Progressive NASA and Space Policy Under a New Administration
NASA is in crisis—overburdened, under-funded and inefficient. Yet the progressive legacy of space, which dates back to JFK, is being quietly reborn: NASA can reinvent itself as a critical resource in climate change mitigation; the UN and some in the U.S. military are collaborating to prevent space weapons from becoming an arms race with China; and progressive “NewSpace” entrepreneurs are creating new domestic high-tech jobs. Before 2009, a new progressive space policy needs to be devised and advocated beyond the traditional space constituencies, to upgrade Bush's failing space exploration vision. Who better to initiate this work than the Netroots?
Lori Garver is president of Capital Space, an aerospace consulting firm. Lori was space policy advisory to Senator Kerry’s presidential bid in 2004 and to the Clinton campaign in 2008. In 2002, Lori trained in Russia for a sponsored Soyuz flight to the ISS. Until 2001 she was NASA’s associate administrator for policy. Before joining NASA, she was executive director of the National Space Society. Prior to NSS, she worked for Senator John Glenn. Lori serves as a space analyst for various media outlets, including NPR, CNN, Good Morning America, Today Show, ABC Nightly News and BBC.
Chris Bowers has been the managing editor of Openleft.com since July 2007, and was a full-time editor at MyDD.com from May 2004 until June 2007. He is also the treasurer of BlogPac, a fellow at the Commonweal Institute, and holds a seat on the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee. Bowers is 35, lives in Philadelphia, and occasionally works as a netroots consultant for progressive candidates and organizations.
Most importantly, as of July 18th, Chris is now married to Natasha Chart!
Patricia Grace Smith served as FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation, where she headed the office responsible for licensing, regulating, and promoting the US commercial space transportation industry, including operations of launch vehicles and spaceports. During eleven years as head of the office, FAA became the recognized global leader on private human spaceflight issues. She forged partnerships with the Air Force on launch safety standards, and kept regulatory matters and insurance issues constantly in the public forum. Previously, she held leadership positions at FCC, National Association of Broadcasters, Department of Defense, Defense Communications Agency and Senate Commerce Committee.
George T. Whitesides is the Executive Director of the National Space Society and Senior Advisor to Virgin Galactic. NSS is the largest space advocacy group dedicated to human spaceflight. Virgin Galactic, founded by Sir Richard Branson, is on track to become the world’s first spaceline. He is an advocate of participatory exploration, using new technologies to engage the public in space missions. Whitesides is chairman of the Reusable Launch Vehicle Working Group for the FAA’s Space Transportation division. A Fulbright scholar, Whitesides is a graduate of Cambridge and Princeton Universities, a private pilot and a certified parabolic flight coach.
Andrew co-founded the NASA CoLab program to increase efficiency and transparency at NASA through building open online NASA communities. He is an online strategy consultant for the Craigslist Foundation. Andrew has co-founded several social ventures, including GoodStorm (now Zazzle) and CivicSpace Labs. In 2003, Andrew founded the largest local group in the DraftClark movement and then managed the campaign's voter data and open-source software volunteer program. He co-created the YearlyKos "virtual convention" in Second Life in 2007. A planetary geologist and environmental scientist by training, Andrew graduated from the NASA Academy, the International Space University, Brown University and Berkeley.
