CORPORATE MEMBERS

• PARTNERS •
The Aerospace Corporation
Analytical Graphics, Inc.
Arianespace, Inc.
ATK Thiokol
BAE Systems
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
The Boeing Company
Booz Allen Hamilton
Computer Sciences
Corporation
Eastman Kodak Company
Florida Space Authority
GE Johnson Construction
Company
General Dynamics
Harris Corporation
Holland & Hart LLP
Integral Systems, Inc.
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Network Appliance, Inc.
Northrop Grumman
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Raytheon Company
SPACE.com
Space News
Spectrum Astro, Inc.
Swales Aerospace
United Space Alliance

• PATRONS •
Aerojet
Analex
AT&T Government Markets
AXA Space
CMC Electronics Cincinnati
CSP Associates, Inc.
DFI International
Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce
Honeywell Space Systems
Infinite Links
Inmarsat
ITT Industries
ManTech International Corporation
MicroSat Systems
Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion
SpaceVest
Stellar Solutions
Titan Corporation
Valador, Inc.

SPACE FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John Higginbotham,
SpaceVest,
CHAIRMAN
The Honorable
Robert S. Walker, Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates,
VICE CHAIRMAN
Donovan B. Hicks,
Cygnus Enterprise Development, LLC,
SECRETARY
Dr. Jaleh Daie,
Aurora Equity LLC, TREASURER
Dr. William F. Ballhaus, Jr.,
The Aerospace Corporation
Dr. Guion S. Bluford, Jr.,
Aerospace Technology Group
Wes Bush, Northrop Grumman Space Technology
Lou Dobbs,
CNN, Lou Dobbs Moneyline
Gen. Howell Estes III, USAF (Retired),
Howell Estes & Associates, Inc.
William MacDonald 'Mac' Evans, Former President,
Canadian Space Agency
Paul Graziani,
Analytical Graphics, Inc.
Lon C. Levin,
XM Satellite Radio; Mobile Satellite Ventures
Richard P. MacLeod,
President Emeritus,
Space Foundation
Joanne Maguire, Lockheed Martin Space & Strategic Missiles
Gen. Thomas S. Moorman, Jr., USAF (Retired),
Booz Allen Hamilton
Michael I. Mott,
The Boeing Company – NASA Systems
Gen. John 'Pete' L. Piotrowski USAF (Retired), Science Applications International Corp.
VADM Richard H. Truly, USN (Retired),
National Renewable Energy Lab
Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson,
Rose Center for Earth and Science
The Honorable Robert S. Walker,
Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates

CHAIRMAN EMERITUS
William B. Tutt,
Tutco, LLC

DIRECTORS EMERITUS
Robert Anderson,
Rockwell
The Honorable Kenneth Kramer,
U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals
The Honorable Jaime Oaxaca, Coronado Communications Group
Dr. Simon Ramo,
Northrop Grumman

HONORARY BOARD MEMBERS
Norman R. Augustine
CAPT James A. Lovell, Jr., USN (Retired)

LIFE DIRECTORS
The Honorable E.C. "Pete" Aldridge
James M. Beggs
CAPT Eugene A. Cernan, USN (Retired)
The Honorable Don Fuqua
The Honorable Jake Garn
James B. Hayes
Bill Hudson
Sam F. Iacobellis
W. Bruce Kopper
The Honorable Bill Nelson
Richard D. O'Connor

"The Vision for Space Exploration"

President Bush released his FY2005 budget proposal three weeks ago, and NASA's portion of the budget request included some new documents. Most notably was "The Vision for Space Exploration," a summary of the new national vision for human and robotic exploration of space (all of the material is available online at www.nasa.gov/about/budget/index.html). This important document outlines the rationale for space exploration and lays out a roadmap for the new vision.

Importantly, this new vision is going to be tackled as a series of building blocks – not a single monolithic program. That vision allows NASA and Congress to have maximum flexibility to allocate resources and adjust schedules among a wide range of programs – from robotic probes to developing supporting technologies in life support and propulsion. The approach outlined by NASA is a "go as you pay," that establishes target dates for objectives but doesn't tie NASA's hands if the date needs to be adjusted, making the prospects for the new vision much more realistic.

And, although the Washington budget environment presents a real challenge, the reality is that NASA's request is very modest and gets NASA back on track to inflationary growth after budget cuts in the 1990s. Elliot Pulham's column in this issue provides some illuminating insight into the budget debate.

We continue to be engaged in every aspect of promoting this new vision. The Space Foundation was the keynote speaker at the February luncheon of the Florida Committee of the National Space Club, where we briefed the audience of industry leaders on the new vision and the challenges facing the space community. Additionally, the Space Foundation hosted a "Family Night with the Astronauts" reception on Capitol Hill last week in conjunction with the Space Shuttle Suppliers Conference, providing a chance for Members of Congress and staff to interact with the ISS Expedition 6 crew and the pilot of STS-121.

Policy and Public Affairs

In addition to civil space efforts described in Brian Chase’s report from Washington, the Space Foundation also continues to focus on our nation's commercial and national security space activities.

In a fully integrated program, “Space at the Crossroads”, held February 18th in Washington drew more than 175 participants to network and hear panels and featured speakers General Richard Myers, USAF Chairman of the Joint Chiefs; Dr. Charles Elachi, Director NASA JPL, and Commerce Under Secretary/NOAA Administrator Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher.

The Space Foundation was represented at the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation conference in February, and this month we'll be represented at the Satellite 2004 conference. Also this month, the Space Foundation is hosting a meeting of the Congressional Space Power Caucus, which will feature Under Secretary of the Air Force/Director NRO Peter Teets, and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Michael “Buzz” Moseley briefing senators and representatives on the space transformation efforts underway at DoD. The briefing continues a program of activities done in support of the Caucus by the Space Foundation and the Space Division of the National Defense Industrial Association.

Think Education, Think Space, Think Young!

How often have you heard or said, “The youth of America are our future.” Do Americans really believe this?

Countless studies strongly suggest that children develop their character (i.e. beliefs, values, ideas and sensitivities) prior to age eight. My own experience as a mother and teacher confirms this. Having taught all grades, pre-school through adult, I’ve found that most children have pretty well figured out how they fit into this world, and what they believe they can do or become, by age eight.

My first year teaching was 1969. I was to have a room full of kindergarteners in September, and in July the Lunar Module Eagle landed on the moon. I stayed up all night watching the Apollo 11 mission. I cut out every newspaper article I could get my hands on and made scrap books for my class. Circa 1969, there were no academic student learning standards, nor “approved” science curriculum for kindergarteners. But something told me that five-year-olds could and should learn about science and space. I worked that summer designing a space-based curriculum that would be meaningful to young children. I was passionate about the space program and wanted to share that excitement with my first class. As soon as the principal let me in my classroom, I created space bulletin boards, space math and reading centers, and labeled everything with “correct space terms.” I could not wait for the children’s first day.

One the eve of the first day of school, a long-time kindergarten teacher looked at my classroom – complete with 3-D moon, Lunar Module, and astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – and said: “What are you doing? Don’t you know kindergartners can’t learn about space?”

I replied “Why not?” And to this day I say, “Why not?” During my first wonderful year of teaching I discovered that not only could kindergarteners learn science and space, but they could learn how to read and do math because of their interest in science and space. These little five-year-olds, who couldn’t tie their shoes in September, by November could describe the solar system, tell why the astronauts had to wear space suits, understand characteristics of the moon, and much more. When this class moved on to first grade their teachers were in awe. Years later I found that a large percentage of the students I was able to track, both boys and girls, had gone into careers in science and space.

Two things have become crystal clear to me in 35 years as an educator:

1. Students at any age can develop a passionate interest in science, math and space – or any content area that is well presented by an informed and passionate teacher
2. The earlier a child is exposed to science and technology, the more likely they will be to pursue these interests later in life.

The best way to level the playing field between American students and students in other countries is academic intervention at the earliest possible grades.

This is the key challenge to answering the call of leaders like Alan Greenspan or the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry, who have correctly identified the workforce crisis as the Achilles’ Heel of our high tech economy. Most education funding is either legislated or comes from corporate philanthropy. Politicians and business executives have a short-term focus – a three to five year business plan or a two to four year election cycle. The education challenge is long term.

It breaks my heart when I hear teachers, business people, or politicians say, “We must start young by introducing science, math, and engineering to kids in middle school.” We have missed the boat if we wait until middle school. Businesses, elected officials and schools need to partner with educators and institutions to revolutionize education among pre-schoolers and early primary school students. This is when we capture their interest and enthusiasm.

So often our short term focus means that we are willing to provide support for college, high school and, occasionally, middle school students. That’s fine. But if we targeted the same human and financial resources toward younger, more impressionable children the impact would be significant! Smart parents do not wait until adolescence to teach their children values, morals, manners and the other important things in life. Why should we think we can wait until our children are young adults before we can influence their education and career passions and choices?

Thirty-five years have passed since I taught my first kindergarten class. Today we have a new opportunity. The President’s “Back to the Moon and on to Mars” initiative can and should re-ignite our passionate interest in space and science education. We cannot be content with short-term thinking or solutions. America’s new space exploration policy represents a journey over time. Addressing the high tech work force crisis is also a journey over time. It must start with our youngest students. The first steps must be taken now.

Distortion artists, Hubble-huggers and Visionaries

As an impartial, non-partisan, good faith source of information about space programs, the Space Foundation is often called upon to illuminate, explain or debunk statements about space programs, policies or technologies. With the extraordinary media attention sparked by the Mars rover landings and the new U.S. Space Exploration Policy, we’ve recently shared orbits with distortion artists, Hubble-huggers and visionaries. The distortion artists generally fall into two classes – the news media and the sound-bite-artists who feed them. And the distortion du jour has been the potential federal budget impact of the new exploration vision. If you’ve studied the President’s announcement, NASA’s implementation plan and, most importantly, the Administration’s FY05 budget request, you know an extremely small increase in NASA funding is actually envisioned, accompanied by a significant restructuring of the agency within current resources to accomplish the new mission pretty much within traditional budget levels. However, if you read the distortions published by some of our “mainstream” news media, you get a completely different picture: massive new spending – perhaps in the hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars – the gutting of the federal budget, the collapse of the republic, dogs and cats sleeping together, total protonic reversal, the end of life on earth as we know it. Of course the truth is that NASA’s budget will grow from its present infinitely small pittance of 0.86% of the federal budget to a staggering 0.87%, a whopping increase of one-one hundredth of one percent of each U.S. tax dollar. In other words, NASA gets less than one percent of the federal budget now, and it will continue to get less than one percent going forward. And, as we all know, you can’t sell many newspapers with a headline like that. Veteran space journalist James Oberg, reporting for MSNBC, has published an illuminating history of how the media has taken the “big lie” about NASA’s budgets and through constant retelling of a ludicrous initial report has institutionalized horrendous distortions about the cost of the U.S. space program. It makes fascinating reading and can be found archived on line at: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4031857/ In another off-nominal orbit, it has been curious to observe the rise of a new class of NASA antagonists, namely the “Hubble Huggers.” Of course, for years, certain so-called space advocates have slapped the pejorative “Shuttle Hugger” moniker on anyone advocating continued operation of the Space Shuttle. Now that other aging space systems are being scrutinized on a cost-risk-value basis and Hubble has come under scrutiny, many of these same “supporters” of space exploration are wailing and gnashing their teeth in incoherent fashion. For example, “The desertion of Hubble is an offense against science and civilization. It represents a departure from the pioneer spirit, and its ratification as policy would preclude any possibility of a human future in space.” Egads. Although perhaps not as apocalyptic as this Biblical epistle: "If the first thing this new space policy does is murder Hubble, then it's born with the mark of Cain on it." Thankfully, the last time I checked, nobody in NASA has been turned into a pillar of salt. With “friends” like these, does NASA really need enemies? Hubble Huggers – relax! No one would seriously argue that Hubble has not been one of the most amazing accomplishments of the space age. Indeed the Space Foundation conveyed its Space Achievement Award upon Hubble not too many years ago. But it is perhaps worth considering when and how we bring on new systems and technologies to take up where Hubble leaves off. One day, the Space Shuttle will no longer fly. One day, the Hubble will no longer serve. You don’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, and you don’t get new and better space or astronomy systems by holding on forever to the old ones. Finally, and so as not to close on a negative note, supporters of a space exploration renaissance should mark the formation of the Coalition for Space Exploration – an industry group that has come together to champion the new space exploration vision. The seeds for the formation of this group were actually planted in Houston last May, and it has evolved into a strong partnership among the for-profit and non-profit space community. You’ve probably seen the group’s advertising and editorial messages in USA Today and other newspapers across the country, with a web component and national radio messaging soon to follow. The Space Foundation is proud to be a leading partner in the Coalition for Space Exploration. Other non-profit support has been contributed by the National Space & Satellite Alliance, which includes the Foundation and the National Space Society, Satellite Industry Association and Washington Space Business Roundtable. Industry partners include The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, United Space Alliance, ATK Thiokol, Aerojet, Hamilton Sundstrand, Pratt & Whitney and Moog Aerospace. To get involved, contact Space Foundation Chief of Staff Jim Jannette at jim@spacefoundation.org. And, speaking of the industry coming together, it happens in just five weeks! The 20th Anniversary National Space Symposium is March 29-April 1 at the Broadmoor. I hope to see you there! Elliot G. Pulham President & Chief Executive Officer

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