In his February 17 call to the International Space Station, President Obama stated “my commitment to NASA is unwavering” and that “one of the things that we’ve done with our NASA ‘Vision for the Future’ is to extend the life of our participation in the Space Station.”

After hearing Astronaut descriptions of some of the research being done on the Space Station, Obama went on to say:

Well, some of the things that you talked about are in line with where we want to see NASA going increasingly: What are those transformational technologies that would allow us to potentially see space travel of longer durations? If we want to get to Mars, if we want to get beyond that, what kinds of technologies are going to be necessary in order for us to make sure that folks can get there in one piece and get back in one piece and that — the kinds of fuels that we use and the technologies we use are going to facilitate something that is actually feasible? And we’re very excited about the possibilities of putting more research dollars into some of these transformational technologies.

A full transcript of this event are available on the NASA website.