Sat, Oct 17, 2009
Wall Street Journal Op-Ed Piece Lays Out A Vision For Future
Human Spaceflight
Commercial human spaceflight
received a strong endorsement Friday from a group of thirteen
former NASA astronauts who published an opinion piece titled
"Commercial Spaceflight: All Systems Go" in the Wall Street
Journal.
Astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Ken Bowersox, Jake Garn, Robert Gibson,
Hank Hartsfield, John Herrington, John Lounge, Rick Searfoss,
Norman Thagard, Kathryn Thornton, Jim Voss and Charles Walker
stated, "We strongly agree with the Augustine Committee's
endorsement of commercial human spaceflight, and we encourage the
White House and Congress to embrace this positive vision for our
nation's future in space."
The thirteen astronauts have collectively flown a total of 42
space missions and logged a total of 2 years and 48 days in space
aboard six different space vehicles including Gemini, Apollo, Space
Shuttle, Soyuz, Mir, and the International Space Station. The group
included the following excerpts in their op-ed:
- We believe that the commercial sector is fully capable of
safely handling the critical task of low-Earth-orbit human
transportation.
- NASA should put its unique resources into pushing back the
final frontier and not in repaving the earth-to-orbit road it
cleared a half century ago.
- We are fully confident that the commercial spaceflight sector
can provide a level of safety equal to that offered by the
venerable Russian Soyuz system, which has flown safely for the last
38 years, and exceeding that of the Space Shuttle.
- We enthusiastically endorse this robust vision for the future
of human spaceflight, a vision in which NASA is free to concentrate
on the challenges of exploration beyond low Earth orbit while
private commerce enables increased activity in Earth orbit.
Following the publication of the astronaut op-ed in the Wall
Street Journal, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation welcomed
today's show of support by the community of former NASA astronauts.
Bretton Alexander, President of the Commercial Spaceflight
Federation, stated, "As the nation's policymakers consider the
future path of our space program, the commercial spaceflight sector
is honored to receive today's strong endorsement by these
distinguished former NASA astronauts. We agree with these
astronauts that a robust commercially procured crew capability will
help enable our nation's space program to reach new heights."
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