Personal Spaceflight Symposium Launched The Event
by Aero-News Senior Correspondent Kevin R.C. "Hognose"
O'Brien
(EDITOR'S NOTE: As the saying goes, "the best laid plans of mice
and men often go awry." Unfortunately, such was the case with Kevin
O'Brien's article on Day One of the X-Prize Cup and the First
International Symposium on Personal Spaceflight, which somehow
disappeared from our queue between posting and publishing. ANN
regrets the error, and we now present Kevin's complete report
below.)
The first day of the X-Prize Cup was the First International
Symposium on Personal Spaceflight, which went down exactly as previewed here at
Aero-News.
Jim Campbell of Aero-News attended most of the panel sessions
and was most impressed with Erik Lindbergh's speech. He got many
photos, which are available for press use through the X-Prize Cup
organization.
The sessions were well attended -- returning from a trip to the
airport, we found ourselves in a conga line of other latecomers and
returnees trying to deal with an overstuffed parking lot -- and the
sessions were packed to overflowing. What is more interesting is
that almost everybody who was anybody in space was there --
including representatives of NASA and Arianespace (publicly) and of
Aerospace/Military prime contractors (keeping a low profile).
Rick Homans, Secretary
for Economic Development in the New Mexico cabinet and one of the
key organizers of the event, was hobbling on crutches after surgery
to repair torn cartilage in his knee. Speaking to Aero-News while
balancing on the crutches in a busy corridor, Homans stressed that
all his promotion efforts weren't about going head-to-head with
other spaceports: his goal is to grow the whole pie, not snitch
some of his brother's piece, as it were.
Indeed, success for the nascent space industry as a whole will
do more for every spaceport, including New Mexico's future
Southwest Regional Spaceport at Upham near Las Cruces, than any
conceivable re-division of the industry's current spoils; the
industry as a whole is small relative to its potential.
Fortunately, we were able to have this conversation without
anyone bowling Homans (or us) over.
His Economic Development staffers told us that they were
delighted with the turnout at the event. It's planned that this is
only the first such symposium, and that more will follow.
As any organization reorients itself from a one-time deal (the
original Ansari X-Prize awarded in 2004) to sponsorship of ongoing
events (annual X-Prize Cup competitions, and the more frequent
events of the Rocket Racing League), the culture of the
organization has to change a little bit. The X-Prize Foundation is
no exception.
The Foundation's organization is larger, and so there are a lot
of new faces to learn, and the little things that always get
tangled take a bit longer to untangle. However, these new folks
come from a wide range of backgrounds that bring real strength to
the organization and help position it for the events coming ahead.
The same key people are at the core of things, and the organization
they are building is even more robust and professional than the one
that pulled off the Ansari X-Prize flawlessly (at least, flawlessly
from the point of view of the public).
While there were few surprises in the symposium sessions, there
was a lot going on in the corridors and side rooms -- of the
deal-making, haggling, and swearing-to-secrecy type. Indeed, one
such conversation changed our plans for today (Friday) but, alas,
we're -- you guessed it -- sworn to secrecy.
That aspect alone -- the convenience of having one place where
the whole private spaceflight world gets together -- may ensure the
long life and health of these symposia. No one expects the First
International Symposium on Personal Spaceflight to be the last.
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