NASA's Bolden announced Muslim outreach in February, Indonesia key as largest Muslim nation-Orlando Sentinel

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• The recent Al Jazeera speech wasn't the first time.
  

In February, he said NASA especially eyed Indonesia as the largest Muslim nation for outreach on space programs and global warming-Orlando Sentinel

• 2/16/10, "NASA plans more outreach to Muslim countries," Orlando Sentinel, M. Matthews
  

Washington: "NASA Administrator (Charles) Charlie Bolden said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has asked him to

• “find ways to reach out to dominantly Muslim countries”
  

as the White House pushes the space agency to become a tool of international diplomacy.

“In addition to the nations that most of you usually hear about when you think about the International Space Station, we now have expanded our efforts to reach out to non-traditional partners,” said Bolden, speaking to a lecture hall of young engineering students.

Specifically, he talked about connecting with countries that do not have an established space program and helping them conduct science missions. He mentioned new

• opportunities with Indonesia, including an
  

• educational program that examines global climate change (global warming).

“We really like Indonesia because the State Department, the Department of Education [and] other agencies in the U.S. are

• reaching out to Indonesia as the largest Muslim nation in the world. We would love to establish partners there,” Bolden said.

As a presidential candidate, Obama espoused a space program that invited more participation from the international community and Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver said recently that the next time NASA lands on the moon it would be part of an international exploration effort."