Jim Benson returned to The Space Show to update us on SpaceDev and to bring us other important news regarding the alt.space community. Mr. Benson began the interview by responding my question about young college grads going into the alt.space world for careers. He said they were interviewing lots of engineering applicants, that SpaceDev was hiring several engineers and that the available talent pool was growing and was very high quality. This represents a positive change which he felt has come about because of SpaceShipOne, the Moon Mars and Beyond program and the changes implemented in the space field including NASA, FAA AST and more. When asked about the new NASA Administrator, Mike Griffin, he was positive about the the potential and realizes very well how crucial it is for NASA to make the changes within the organization to facilitate the Moon Mars and Beyond vision program. Mr. Benson spoke about his vision for SpaceDev and how it is being implemented. He referred listeners to the SpaceDev website and their plan for the future which is spelled out with charts and diagrams on the site. You will want to hear his comments on the importance of vision and holding that vision at all employment and company levels. We also talked about the suborbital and space tourism business, the entrepreneurial companies working on making vehicles and which vehicles if any he himself would ride on. Listen to the program for the answer and the surprise vehicle that SpaceDev is working on with a person from Australia that Jim himself wants to "drive!" Mr. Benson updated us on the U.S. Space Foundation Conference that was recently held in Colorado Springs and in response to questions about the military, specifically the Air Force, Mr. Benson addressed military space issues and commercial opportunities coming from military space. In response to a listener question, Mr. Benson address the issue of due diligence and business planning with alt.space investments and he stated many times how crucial this is for the development of the industry, along with safety and flight testing of all suborbital vehicles. He also spoke about orbital possibilities and SpaceDev plans in this arena, government contracting, and CEV work. Mr. Benson can be contacted through the SpaceDev website, www.spacedev.com. or through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. This is a great interview with Jim. Don't miss it.
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The Space Show
