Dr. Charles Lurio was the guest for this special Space Show program. As today marked the sixth year birthday for The Space Show, I started the discussion by asking Charles about the progress/changes he has seen in space development over the past six years. Charles addressed the changes both from a private sector perspective and the public sector. You will certainly want to hear his assessment of both. Charles went on to discuss the importance of R&D programs and having a good X-vehicle program which we do not have right now. We talked about this specific path to building and developing vehicles, even comparing it to the path taken by Space X. As a result of a listener question, Charles was asked about the VSE. This opened up a huge discussion topic for Charles. He does not look fondly on the VSE the way it is presently structured and planned. Listen to his comments for the details. If you disagree with his analysis, send him your comments/questions and let him know where you think he is wrong. Charles fielded additional questions about politics and policy, space as a partisan or bipartisan issue, Congress and space funding, Dr. Griffin and NASA, zero g zero tax, and much more. I also asked Charles about why rocket building and engineering was so hard, why we all believe it to be so hard and so costly and could it be possible that we somehow have bought into a mindset that is not really accurate. This question comes to mind given the consistent number of emails I get from listeners who believe that space access does not have to be hard or costly and that it is because NASA or someone does not want us to go to space, at least not yet. Charles talked about this at length. His comments near the end of the program about the rocket equation and our human potential, in my mind, addressed this question and concern better than what I have heard from anyone else. Send your comments and questions to me at drspace@thespaceshow.com and I will forward them to Charles.
Guest
The Space Show
