research, politics and space travel.
He spoke warmly about his space career, describing it as "quite an experience to be up there." Part of his time orbiting Earth was spent watching the sun set and rise 18 times per day and seeing the blue band of the atmosphere surrounding Earth.
Looking to the future, Glenn said he supports President Bush's goal of sending a human to Mars, but disagrees with the proposed method of using the moon as a launch point. Glenn said he wants the International Space Station to host research that will directly benefit human beings on Earth.
Glenn's earthly research interests include reducing cancer and the negative effects of aging. On the topic of research and education, Glenn said that education through research is the key to successful societies.
"It just paid off," Glenn said.
U.S. education is lagging, and the country is paying the price, Glenn said. He said many of today's math teachers don't have training in teaching math, and as a result, many leave the profession after a brief period.
To correct this problem, Glenn proposed that research be increased. He said the "curious question people" in the past and today provoked people to learn and embrace education.
After his 30-minute speech, Glenn took questions from the audience for about another 30 minutes.
One student asked about the X Prize civilian space flight competition, in which a $10 million prize was awarded toa team that created a spacecraft that could orbit the Earth twice in a week and land. Glenn lightheartedly said that people should wait until they have $200,000 to take a civilian space flight.
He then asked the questioner, "You wanna go up?" The questioner responded by saying he already was spending $160,000 to attend AU.
Speaking on political issues, Glenn said rolling back the recent tax cuts would not create jobs, but research would. Glenn also criticized President Bush regarding the No Child Left Behind Act.
"What got left behind was the funding to do it," Glenn said.
Glenn also said that in previous years, Congress was much less polarized and reached across party lines more to get laws passed. At Glenn's pre-reception, he said athat one of his proudest moments during his Senate career was helping to balance the federal budget in 1993, because of the difficult time he had due to Republican opposition. He also stressed that an efficient and accountable government is essential.
Regarding his space career, Glenn said the "Original 7," referring to the first Mercury space program astronauts, were highly competitive for the space flight assignments.
Glenn was the first man to orbit Earth in 1962, and returned to space in 1998 aboard the Discovery for geriatric research purposes. In 1974, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and in 1984 he ran for president as a Democrat. He fought in World War II and the Korean War as a fighter pilot and downed several enemy planes. Also, he was the late baseball star Ted Williams' wingman during his military service.
The program was sponsored by the Kennedy Political Union and the College Democrats.
"I really wanted to bring a Democrat," said KPU Director Emily Fuller, citing that past Family Weekends had featured Republican speakers. "I thought he did a great job. ... He was perfect,"she said, adding that he "bridged the gap" politically.
