Guests: Jay Wittner, Kirby Ikin, Dale Skran; Topics: The 30th anniversary of the National Space Society and related topics/issues. Please direct all comments and questions regarding specific Space Show programs & guest(s) to the Space Show blog which is part of archived program on our website, www.thespaceshow.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.
We welcomed Jay Wittner, Kirby Ikin from Australia, and Dale Skran to the program to help honor and celebrate 30 years of the National Space Society (www.nss.org). During the first segment of our 87 minute program, Jay started out by giving us an overview of NSS history starting with the merger 30 years ago with the L5 Organizations and the National Space Institute. The merger was discussed from the perspective of both organizations and then later when we took a call from Mark Hopkins, we learned more about it as Mark was one of the L5 merger negotiators. This was excellent history, don't miss it.
Our history discussion evolved to one about commercial space and long term visionary goals which guest Kirby Ikin discussed with us, specifically space settlement. Space settlement goals and issues remained an active topic for today's full program. Make sure you listen to all of what Kirby had to say regarding the NSS long term vision and the inclusion of space settlement as both an NSS goal as well as a desired goal for our national space policy. Our focus then turned to Dale to talk about the NSS policy influencing, lobbying of congress and the various NSS citizen involvement opportunities for meeting and talking with member of congress. Dale talked extensively about their programs, outreach, the organizations they partner with for policy and advocacy plus he shared with us some of the tools for successful "lobbying" on selected space policy.
Also in this segment, our guests were each asked to give us a view of the NSS five and ten years out from today. Don't miss what each of them said for the intermediate future ahead for NSS. In addition, a UK listener wanted to know about a possible UK chapter for the NSS and another listener wanted to know what local and regional chapters do for NSS and if they separate or just there to feed the national organization.
We started the second segment with a call from Dr. Scott Pace. He too talked about the pre-NSS history as he was an L5 member. Among the many interesting things Dr. Pace said, he said that all innovative ideas for space came from space activists. Don't miss this very important discussion. As a result of what we were talking about, I asked Scott for tips and pointers for those space advocates that have a good idea but don't know what to do with it or how to get attention for it. Scott as well as our three guests gave us some very good tips for doing this that you want to hear so listen carefully to this part of our discussion.
Another topic focused on just how many people from NSS leadership and organizational activity had gone on to have excellent space industry careers. Several examples were cited by each of our guests, plus our guests noted the increasing degree of opportunity available for people to enter the commercial and all aspects of the space industry today. NSS has been shown to be a good training ground for these people as well as being an excellent path to quality careers in the space industry.
We heard from other callers including Stan Rosen. Stan asked our three guests what they thought the biggest threat the NSS objectives was going forward. Dale responded by saying it was today's financial environment. This was an important part of our discussion so don't miss it. At one point Dale suggested that it would not be realistic to think that constrained budgets for space would not be routine going forward.
I read several emails from listeners having a problem calling in due to busy lines. We heard from John Mankins who wanted to know what NSS would be doing 30 years into the future. Each of our guests took a stab at the 30 year question so don't miss what they had to say. In addition, I made some comments about this in the closing comments of the show. Read on to learn what I said about the 30 year future mark. Ken Murphy sent in a note about his terrific NSS chapter accomplishments with Moon Day which we have featured on TSS with Ken multiple times.
Before the program ended, we talked more about ISDC in St. Louis in May of this year. The programming was discussed, networking opportunities were mentioned as was the fact that ISDC was geared toward public advisory groups, not just space professionals.
As we closed our program, each of our guests had relevant closing comments so don't miss them. I suggested that NSS would have at least one, maybe more, off Earth space settlement 30 years from now. Post your comments/questions on TSS blog for this program on our website. You can reach any of our guests or callers through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.
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