SpaceWatch - July 2004

There’s a classic bit from the parody film "Airplane!" in which Lloyd Bridges’ character opines: "Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop drinking coffee." Well, if you don't thrive on change, it looks like you’ve picked the wrong time to be in the space business.

On June 16, the President’s Commission on Moon-Mars and Beyond delivered its sweeping recommendation for the near total overhaul of the U.S. space agency NASA. All indications are that NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe is accepting this mandate for transformation with zeal. Almost everything we know about how NASA operates is up for grabs as the agency bears down upon its exciting new mandate for space exploration.

A significant feature of the Commission’s report was a strong recommendation that NASA buy as much capability as possible "off the shelf" from the commercial sector. As if to punctuate that firm suggestion with a blazing exclamation point, Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipOne rocket plane on June 21 boldly went where no private spacecraft has ever gone before, shattering the decades-old government monopoly on human space flight.

Burt Rutan, Paul Allen, and the Scaled Composites team now have accomplished that Holy Grail of commercial space and achieved on a relative shoestring budget what many well-heeled governments have failed to: putting a man in space. Like Lindbergh’s solo crossing of the Atlantic or Shepard’s fiery ride atop a Redstone rocket, the flight of SpaceShipOne changes everything. The repercussions for all sectors of space have not even begun to be felt.

Yes, change is in the wind. "Out there" in the solar system our attention is about to shift from Mars — where Spirit and Opportunity have captivated us since January — to Saturn, where the ambitious and highly capable Cassini spacecraft is finally arriving after a six-year, gravity-assisted voyage from Earth. An unprecedented exploration of the ringed planet and her moons is already under way. Mission managers already have pulled in startling images of Saturn's moon Phoebe, revealing a battered and not-so-spherical body, which challenges some notions of solar system formation. Cassini is to perform 52 close fly-bys of several of Saturn's known moons, and it will drop its Huygens probe into the mysterious atmosphere of the moon Titan.

In addition to the exciting transformation at NASA, other significant changes also are on tap for the space industry. The ownership of two significant commercial space ventures — PanAmSat and NewSKIES — will be changing thanks to a couple of very strong investment deals that demonstrate Wall Street has shaken its jitters and is ready to invest in good space businesses again. Meanwhile, consolidation in Europe continues, meaning more changes as Alcatel and Alenia Spazio reshape their satellite and space services businesses.

In military space, two significant changes of command are in the works. First, at U.S. Strategic Command Admiral James O. Ellis, Jr., will retire July 9, to be replaced by USMC General (Select) James E. "Hoss" Cartwright. Second, NORAD and USNORTHCOM commander General Ed Eberhart is planning to retire on a yet-to-be determined date, allowing Admiral (Select) Timothy J. Keating to take the helm.

Both Ellis and Eberhart have been outstanding champions of space. Ellis did a tremendous job re-inventing STRATCOM after the missions of the former U.S. Space Command were re-assigned during October 2002. He fully embraced space missions and capabilities and became an effective space advocate at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. Eberhart has been no less important to the military space community — and to the Space Foundation as a five-time National Space Symposium "ace" speaker, a fact he reminded us of on March 30.

Finally, it was recently announced that three former space-related offices reporting to Under Secretary of the Air Force Peter Teets will be combined into a single office under command of Maj. Gen. Bob Kehler, a seasoned space warrior and former AFSPACE wing commander well known throughout the military space world.

What's really neat about all this change: it's all good. If you love this business as much as I do, you couldn’t have picked a better time to be part of it.

Elliot G. Pulham
President &
Chief Executive Officer

Worthwhile Projects

We are pleased to share information about these creative efforts to tell the space story. Each needs sponsors or financial help:

Exclusive National Sponsorship Available For "Beyond The Blue" Radio Program:
Scheduled for satellite broadcast to more than 400 syndicated stations in 48 states, "Beyond The Blue" will explore, entertain, teach and inspire. A total of 260 educational features will provide audiences with a framework for understanding the space program and serve to improve public appreciation of and support for continued space exploration.

Created by In2itiv Films Executive Producer George R. Lovelock in cooperation with NASA and the Space Foundation, "Beyond The Blue" will be hosted by America’s first female astronaut, Dr. Sally Ride. Exclusive national sponsorship benefits include a branded presence on all program support material, program introductions by Dr. Sally Ride, and a 30-second commercial spot in all 260 features heard across the country. For sponsorship information contact:
Kevin C. Cook, Director, Space Awareness Programs, at 719.576.8000 or George R. Lovelock, Executive Producer, In2itiv Films, at 631.922.6434.

"The Tiny Torah" is a video documentary project based on the travels of the miniature Torah that astronaut Ilan Ramon carried into orbit aboard Columbia during its final flight. A powerful story, the Tiny Torah traces the story of human hope from the despair of the Nazi death camps of World War II to the glory of human space exploration. Contact: elizabeth@spacefoundation.org

"The Legends of Space" is an HDTV/Digital documentary project intended to capture the first-hand accounts of the American astronauts who walked on the Moon during Project Apollo — for documentary, web and archive purposes — and to use those stories to inspire future generations of explorers. Contact: info@bernardoni.com

"Dear Mr. President" is a video documentary series now in production that retells pivotal moments in American history through the eyes of children who wrote letters to the President concerning those events. One or more episodes in the series will be devoted to space exploration. Contact: les@heintzmedia.com

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