Guest: Jeff Krukin. Topics: Space Vision & Space Policy. You are invited to comment, ask questions, & discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, & any discussion must be relevant & applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Jeff Krukin back to the program to discuss how we do & should view space. For more information about Jeff & his space work, please visit www.jeffkrukin.com. Our discussion started with an evaluation of where we are today with space policy & the toxic nature of politics, including space politics. Jeff cited some examples of what he meant by toxic political rhetoric. As we began looking forward, Jeff put forth three perspectives as to the character of space. These three perspectives, if kept in mind, go beyond just thinking of space as a federal program. (1) Space is a mere 62 miles above us, & thus a continuation of our environment; (2) Space can be an extension of the economy , & thus part of our lives; (3) Space is a place of abundant resources, & thus crucial to our survival & prosperity. You can read his Space Daily article on this subject atwww.spacedaily.com/news/oped-04t.html. I asked Jeff how to realize his three goals & we talked about the media in this country as well as advocacy, especially with politicians. The suggestion was made to start with local & regional politicians, evolving upwards to politicians on the larger & grander national scale. Several callers were with us during the first segment suggesting we go from think tank up the ladder to the national representatives. One of our callers suggested a new concept, venture philanthropy. This proved to be an interesting discussion given the way the existing billionaire space entrepreneurs were characterized in terms of their investment, activity, & as potential role models for others to invest from a philanthropic perspective, not just a business case perspective. Jeff then talked about the New Space Conference Business Plan Competition for 2012. If you are interested in it & possibly competing, visit http://newspacebpc.com. Before the segment ended, an email came in suggesting a Microlaunchers type policy followed by Charles calling us. Don’t miss the Pooley/Microlaunchers discussion. In our second segment, Jeff talked about the need for a space transportation infrastructure. I then asked him how one goes about implementing the policies & ideas we had been discussing for the past hour or so. The subject of SLS came up & as to be expected, it drove the passions on all sides. Tim used an ice analogy that Jeff seemed to like. I took the part of a contrarian (I did this often during this interview) regarding the difficult choices for members of Congress in voting against jobs in their district given the economic realties of today. This came up in the first segment too in response to a listener question. I suggested it might be unrealistic to think congress would vote against jobs in the context of today’s economy as compared to when the U.S. economy was or again becomes strong/robust. I challenged the NewSpace thinking on what policy was & might be in the best interest of the country as it might not be the NewSpace ideas. Jeff handled the questions & opinions I threw at him very well & in my opinion, he demonstrated not only civility, but reason, common sense, drive, & open mindedness. Near the end we talked about some of the ideas Dennis Wingo put forth on his most program, then Jeff left us with a thoughtful set of closing comments. If you have comments/questions for Jeff Krukin, please post them on The Space Show blog URL above. If you want to contact Jeff, you can do so through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.
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