Comments Made During Interview With Al Jazeera Television.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera television, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (pictured) said his, and by extension NASA's "foremost" mission is to improve U.S./Muslim relations. And he said President Obama has given him that task.

"When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he (Obama) charged me with three things," Bolden told the interviewer. "One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering,"

Fox News reports that Bolden was in the Middle East last month to mark the anniversary of the President's speech to Muslim nations in Cairo. During the interview, he described space exploration as an international effort, and that the Muslim world must be a part of that effort.

Bolden insisted his mission was not diplomatic. He said the U.S. is not going to travel beyond low-Earth orbit without international help, and that no country could make it to Mars on its own. He held up international partnerships with the Russians, Japan, and Europe in ISS  as examples of they type of international cooperation that continued space exploration will require. He told Al Jazeera that the Moon, Mars, and asteroids are all potential destinations for manned space flight, but a lunar colony was unlikely because "you don't have to."

FMI: www.nasa.gov, www.youtube.com/watch?v=e857ZcuIfnI&feature=player_embedded