Space leaders support commercial crew to ISS and accelerated human exploration beyondby S. Alan Stern
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| Commercial human spaceflight and human exploration of other worlds are the twin pillars of space leadership in the coming decade. U.S. space policy, and NASA’s budget, should put the Nation at the forefront of both. |
Our letter asks Congress to fully fund the commercial crew to space station program proposed by in the President’s FY2011 NASA budget request, and to accelerate human space exploration beyond Earth orbit. We also pointed out that a commercial crew to space station program is a fundamental enabler of an affordable NASA human spaceflight exploration program, specifically because it frees up the NASA dollars needed to develop deep space transportation and exploration systems for astronauts.
Signatory Miles O’Brien, aerospace journalist, reflected on the letter saying, “The government needs to open the door for some bold visionaries who see amazing opportunities there. Imagine what space will look like if the innovators and risk-takers who gave us Silicon Valley are given a chance to build businesses there.”
My own view was quoted this way: “Commercial human spaceflight and human exploration of other worlds are the twin pillars of space leadership in the coming decade. U.S. space policy, and NASA’s budget, should put the Nation at the forefront of both.”
A copy of our letter and its list of signatories follows.
Dear Members of Congress:
We, the undersigned space leaders, are strong supporters of human spaceflight. We are writing to urge you to both (1) fully fund the commercial crew to Space Station program proposed in the President’s FY2011 budget request for NASA, and (2) accelerate the pace and funding of NASA’s human space exploration projects beyond Earth orbit.
These twin pillars of human spaceflight are each crucial to the long-term health of our Nation’s space program. They are also interdependent.
And they will together generate thousands of high tech U.S. jobs for people in multiple states, including Florida, Alabama, Texas, California, Nevada, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, and Maryland.
| We specifically wish to express our concern that the commercial crew to Space Station program is sometimes seen as optional or too risky to America’s future in space, but nothing could be further from the truth. |
Among us are over 50 space leaders—former NASA executives and advisors, former astronauts, CEOs of firms large and small, a former FAA Associate Administrator, space scientists, space journalists, and others. We are a diverse group, but we are only a handful of the Nation’s citizens who support U.S. leadership in human space flight in general, and the development of commercial human spaceflight in particular.
We specifically wish to express our concern that the commercial crew to Space Station program is sometimes seen as optional or too risky to America’s future in space, but nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, the commercial crew to Space Station program is a fundamental enabler of NASA’s human space exploration beyond Earth orbit, specifically because it will free up the NASA dollars needed to develop deep space transportation and exploration systems for astronauts.
Moreover, a commercial crew to Station transportation system, involving multiple separate space lines as the President has proposed, is more robust than a single-legged transportation plan, whether domestic or foreign.
For these reasons and others, we fully and enthusiastically support both full funding for the commercial crew to Space Station program and also the acceleration of exploration beyond Earth orbit, as the top two priorities within NASA’s human spaceflight budget.
Together, these two efforts will also:
- Provide an affordable and fast way to close the current post-Shuttle gap in indigenous U.S. human orbital spaceflight capability, by using launch vehicles that already exist.
- Provide a safe and robust future transportation network to low Earth orbit and beyond for U.S. astronauts.
- Ensure that our dependence on foreign human launch capabilities is reduced quickly and economically.
- Reduce space access costs and enhance our national security industrial base.
- Allow NASA to better focus on accelerating space exploration and the development of its enabling technologies.
- Excite young Americans to careers in science, engineering, and technology.
- Stimulate the private sector economy and the development of space commerce over in a dramatic way, by catalyzing other U.S. space interests such as space tourism and the operation of private in-space research facilities.
- Excite entrepreneurs to envision and then give birth to new commercial services and capabilities in space, further stimulating the Nation’s economy.
Others have said that one of the greatest fears of any generation is not leaving things better for the young people of the next generation. We agree with this.
| One of the greatest fears of any generation is not leaving things better for the young people of the next generation. |
Therefore we reiterate that the near term development of commercial human spaceflight and a clearly defined program of human exploration beyond Earth orbit are both essential. Without either, our Nation’s leadership in space will significantly suffer.
We urge you to make these two goals your highest priorities within NASA’s FY2011 budget for human spaceflight.
Sincerely,
The undersigned, listed alphabetically
Mr. Bretton Alexander
President, Commercial Spaceflight Federation
Washington, D.C.
Mr. Eric Anderson
President and CEO, Space Adventures
Vienna, Virginia
Dr. Daniel N. Baker
Director, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Dr. Jim Bell
Professor, Planetary Scientist, and Member of the Mars Exploration Rover team, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
Capt. Ken Bowersox, Ret.
Former NASA Astronaut, and Vice President of Mission Assurance & Astronaut Safety, Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
Hawthorne, California
Mr. Chad Brinkley
President, DCI Services and Consulting
Houston, Texas
Ms. Heather Bulk
President and CEO, Special Aerospace Services
Boulder, Colorado
Mr. John Carmack
President and CEO, Armadillo Aerospace
Caddo Mills, Texas
Dr. Peter Diamandis
Chairman and CEO, X PRIZE Foundation
Playa Vista, California
Mr. Frank DiBello
President and CEO, Space Florida
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Dr. Michael Drake
Head, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Mr. Art Dula
CEO, Excalibur Almaz
Houston, Texas
Ms. Esther Dyson
Principal, EDyson Ventures
New York, New York
Mr. Edward Ellegood
Director of Aerospace Development, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Daytona Beach, Florida
Dr. Robert Farquhar
Senior Mission Designer, KinetX Corp.
Fairfax, Virginia
Mr. Jeff Feige
CEO, Orbital Outfitters
Los Angeles, California
Mr. Jim Foreman
President, Blue Smoke LLC
Houston, Texas
Dr. Owen Garriott
Former NASA Astronaut, and Aerospace Consultant
Huntsville, Alabama
Mr. Richard Garriott
Commercial Astronaut
Austin, Texas
Mr. Jeffrey Greason
CEO, XCOR Aerospace
Mojave, California
Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman
Former NASA Astronaut, and MIT professor
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Mr. Richard Homans
Executive Director, New Mexico Spaceport
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Dr. Scott Hubbard
Former Director of NASA Ames, and Professor
San Francisco, California
Mr. Michael Joyce
President, Next Giant Leap LLC
Boulder, Colorado
Mr. Dale Ketcham
Director, Spaceport Research & Technology Institute
Merritt Island, Florida
Mr. Jim Kennedy
Former Director, NASA Kennedy Space Center
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Mr. Glenn King
Chief Operating Officer, NASTAR; Pennsylvania
Southampton, Pennsylvania
Mr. Bill Khourie
Executive Director, Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority, Oklahoma Spaceport
Burns Flat, Oklahoma
Dr. Byron Lichtenberg
Former NASA Astronaut
Houston, Texas
Mr. Todd Lindner
Director, Cecil Field Spaceport, Jacksonville Aviation Authority
Jacksonville, Florida
Dr. John Logsdon
Founder, Space Policy Institute, George Washington University
Washington, D.C.
Lt. Col. J. Mike Lounge, Ret.
Former Astronaut, and President, Cisneros Innovation Strategies
Houston, Texas
Dr. Stephen Mackwell
Director, Lunar and Planetary Institute
Houston, Texas
Mr. David Masten
CEO, Masten Space Systems Inc.
Mojave, California
Mr. Bill Mitchell
CEO, Environmental Tectonics Corporation
Southampton, Pennsylvania
Mr. James A.M. Muncy
Co-Founder, Space Frontier Foundation
Alexandria, Virginia
Dr. John Muratore
Former Space Shuttle Flight Director and University of Tennessee Space Institute
Tullahoma, Tennessee
Mr. Elon Musk
CEO and CTO, Space Exploration Technologies Corp.
Hawthorne, California
Mr. Miles O’Brien
Aerospace Journalist, and Managing Editor of “This Week in Space”
New York, New York
Mr. Rich Phillips
President, Phillips & Company
Austin, Texas
Mr. Joseph E. Palaia, IV
Manager, NewSpace Center, and Vice President, 4Frontiers Corp.
New Port Richey, Florida
Mr. Brian Rishikof
CEO, Odyssey Space Research
Houston, Texas
Dr. Rusty Schweickart
Former NASA Astronaut, and Aerospace Consultant
Los Angeles, California
Col. Richard Searfoss, Ret.
Former NASA Astronaut, and Chief Test Pilot, XCOR Aerospace
Mojave, California
Mr. Frank Sietzen, Jr.
Author, and Former Editor in Chief of Ad Astra Magazine of the National Space Society
Arlington, Virginia
Mr. Mark Sirangelo
Chairman, Sierra Nevada Corporation Space Systems, and Chairman of the Board, Commercial Spaceflight Federation
Louisville, Colorado
Mr. Frederick A. Slane
Executive Director, Space Infrastructure Foundation, Inc.
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Ms. Linda Kenny Sloan
President, Information Universe
Carson, California
Ms. Patti Grace Smith
Former FAA Associate Administrator, and Aerospace Consultant
Washington, D.C.
Mr. John Spencer
Founder and President, Space Tourism Society
Los Angeles, California
Dr. Alan Stern
Former NASA Associate Administrator for Science, and Aerospace Consultant
Niwot, Colorado
Dr. Frederick A. Tarantino
President ad CEO, Universities Space Research Association
Columbia, Maryland
Mr. Rick N. Tumlinson
Co-founder, Space Frontier Foundation
Toluca Lake, California
Col. Jim Voss, Ret.
Former NASA Astronaut, and Director of Advanced Programs, Sierra Nevada Corporation Space Systems
Louisville, Colorado
Mr. Robert W. Werb
Co-founder, Space Frontier Foundation
Nyack, New York
Mr. Stuart Witt
General Manager, Mojave Air and Space Port
Mojave, California