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! Chuck took us through the history of Rocketplane from the early days of Pioneer Rocketplane in 1995. He included how Rocketplane brought in Kistler to become Rocketplane Kistler. You can find out more about each aspect of the company by visiting www.rocketplane.com and www.kistleraerospace.com. We spoke with Chuck at length about space tourism, suborbital flight and markets, commercial space development, changes in the industry over the years, the regulatory world and how it impacts commercial activity, and the importance of communicating with congress regarding our commercial space efforts. Lots of attention was paid to the market aspects of suborbital tourism and suborbital being a catalyst for more advanced commercial space development. As one of the two COTS winners, Chuck talked about COTS, the VSE, the importance of COTS and why he believes it to be the most valuable program offered by NASA in years. Don't miss his comments! Our discussion then took us into the potential legislation known as Zero G - Zero Tax. The Space Frontier Foundation will soon be publishing its White Paper on this important potential piece of legislation. Listen to this show for details or frequently visit the SFF website to download the White Paper when it becomes available. We also connected the dots with the aspects of this discussion with the future of humanity in space and all of this is so important right now. You can comment to or ask questions of Chuck Lauer by emailing him at clauer@rocketplane.com. As always, you can send email through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.
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The Space Show
