Here’s your opportunity to contribute to the future direction of NASA’s plans, programs and priorities, in a study directed by Congress and led by the National Academies. This is your space program and your future. What do you have to say about it?

In the FY2012 appropriations bill that funds NASA, Congress requested an independent study of NASA’s strategic direction. The study is being conducted by a committee of the National Research Council.

The study statement of task directs the committee to “recommend how NASA could establish and effectively communicate a common, unifying vision for NASA’s strategic direction that encompasses NASA’s varied missions.” Strategic direction can be thought of as the steps NASA needs to take over time to accomplish its vision and mission.

NASA’s Strategic Direction Committee is reviewing a large amount of published material, including the law that created NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, most recently amended in 2010) and NASA’s 2011 Strategic Plan, which begins with NASA’s statement of its vision and mission.

The current NASA vision is “to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown, so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind”, and its mission is to “drive advances in science, technology, and exploration to enhance knowledge, education, innovation, economic vitality, and stewardship of Earth.” The NASA Strategic Plan also states that NASA’s current direction lays “the groundwork for a sustainable program of exploration and innovation. This new direction extends the life of the International Space Station, supports the growing commercial space industry, and addresses important scientific challenges while continuing our commitment to robust human space exploration, science, and aeronautics programs.”

The Strategic Directions Committee is listening to a wide variety of experts in aeronautics and space science and technology, space policy and programs, and communications strategy, and it wants to hear from other stakeholders, including the public, as well.

The committee invites your responses to the nine questions listed here.

This website will be available for comments only through August 17, 2012. The response to each question is limited to 300 words so that the committee can efficiently collate and analyze your responses. To gauge how much you can write, this introduction totals 342 words. The responses each person submits, along with the author’s name and institution will be available for viewing at the NASA’s Strategic Direction Committee website.

Link to public input form: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/DEPS/PublicInputForm/index.htm