Open Letter To Congress On Commercial Space

Open Letter To Congress On Commercial Space

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.

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.

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

Meritt 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

Lousville, 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