Archive for the ‘Jim Plaxco’ Category

Update on Congressional Letter to Obama for NASA Funding

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

In the recent post Push in Congress for Additional NASA Funding (Update), we detailed how Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas and Congressman Ken Calvert created a letter calling on the President to increase NASA’s funding. In that post we encouraged you to contact your Congressman and Senator and ask them to sign on to the Kosmas-Calvert letter. The original deadline for supporting representatives to add their signature to the letter was yesterday Tuesday Nov. 17. An extension to that deadline has been made. The new deadline for signing on to the Obama letter is noon Friday, Nov. 20th. If you haven’t contacted your representative yet, please do so ASAP!.

Your support is important. Since the original announcement, more representatives have signed on. The current list of congressional signers to the letter is:
Kosmas, Calvert, Barton, R. Bishop, K. Brady, C. Brown, H.Brown, Cao, Capps, Carter, Chaffetz, Chu, Connolly, Culberson, Cummings, A. Davis, M. Diaz-Balart, C. Edwards, Forbes, Fudge, Gohmert, Grayson, G. Green, Griffith, R. Hall, A. Hastings, Honda, Jackson-Lee, E.B. Johnson, Klein, Kratovil, Lungren, B. Markey, Meek, C. Miller, McCaul, McKeon, Napolitano, Nye, Olson, Perlmutter, Posey, Richardson, Rooney, Salazar, Schiff, Schock, Simpson, A. Smith, L. Smith, Van Hollen, Wasserman Schultz, Watson, Wexler, C. Wilson and Wu.

The full letter to President Obama is included in the Push in Congress for Additional NASA Funding (Update) post.
Please direct your representative and senators to contact Carrie Chess with Congresswoman Kosmas at carrie.chess@mail.house.gov or 5-2706 or Deena Contreras with Congressman Calvert at deena.contreras@mail.house.gov or 5-1986 to sign on or to have questions answered.

Ad Astra, Jim

Posted in Jim Plaxco, NASA, Space Policy | No Comments »

National Space Society Position on Human Spaceflight Committee Report

Monday, September 14th, 2009

The National Space Society has just released a position statement on the Human Spaceflight Committee’s Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee Summary Report.

In part, the NSS position is that it:

  • agrees with the Commission that NASA needs and deserves at least $3 Billion more per year in order to accomplish the planned missions. NSS further asserts that NASA should receive this level of funding, as NASA has stimulated the economy like no other agency, stimulated American youth to seek higher education, shored up America’s edge in technology, enhanced our defense, and established American prestige around the world.
  • supports the development of a family of cargo and crew transportation options to Low Earth Orbit and beyond.
  • agrees that ISS should be extended

For complete details please read the full NSS Statement on the Summary Report of the Review of U.S. Space Flight Plans Committee

Ad Astra,
Jim Plaxco, NSS Director

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Human Spaceflight Committee Summary Report Released

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

The Human Spaceflight Committee, chaired by Norman Augustine, has just released their Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee Summary Report which will be followed by a final report to be issued at a future date. A copy of the report is available from the NSS Space Policy Library.

The first sentence of the report is not encouraging: “The U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources.” Of particular interest is section 3: FUTURE DESTINATIONS FOR EXPLORATION.

NSS would be interested in knowing your thoughts on the content of the report. Please download the PDF Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee Summary Report, give it a read and post your comments here.

For additional info, see the NPR news story Panel Tells Obama Moon Return Is A No-Go

Ad Astra, Jim Plaxco, NSS Director

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National but International

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

We may be called the “National” Space Society but NSS has chapters and members around the world, especially in Australia and Europe. After all, space is a frontier for all of humankind.

The latest international news is out of India where The Times of India features the story National Space Society comes calling to city
and describes the “inaugration” of a new NSS chapter there.

The article quotes chapter founder and president Suresh Naik, formerly Group Director of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) “Following the recent launch of the ISRO’s Chandrayaan-I mission, the public at large, and the student community in particular, is curious about the subject of space. Thus, the Pune chapter of the NSS will serve as a forum to spread knowledge and information about the same.”

Well said Suresh. Personally I am a firm believer that if people have a better understanding of what space exploration is all about, they will be stronger supporters of space exploration. In fact earlier today I had the opportunity to give two presentations to the geology classes at South Elgin (IL) High School. While the focus was on astronomy and cosmology, aspects of the need for humanity to become a spacefaring civilization were present in my talks. I must say that I was quite pleased with the interest shown by the students and the number and variety of questions they asked. It was time well spent.

For information about NSS’ international chapters see the list of Chapters outside the United States.

And while you’re at it, why not check out my chapter’s web: Chicago Society for Space Studies

Ad Astra,

Jim Plaxco, NSS Director

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Peter Kokh Has Won The Gerard K. O’Neill Award

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

The National Space Society Awards Committee is very pleased to announce to the NSS community and the larger space community that longtime activist and editor of the Moon Miners’ Manifesto, Peter Kokh, is the winner of the 2009 GERARD K. O’NEILL AWARD FOR SPACE SETTLEMENT ADVOCACY. He joined NSI (one of the two NSS predecessor organizations) in 1974. After joining the L5 Society about 1977, he was the co-founder (in 1986) and is current president of the Lunar Reclamation Society (NSS Chapter) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is also currently president of the Moon Society, an NSS affiliate organization. He is the editor and principal writer of the M.M.M., which has been published monthly continuously since December, 1986, and is in its 23rd year of publication. It is now up to issue 222. This is the longest running printed pro-space publication of its type, since most of the other {quot}regional{quot} space newsletters ceased publishing over a decade ago. Peter has also served as Region 6 director on the NSS Board of Directors in 1991-2, and was chair of ISDC ‘98, held in Milwaukee. He is currently a member of the NSS Board of Advisors, and maintains an extensive web site for his chapter.

Source: NSS Awards Committee

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Space Art, NASA, and NSS

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

After the Storm by Raymond Cassel cover art for the NSS Space Settlement 2009 Wall Calendar

Many people have cited science fiction as instilling in them an interest in space exploration. For me it wasn’t just science fiction but also space art, not to mention the space program itself. The vision of artists like Chesley Bonestell allowed me to imagine myself standing on the surface of other worlds - heady stuff for a kid.

Very early on NASA realized the power of art to capture the historic nature of our first steps out of the cradle. Art not just to illustrate yet to be built hardware but art to capture the emotional aspect of space exploration. NASA created the NASA Art Program in 1962 and gave artists unprecedented access to the astronauts and facilities so that those artists could share their impressions with the world.

NASA/ART: 50 Years of Exploration is a new book that features a broad sampling of the art produced by the NASA Art Program. I recently wrote a review of that book and provided a number of links to related space art resources.
Read the NASA/ART: 50 Years of Exploration book review

In 2006-2007 I managed the NSS’ first ever space art contest and production of the 2008 Space Settlement Calendar. For me the project was a true pleasure in that we were able to facilitate the creation of some great space art. You should check out the 2008 NSS Space Settlement Calendar Art Contest Gallery. The contest was repeated in 2007-2008 for the production of a calendar for 2009. If you don’t have a calendar for 2009 yet and you are a lover of space art, I highly recommend the NSS Space Settlement 2009 Wall Calendar which is currently on sale at a discounted price. Of course the proceeds go to support the National Space Society’s programs and projects like the 2009 International Space Development Conference.

For more space art, check out the NSS Photograph and Art Gallery Index

Ad Astra, Jim

Posted in Jim Plaxco, Space Art | 3 Comments »

Space Solar Power (SSP) - A Solution for Energy Independence and Climate Change

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

There is an interesting discussion going on at change.gov about using space solar power as a means of achieving energy independence in an environmentally friendly away.  There is also a one page PDF white paper that can be downloaded but it is the discussion that is going on that I find more interesting.  Given the many technological advances that have been made since the initial NASA and DOE study at the end of the 70’s,  the creation of a pilot system is long overdue.

Take some time and check out the discussion about space solar power at Space Solar Power (SSP) - A Solution for Energy Independence and Climate Change.

Ad Astra, Jim

Posted in Jim Plaxco, Space Policy, Space Solar Power | 3 Comments »

Welcome to the National Space Society Blog

Monday, January 12th, 2009

Welcome to the National Space Society Blog.

The purpose of this blog is to engage in a public dialog on the importance of space development and exploration for humanity’s future.   It is the mission of the  National Space Society to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity.

As a long time member of NSS, I fully agree with this mission. In fact, I feel so strongly about it that I became a chapter activist performing public outreach in my community and have volunteered extensively on behalf of NSS over the years.  This year I was elected to the NSS Board of Directors and hope to make a positive contribution to the National Space Society’s vision of people living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth.

Join us and make a difference.  If I can, so can you.

Ad Astra,

Jim Plaxco, NSS Director

Posted in Jim Plaxco, National Space Society | 5 Comments »