Congressman vs. rocket scientist

The Democratic Party primary in Florida’s 15th Congressional District (which includes Cape Canaveral and much of Florida’s “Space Coast”) earlier this week pitted two political neophytes: Robert Bowman and John Kennedy. Bowman won the primary by a final count of about 55-45%, and will now face incumbent Republican Rep. Dave Weldon in the November general election.

Bowman, it turns out, is an interesting candidate. The article in the Lakeland Ledger identifies him as a “retired rocket scientist with a doctorate in aeronautics” but also notes that Bowman “did run for president of the United States in 2000 as an independent.” His home page still has “Bowman for President” in the title bar, although it now reads “Bowman2006″ in extremely large type on the screen. The site is also home to the Space & Security News Home Page (last updated January 10, 2006), which is a publication of the Institute for Space and Security Studies; both seem to focus more on security than space.

Bowman has a separate, more conventional Congressional campaign web site where he takes stands on various issues, including space. “As a rocket scientist, I’m a big supporter of the space program,” he writes. Like some people in Congress, he expresses concern about the “gap” between the 2010 retirement of the shuttle and the introduction of Orion by 2014. “If we save money by laying off shuttle workers and lose their talents and their corporate memory, we may have a very hard time reconstructing a team for the next generation of space exploration.” He calls for a more gradual workforce reduction at KSC, through “natural attrition and retirement”.