At last night's State of the Union, President Obama drew on a moment from a very different era to make one of his biggest points. He said we've reached our generation's "Sputnik moment." Like the space race of 40 years ago, the president said, the U.S. needs to come up with the Apollo projects of our time.

On tomorrow's show, we'll look at how the first Sputnik moment changed America and what Sputnik 2.0 might look like.

We'll also look at another issue raised in the State of the Union: How American students can get better at math and science. We'll look at what can inspire today's kids to pursue careers in those fields, as the president is asking. And we've been asking you what, if anything, inspired you to study math or science. Here's what you've told us by text message today:

The White House is releasing details of the president's State of the Union speech ahead of tonight's address before a joint session of Congress. In the speech, Obama will propose a two-year extension to the partial freeze on domestic programs and will call for $78 billion in military spending cuts. Tune in tomorrow for highlights and reaction from both sides of the aisle. And weigh in tonight during the speech by leaving a message at 877-869-8253.

This morning's pre-dawn raid on more than a hundred mob figures in three states is  the largest sweep on organized crime in recent history. About 30 of the suspects are "made" members of New York's five crime families, as well as families in New Jersey and New England. Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrests at a press conference in Brooklyn this morning.

Noel King with some stories we’re following for tomorrow.

2010 has become the deadliest year for NATO forces in Afghanistan following a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan in which nine people — most of them believed to be American — were killed. Zabul province, where the helicopter went down, is controlled by insurgents but NATO did not report hostile fire. Tomorrow, we'll take a look at both the necessity and the perils of helicopter transit in Afghanistan — and explore the helicopter’s place in modern warfare from Vietnam to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to the present day.

Noel King on The Takeaway’s day shift with some stories we’re following for tomorrow.

We’ll spend a full hour tomorrow morning drilling down into the aftermath of the Gulf oil gusher. The Macondo well is plugged, but unanswered questions remain. Chief among them: what actually happened to the five million barrels of oil that spilled into the ocean? And what will be the long-term affects of the oil on the environment? 

We’ll check in with friends of The Takeaway who've joined us from along the Gulf Cost: shrimpers, boat captains, local mayors and restaurant owners.

Tomorrow, we take a close look at wealth and poverty in America. Census figures released Thursday show that 44 million Americans lived in poverty in 2009. That’s one in seven people. Perhaps even more disturbing, that number is up four million from 2008. The recession is clearly what’s impacting people’s fortunes and the number of impoverished people living in America today is approaching the stark percentage that led to the War on Poverty in the 1960s.

Politics will continue to dominate the news cycle tomorrow as the Republican Party takes stock of Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell’s upset over Rep. Mike Castle in Delaware. We’ll ask where the conversation between Republicans and Tea Partiers goes from here. And we're asking, Are you moving further along the political spectrum this election season? Are you finding yourself moving further left or further right this year? Let us know.

We’re awaiting primary returns from seven states. Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich will join us with a look at whether the returns paint a cohesive picture of the American political landscape — or whether most of these races were local.

We’re looking forward to a bonanza of state primaries on Tuesday, and while it’s tough to find themes that all of the races have in common, we’ll look at two that seem to be rearing their heads nationwide: voter anger and voter apathy. 

This political season, there's a debate raging over whether to suspend tax cuts for "the rich." But what does it mean to be rich these days anyway? The tax code says it's $250,000 a year. We're asking, How much do you think you have to earn to be considered rich?

Noel King on the day shift with some stories we’re following for tomorrow.

In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the complex world we inhabit requires a “new American moment.” We’ve asked listeners to weigh in on how they define a classically American moment — whether positive or negative. And we’ve picked a few of our own: the March on Washington, shock and awe and American astronauts landing on the moon. What's yours?

President Obama is expected to call tomorrow for a tax credit that will allow businesses to deduct the value of all new equipment purchases from their taxes through 2011. The plan would cost $200 billion dollars in the short term — but don't call it “stimulus,” a word that’s taken a beating recently from critics who say the first stimulus plan didn’t stimulate much at all. We’re taking a look at businesses large and small — to see how this will affect them. Among others, we’ll talk to Richard Copeland, founder and CEO of THOR Construction Company, the country’s largest African-American owned construction company. 

President Obama is calling today for up to $50 billion in government funding to create jobs in infrastructure — primarily transportation. But what is $50 billion dollars worth? How many roads, trains and runways can you get? And what should be done with that money? We’ll speak to Scott Myers-Lipton, author of “Rebuild America: Solving the Economic Crisis through Civic Work.”

Noel King on the day side, here.

We’re keeping a close eye on what’s being called a hostage situation at the Discovery building in Silver Spring, Maryland. A man with an explosive device has reportedly taken at least one hostage, local police say. We’ll have more on that as it develops.

Tomorrow we continue our coverage of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks underway in Washington with the Guardian’s Ian Black and Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group. Malley was part of the 2000 peace talks.

Noel King on the day side, with a look at what we’re following for Wednesday’s show.

President Obama this evening will give a widely-anticipated speech on the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. Across the country, people will be watching not only to hear what Obama says about Iraq, but what he says about the U.S. economy. We’ll give you a blow-by-blow of the speech with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met today with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbass is set to meet later in the week with President Obama and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for the first direct peace talks in 20 months. But after decades of dashed hopes, many wonder what this round of talks might actually accomplish. Aaron David Miller is a former adviser on the Middle East to both Republican and Democratic Secretaries of State and author of “The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace.” He’ll explain what makes this round of talks different – and what doesn’t.

New figures show that one in three American women now gives birth via C-section. That’s up fifty percent from 1996. Rachel Hutter Epstein, author of "Get Me Out," explains the somewhat surprising rise in numbers. She says it has a lot to do with doctors preferring the procedure – for several reasons. But Dr. Mitchell Maiman is one MD who doesn’t care for the caesarian. He’s chair of the OBGYN department at Staten Island University – and he’s done his best to limit the use of C-sections. He’ll explain why. We started this conversation online by asking “what’s so natural about “natural birth, anyway?” We’ll tell you tomorrow what listeners had to say.

Plus, we’ve cast an eye to Hurricane Earl as folks along the east coast batten down the hatches in advance of the Category 5 storm. And we’ll take a closer look at the 60-mile traffic jam that choked huge stretches of highway outside Beijing for nearly two weeks.

And in a follow-up to our segment on the difficulties facing cash-strapped symphony orchestras around the country, we’ll bring you a positive story: the tale of a classical show that draws sell-out crowds. Composer George Daugherty is the co-creator of “Bugs Bunny and the Symphony,” which combines classical music with beloved cartoon characters, drawing new audiences each year. 

Noel King on the day shift, with some stories we're following for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, marks the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq. We're speaking to analysts, ordinary Iraqis and U.S. servicemen and women who were there. Noah Feldman, a professor at Harvard Law and a former senior advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq says he thinks we’re in for the long haul. In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Feldman draws parallels between the current political and military climate in Iraq and that of South Korea in 1953, at the end of the Korean War.

From Dr. Ziad al-Hassani in Baghdad, we'll hear about the challenges that remain for those who live in Iraq. The end of combat operations hasn't meant much for the country’s infrastructure. We’ll ask Dr. al-Hassani how work is done in hospitals with severe electricity shortages.

And we're asking U.S. sevicemen and women: What did you accomplish in Iraq? Whether it was building a school or capturing a wanted enemy combatant. John Jones, a former staff sergeant in the Marines, shares his story.  

An analysis by the AP shows that the number of families receiving welfare is greater now than ever before. One in six people depend upon government anti-poverty programs. We're looking not only at the growing numbers, but at the shifting sense of identity that accompanies being on assistance. We asked our listeners to weigh in and we've been getting responses from across the spectrum. One listener says “those federal programs are a joke. All they do is reward peoples' failures.” But another says “[federal assistance] helps me to provide for my kids since they have a deadbeat dad."

And musicians for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra have rejected contract proposals and are threatening to strike. We'll speak to Haden McKay, a cellist with the Detroit orchestra. And WNYC and WQXR classical music host Terrance McKnight says Detroit's problem mirrors those at cash-strapped symphony orchestras across the country.   

Anna Sale here on the day shift.

We're following up today on reports of a major paradigm shift in U.S. counterterrorism strategy. The Washington Post reported this morning that the CIA no longer believes that the most urgent terror threat comes from the Pakistan-based al-Qaida cell connected to Osama bin Laden. Now, analysts are focused more on the activity of an al-Qaida offshoot in Yemen. For tomorrow's show, we're reaching out to counterterrorism thinkers and experts on Yemen to learn more about what exactly that means, and what changes it could bring for counterterrorism tactics and resource distribution.

We also continue to be glued to the story of the trapped miners in Chile. As we learn more details — about their messages to people above, their meager rations, their first contact with their families — we only have more questions. We'll have the latest from the mine site tomorrow, and take a closer look at the culture and geography of this Chilean mining region.  

Finally, Joel Johnson, editor at large of Gizmodo.com asked in a recent column, “Why Isn't There A Better Way to Text While Driving?” So far, he’s received over 500 responses to his column, most of which suggest that people who text and drive simply give it up, use the phone instead, or die behind the wheel because they deserve to. But Joel Johnson insists that, in a world where most people text and drive, his question is valid. What do you think? Should texting while driving be outlawed or be made safer?

Anna Sale here on the day shift.

There are elections today in five states (Fla, Ariz, Ark., Vt, and Okla.), so we are getting ready for an exciting night of returns. We're reaching out to reporters and political thinkers to help us unpack the results and decipher any national threads to pull out — incumbent backlash, the fortunes of Tea Party-backed candidates, for example — but we also want to hear from voters about their motivations at the polls. If you're voting today, let us know what's on your mind as you make your choice.

Anna Sale here on the dayshift.

This week marks five years since Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast, and all this week we'll be looking at how communities and culture have changed in its aftermath. We talked this morning about how the shortcomings of the federal government response still loom large in political debates. Tomorrow, we'll hear voices from Biloxi, Miss. about quietly rebuilding and reorienting, with the media spotlight turned  the other way.

Anna Sale here on the day shift.

We spent this morning unpacking the meaning of the last combat brigade departure from Iraq. We talked to former weapons inspector Hans Blix, reporters on the ground and in Washington, a resident of Baghdad, and military wives on how their families are processing the news. We analyzed the media's handling of the milestone, and we also heard from you. We'll continue our look at the legacy of Operation Enduring Freedom tomorrow, and we could use your help. Do you think we won the Iraq war? Let us know what you think at 877-8-MY-TAKE or in the comments here.

Anna Sale here on the day shift.

We are continuing to follow the impact of the monsoon floods in Pakistan. We talked this morning to the host of the BBC's radio service called "Lifeline," which is trying to reach Pakistanis, offering a call-in for people who need important aid information, and also giving them a forum for telling their own story during the disaster. Tomorrow we will look at the scale of the international aid response, and it has its critics. British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called the effort so far "absolutely pitiful." We'll talk about how much has been pledged so far, the pace of the response and what's needed to address what United Nations Secretary General Bahn Ki Moon calls the worst disaster he's ever witnessed.