Guest: Thomas Marotta. Topic: March Storm 2015 Citizen Space Agenda. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.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. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience. We welcomed Tom Marotta to the show to discuss his March Storm experiences and the March Storm agenda. For more information, visit both the March Storm website, www.marchstorm.com and his personal website, www.thisorbitallife.com. During the first segment of our 91 minute discussion, Tom started out by introducing us to March Storm, then he talked about his decision to participate this year and the training that followed before meeting with members of congress. Throughout the segment he was asked about the training by various listeners. It was one day, it included lots of role playing, and extensive familiarization with the March Storm agenda and issues. Those participating also did due diligence on the members of congress they were intending to visit. Efforts were made to match participants with congressional members from their local districts or at least their home state. I asked Tom several general questions including those pertaining to the gender of the participants, age, and diversity. Tom then spoke about the Citizens Space Agenda for March Storm which included five areas, the SEDS Act, the Cheap Access to Space act and prize, to fully fund commercial crew, to extend the learning period of the FAA for suborbital and commercial spaceflight without burying the industry in excessive regulation, and to avoid the loss of the ISS should the Russians really remove their module as they have indicated they might do. The total number of briefings for March Storm were 127, most of which took place with staffers. Throughout out discussion, Tom pointed out the wide range in interest, awareness, and knowledge of the staffers ranging from not interested and no knowledge to just the opposite. Tom also highlighted Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and his staff as an example of being very interested in space and the March Storm agenda. In fact he said that congress would pass he SEDS Act though no timeline was given. Before the end of the first segment, I asked Tom for a realistic assessment of actual congressional support and action on their agenda. Don't miss his assessment. In the second segment, we talked more about training, writing to members of congress, I gave a rant on petitioning our government on issues we are passionate about including space, then TR asked if members of congress think about detailed issues like artificial gravity. Tom said they did not lobby on specific issues such as stated in the TR email, instead they stuck to their agenda and were very specific in not asking for money or money driven legislation. Human spaceflight safety came up in an email listener question as did the SpaceShip2 accident. Space Settlement was a major topic in a call by John from Ft. Worth. As the show was ending, we talked about a congressional joint resolution rather than a law and Tom called for those in California, Texas, Maryland and Florida to contact their members of congress on the March Storm agenda. Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can reach Tom through his site or me.
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