Rick Tumlinson returned for this special Space Show program. The first part of the interview was focused on visionary space leadership, the VSE, congress, how NASA does business, NASA leadership, and inspiration. Rick was at his best, you need to hear what he has to say and this discussion. As this two hour program developed, we altered the focus of the discussion to look into private commercial space development in general and then narrowed the focus to talk about his new business ventures. Rick's comments and insights regarding commercial space development are a must! During these discussions, we spent some time talking about changes that might happen regarding the VSE, most likely not going to the Moon because of the way NASA is doing it, but instead going to an asteroid. Rick explains the benefits of doing so and while he is supportive of that type of mission, he points out would be based upon the failure of the lunar part of the VSE and that weakens the overall program. Rick also discussed his new business ventures under the umbrella of Extreme Space. We spent most of our time discussing Orbital Outfitters (www.orbitaloutfitters.com/Home.html). This business is designed to build crew and passenger stylish and affordable spacesuits for the space tourism market, then lease them to the flight operators. He discussed the Orbital Outfitters business plan, the various versions of the spacesuits, and the likely users. He then said that the passengers would be able to retain as a souvenir the outer spacesuit garment and a simulated flight helmet. He fielded many listener questions on Orbital Outfitters, many of which were technical. He suggested that if listeners wanted more technical answers than he was able to provide to write to the company or send an email so that the technical people could respond. The spacesuit discussions and questions were most interesting. Toward the end of the program, Rick also talked about China and their space program and our similar attitudes in developing the frontier, he talked about his other business he is forming, Space Medicine Associates which is designed to do medical testing for space flight participants. He also talked about the coming Space Frontier Foundation conference later in July in Washington, DC. You can contact Rick Tumlinson with your comments and questions at rick@ricktumlinson.com.
Guest
The Space Show
