More Cautionary Words

I’m apparently in good company in my concerns about the administration’s new space policy.

…a sustained human presence on the moon, advocates say, is best achieved by harnessing the full creativity of the commercial sector.

“It is my hope that this new vision does have an ample opportunity for the commercial sector,” said Courtney Stadd, NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe’s former chief of staff who left the space agency for private industry in late 2003. “If it is limited to just a few astronauts exploring the moon and Mars, as we learned after Apollo 17, it will not grab and sustain public attention.”

David Gump, president of Fairfax, Va.-based LunaCorp and author of the 1990 book, “Space Enterprise: Beyond NASA,” agreed.

“It’s up to the administration on which path it takes into the forest,” Gump said. “If it welcomes private participation, life is good.”

We’ll find out Wednesday, if Keith is right. Or perhaps not. Even if the president makes a formal address, it would still be possible to do so without getting into the implementation details (though I would argue that this is an argument of philosophy and purpose, as much as implementation, and certainly should be specifically addressed in such a policy announcement).