The AIAA has released updated information about the commercial space forum it is organizing on July 13 on Capitol Hill. They have a document with full details, although I experienced some problems downloading (it appears to be a 1.5 MB one-page Word file). The event is scheduled for 11:30 am to 2:00 pm in Rayburn House Office Building room 2325. The purpose is to “explore how commercial space transportation activities can be utilized to enhance and facilitate the U.S. Exploration Initiative.” There is an impressive list of participants, available in the full version of this posting.
Opening Remarks:
Chairman Dana Rohrabacher (confirmed)
Senator Bill Nelson (invited)
Senator Sam Brownback (invited)
Moderator: The Honorable Robert Walker, Wexler and Walker (confirmed)
- Constellation Services International – Charlie Miller (confirmed)
- FAA/AST – Dr. George Nield (confirmed)
- Kistler Aerospace – Dr. George Mueller (confirmed)
- Lockheed Martin– John Karas (confirmed)
- NASA Office of Space Flight – Karen Poniatowski (confirmed)
- NASA Centennial Challenges – Brant Sponberg (confirmed)
- PoliSpace – Jim Muncy (confirmed)
- Sea Launch Company – James Maser (confirmed)
- SpaceHab – Michael Kearney (confirmed)
- Space Adventures – Eric Anderson (confirmed)
- Space Transportation Association – Ty McCoy (confirmed)
- SpaceX – Elon Musk (confirmed)
- Starchaser Industries – Steve Bennett (invited)
- TGV Rockets – Kent Ewing (confirmed)
- White House Office of Science and Technology Policy – William Jeffrey (invited)
On that subject, people should take a note of the new GAO report on the cost of EELV–$13 billion more than expected, due largely to the decreased commercial launch market (about $7.8 billion of that increase).
Has the AIAA done anything like this before?
I like that they invited both Republican and Democrate Senators. The important thing will be support for good ideas that might come from a meeting like this. The Space Exploration Alliance should follow up with the Senators to keep it in their mind and put forth legislation in support of private companies.
John,
The AIAA regularly organizes fora, as well as full-scale conferences, on space topics, although I don’t recall if they have held a forum like this specifically on commercial space and exploration in the recent past.
You should also note that the two senators who have been invited are already strongly pro-space: Brownback and Nelson are often the only two members of the Senate Commerce Committee’s science, technology, and space subcommittee to attend hearings on space topics. Brownback in particular strongly (zealously?) pursues a greater role for the private sector in space; Nelson, I think, tends to be a little more cautious.
I just looked at the full list. They have two and a half hours and they want three people giving opening remarks and fifteen speakers plus a moderator? That seems like too many speakers.