COTS

Gwynne Shotwell was the guest for this Space Show program. Ms. Shotwell began our discussion with a brief introduction and history for Space X and the Falcon rocket. We then discussed Space X and the Falcon is a most comprehensive way including listener questions and participation. Gwynne talked about COTS, Dragon, the Falcon 1, Falcon 9, launch locations and spaceports. She was asked about employment opportunities with Space X and fielded many listener questions on this topic, including several from students who would like to work at Space X.

Dr. Young K. Bae was the special guest for this Space Show program which originally aired on Tuesday morning, Nov. 28 and then again Tuesday evening, Dec. 5, 2006. Dr. Bae, has CEO of the Bae Institute in S. California (www.baeinstitute.com), is involved in cutting edge space related research. One product he discussed with listeners was his Photo Tether Formation Flight (PTFF) system which is applicable to satellite and spacecraft missions. Listen to his discussion to learn about PTFF and why it is so exciting. Dr.

Chuck Lauer returned to The Space Show for this special program to discuss Rocketplane-Kistler and more. We started our discussion with Chuck asking him about some of his past innovative ideas for recreational space development. This led Chuck to telling us how he got interested in space and a listener asked him about his preference regarding the regulatory world of real estate versus developing a space ship. The listener wanted to know if Chuck preferred working with a zoning commission or AST. Guess what his answer was!

Dr. Jeff Bell returned to The Space Show for this special two hour program. Our discussion with Dr. Bell covered many topics of interest. We started out by talking about the many space conferences that are going on during the year, the difference between an engineering/technical conference versus an advocate conference and Dr. Bell gave us his opinion about the conference situation. For those of you not familiar with Dr. Bell opinions as frequently expressed in his editorial opinion pieces with SpaceDaily.com, you are likely in for a shock or a surprise.

Paul Eckert, Robert Dickman and Carl Walz were the guests for this special program to discuss making the VSE a long-term reality as well as the coming AIAA Dec. 4-6 2nd Space Exploration Conference which will be held in Houston. We started the panel discussion with Bob Dickman explaining why the AIAA has this conference and its role in helping to establish the VSE as a long-term reality for the nation. Paul Eckert of Boeing was next and he went through the conference agenda with us, focusing on the commercial panel and commercial opportunities stemming from the VSE.

Joan Horvath returned to The Space Show to discuss her new book, "Saturn: A New View." We started the discussion with a short review of the Personal Spaceflight Symposium and the X Prize Cup held last week in Las Cruces, NM. After returning from the first break, Joan talked with us about the book, the cooperation involved to put it together, the amazing photos used in it and the editing process to put the photos and book together. We then discussed the VSE, NASA, JPL, science funding and programming, science education in the United States and more.

Shubber Ali was the guest on this special program and we thank Shubber for being with us live at the unheard of time of 2:30-4:30AM in Sydney, Australia! During the first part of this program, Shubber talked about space tragic and why he does not like the term "space industry." We then looked at recent developments in the space world since his last appearance on the show and asked for his analysis. This included CEV, COTS, Lockheed, Kistler, Atlas 5, Bigelow, space tourism and Ms. Ansari on the space station, the VSE and more.

Robert Zimmerman returned as guest for this Space Show program. In this program, Robert is sure to delight and offend listeners given his strong statements and passions about issues discussed. Some of these issues concern the NASA science programming, JPL, politics, and more. In addition, he provided us with insights on the Russian space program, the CEV and COTS programs and much more.

Tim Pickens returned to The Space Show to discuss updates with Orion Propulsion, space developments, commercial space business basics, and much more. In addition to understanding the success behind Tim and Orion, we talked about COTS, CEV, budgets, Congress, etc. Tim discussed in some detail his role with Space Ship 1 and its development. We talked about hybrid engines as well as methane engines and getting commercial customers, financing, investment and the overall commercial space market as it exists today in 2006.

Charles Miller, CEO of Constellation Services Incorporated (CSI) returned to The Space Show with this program. Mr. Miller began the discussion with an explanation of the COTS program, what it is and what it is not. From there we discussed the two winners and what NASA is obligated to do with the product developed by both or either of the companies. For example, since COTS is not a services acquisition program but instead a demonstration program, there is nothing to sell to NASA as defined by this type of program.