Guest: Jeffrey Manber. Topics: Mir Space Station, Russian space capitalism, NASA, space commerce. Jeffrey Manber returned for this two part Space Show program to talk about his new Apogee book, "Selling Peace: Inside The Soviet Conspiracy That Transformed the U.S. Space Program." This book is available on the OGLF website as an Amazon partner so if you buy it through the OGLF site, Amazon makes a contribution to The Space Show. Please use www.amazon.com/dp/1926592085?tag=onegialeafou-20. We started our first segment with Jeff telling us how he came to work for the Russian Space Agency. Not only is this story fascinating, its important background to the story of the Mir Space Station, MirCorp, and how what happened changed space for the best. This is a must listen to story. As you will hear, Jeff was there when Russia transformed from the Soviet Union to modern Russia and this included the shift to capitalism for just about everything, including space. Pay attention to the stark differences with the actions and attitudes of the Russians versus NASA. As we started the second and final segment, Jeff explained the title to the book. I'm sure you will agree after listening to Jeff, reading his book, and hearing this interview, that indeed the U.S. space program was transformed. Jeff goes into some of the major players and characters. You will hear him talk about former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, Russian Yuri Semenov, Rick Tumlinson, Walt Anderson, Dennis Tito and others. I promise, you will have a new understanding of commercial space and the relationships that today dictate activities for the ISS, the Russians, and NASA. Later in this segment, Jeff was asked about advocacy rhetoric. He pointed out that there were three influences on space, advocacy, policy, and business, and that there were significant differences among all of them. This is a discussion you do not want to miss. We also talked about cultural differences and how important it is to understand the culture of those engaged in business with you. In particular, he told one story about the Walt Anderson $7 million phone call. Don't miss it, its a really good and very funny story. Toward the end of the program, Jeff talked about his current commercial space activities with Nanorack LLC, cubesats, and the ISS. As we concluded the interview, Jeff stressed that for the future, space programs must be commercial given what is happening economically around the world and in particular in the U.S. If you want to contact Jeffrey Manber with your comments and questions, visit www.sellingpeace.com. You can use the Contact link on the website or you can post to his blog. As always, you can send your message to Jeffrey through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.
Guest
The Space Show
