Category Archives: Technology and Society

Business, Economics, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

OCST And The FAA

The biggest news from #CST2017 yesterday was probably Jim Bridenstine’s speech at lunch. Keith Cowing has a list of notes from it. It was a good speech, but to my ears, this was the only one that was news:

FAA office commercial space has battles within FAA. Reorganization needed. Looking for Trump to elevate office

To elaborate, while he floated this idea as a possibility in the Space Renaissance Act, this is the first time (AFAIK) that he clearly stated publicly that he wanted to see the president reverse the Executive Order in the Clinton administration that had folded the Office of Commercial Space Transportation into the FAA, and restore its original location, reporting directly to the Secretary of Transportation. I explained in my book why I thought this was a good idea. He only mentioned the fact that it would have more clout in budget battles, but the other point is that, since the ValuJet crash in the Everglades in the late 90s, the FAA lost its role as a promoter of the aviation industry, and I think this has resulted in a culture clash with OCST, which retains it, having to balance it against safety uber alles.

I talked to the Congressman briefly after the talk, and he told me he recalled my giving him a copy of the book three (!) years ago, and said he’d read it. Maybe he’ll go back and re-read it now. If so, given that he heartily endorsed SLS/Orion, I hope he’ll go back and re-read the appendix on that subject, but it may be that his endorsement had the same intended purpose as Alan Stern’s.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

CSF And SLS

1 Comment

Keith Cowing made a big deal of Tuesday’s announcement at the Space Transportation Conference by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation that it supported SLS.

I didn’t actually talk to Alan about it, but I just see it as politics; they view it as the danegeld they have to pay to keep the SLS vandals (to mix historical metaphors) from attacking commercial space and public/private partnerships in the new administration. This is the key passage, if you read between the lines:

Stern said he was not worried about endorsing a vehicle that could compete with those commercial alternatives. “The market will sort that out,” he said.

Emphasis mine. I’m not saying that Keith is wrong. Alan may not have “taken the issue off the table,” but I see no big harm in trying right now, with all the policy ferment. There will be plenty of other people (including Yours Truly) making the case against it.

[Update a while later]

Marcia Smith has a comprehensive overview of the conference. I haven’t read all yet, but may comment further after I have.