Moviemaker Served On NASA Advisory Council During George W. Bush Administration

James Cameron, the writer and director of "Avatar" and "Titanic" who served on the NASA Advisory Council from 2003 to 2005, has published an op-ed in The Washington Post endorsing commercial human spaceflight and President Obama's new plan for NASA.  His op-ed, titled "The Right Way Forward On Space Exploration," posits that the Obama administration makes the right move in shifting the responsibility for taking people to low earth orbit to private industry.
 
In the op-ed, Cameron states, "By selecting commercial solutions for transportation to the international space station, NASA is empowering American free enterprise to do what it does best: develop technology quickly and efficiently in a competitive environment." He goes on to say that the move will allow NASA to do what it does best: manned and unmanned deep space exploration. Cameron foresees the money saved by contracting with private companies to supply and carry astronauts to the space station as being re-invested in eventual missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond, as well as in advanced propulsion systems to make spaceflight more practical and affordable.

Cameron cites an article by X Prize Chairman Peter Diamandis, which appears on the X Prize website, that states "The U.S. Government doesn't build your computers, nor do you fly aboard a U.S. Government owned and operated airline. Private industry routinely takes technologies pioneered by the government and turns them into cheap, reliable and robust industries. This has happened in aviation, air mail, computers, and the Internet. It's about time that it happen in space."

Peter Diamandis

"I applaud President Obama's bold decision for NASA to focus on building a space exploration program that can drive innovation and provide inspiration for the world," Cameron concludes. "This is the path that can make our dreams in space a reality."

FMI: www.commercialspaceflight.org