"Oh, not another space
group!"
This is one of many
responses we heard while setting up meetings for the 2006 Space Blitz.
Apparently, numerous space advocacy and industry groups had been up to the Hill
over the previous month, speaking to appropriators about the importance of
space exploration. Even though it may have made it more difficult for us
in the scheduling process, this is a great sign. It showed that the space
advocacy community is getting more politically savvy. In the past,
visits by space advocacy groups were few and far between. Now we are
visiting far more frequently and building up name recognition. Although
we don't yet have the capacity to be as persistent as some of the other issue
groups, we are making great progress.
Despite some initial
scheduling issues, the 2006 event which ran from June 5 through 7 was quite
successful. We had twenty-four participants from the Space Exploration Alliance
(SEA) in this effort, representing the National Space Society, the X-Prize
Foundation, The Mars Society, California Space Authority, AIA, AIAA, American
Astronautical Society, The Moon Society, Space Generation Foundation, National
Coalition of Space States, Aerospace States Association, the Planetary Society
and the National Society for Black Engineers.
This highly-skilled group of
participants spoke to forty-five Congressional offices, meeting with or
dropping off literature to all offices of the House Appropriations
Committee. We were there at a timely period in the budget process--the House
Appropriations Committee was about to start marking up the budget, so this was
a perfect time to get our message to them.
The main focus of this
year's event is to request that Congress fund NASA at the full authorized level
of $17.9 billion, which would require an additional $1.1 billion over the
President's request. This level is required to enable NASA to implement the
full mandate of the 2005 NASA Authorization Act, in which Congress endorsed the
Vision for Space Exploration. Specifically, the additional funds will
allow NASA to aggressively develop the next generation of space exploration
vehicles, while pursuing other important objectives like connecting upcoming
lunar exploration work with future human exploration of Mars; stimulating
private sector efforts with programs like Commercial Orbital Transportation
Services (COTS) and the Centennial Challenge program; and sustaining vital
science missions, including the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), a dedicated
probe of the Planet Jupiter's moon Europa, and the Stratospheric Observatory
for Infrared Astronomy (SOPHIA).
Although most of staffers
that we spoke to mentioned the extremely tight budget, the vast majority of
these meetings were quite positive and the staffers generally supported human space
exploration.
One of the constant themes
we heard was actually aimed at NASA itself. Many in Congress are of the
opinion that NASA needs to do a better job of communicating with the general
public--why is space exploration important and how does it impact society?
In addition to the
Congressional meetings, we had lots of fun. At lunchtime on June 5th,
we were joined for lunch at Tortilla Coast by former Congressman Robert Walker,
who discussed the challenges that we faced on the Hill. That evening,
Blitz participants attended a showing of the IMAX production of Roving Mars,
and on Tuesday evening, we had a special tour of the Lockheed Space Exploration Vision Center in Crystal City.
This is by no means the end
of our political activities for the year. Only through constant
communication with Congress can we hope to rival the numerous competitors for
ever-tighter funds. In August 2006, we hope to run the Home District
Blitz, during which members of various organizations will set up meetings with
their local Congressional offices during the August Congressional recess.
Also in August, the Mars Society will be staging a half-day blitz as part of
their Conference in Washington, D.C. Then in the autumn of 2006, we hope
to conduct another small blitz in Washington, D.C.
Needless to say, this has
become a very busy political year for the space advocacy community--perhaps the
most active ever. However, we cannot maintain this ambitious and vital
pace without your help. Please join us at these upcoming events to make
sure that human space exploration survives future Congresses and Presidents.
NOTE: The views of this article are the author's and do
not reflect the policies of the National Space Society.
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