VSE

Dr. Neville Marzwell was the guest for this Space Show program. We began this program asking Dr. Marzwell about the VSE from his vantage point. I mentioned that in recent shows I was caught a bit off guard by guests that were not supportive of the manned mission to the Moon, plus the fact that the VSE does not seem to grab the attention of the non-space public the way going to the Moon did for my generation in the 60's. Dr.

George Whitesides, Executive Director of the National Space Society, was the guest for this Space Show program to discuss the upcoming 2007 ISDC conference. George answered many listener questions about NSS policy and support for the VSE, plus questions about the likely political changes resulting from the coming 2008 elections. We also discussed the most effective way to communicate with our elected members of congress, both as individuals and as part of an advocate organization. In addition, we discussed effective pro space-faring messages.

Dallas Bienhoff was the special guest for this Space Show program. Our discussion with Dallas focused on building an on orbit propellant depot to enhance and facilitate the VSE program with NASA and to also serve the developing private sector space community. Dallas took us through all phases of building a propellant depot and we discussed the four most significant hurdles: the cost of space access, zero g fuel transfer, long term cryogenic storage, and the autonomous rendezvous and docking necessary for the depot.

Shubber Ali returned for this special Space Show program which was extended to 2 1/2 hours. We began our discussion with Shubber by asking him for his take on the VSE. the lunar launch architecture designed to take us to the Moon, and the time period for the program. Shubber wasted no time in taking us through the complicated political world surrounding the VSE and letting us know why he does not think it will happen.

Richard C. Hoagland was the special guest for this two hour Space Show program. We began our discussion with a look at the VSE, its hardware for returning to the Moon, the time table for doing so, and the COTS program. Richard discussed some of the challenges presented by the VSE and suggested that some of what NASA was doing did not make much sense.

David A. Broniatowski was the guest for this first Space Show program of 2007. Given that David is a PhD student at MIT, we started the interview by asking David for a student's perception of the VSE, NASA, and the private space program. This initial discussion opened up into a wider discussion about students, voting, space issues, professors, careers and much much more. This discussion is a must and absolutely the best way possible to start the year out on The Space Show!

Kathleen Connell, Principal of the Connell Whittaker Group, LLC, was the guest for this special program on The Space Show. We began our discussion by asking Ms. Connell about lessons learned and her cutting edge research based on her work with the award winning videographer Michael Danty in their film about societal impacts from Apollo. Ms. Connell discussed this subject in detail in three different categories: Culture, technology, and economic. This is an important discussion based on solid research and analysis. Don't miss it!

Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar was the guest for this Space Show program, here to discuss her recent research study, "The Market Study for Space Exploration." As we found out during the program, this study is an important guide to our attitudes toward and perceptions to all aspects of the space program, the VSE, even some segments of the private-sector space program. As much of her research focuses on the 18-25 age group, so did this program.

Chuck Lauer returned to The Space Show for this special program to discuss Rocketplane-Kistler and more. We started our discussion with Chuck asking him about some of his past innovative ideas for recreational space development. This led Chuck to telling us how he got interested in space and a listener asked him about his preference regarding the regulatory world of real estate versus developing a space ship. The listener wanted to know if Chuck preferred working with a zoning commission or AST. Guess what his answer was!

Dr. Henry Hertzfeld returned to The Space Show for this special program. Last on the show April 9, 2003, we opened up discussing the changes in the space world since his earlier guest appearance on the program. We talked about changes resulting from the Columbia accident, the VSE, SS1 and more. In addition, we discussed his 2005 paper, "Launch Vehicles: An Economic Perspective." You can find this paper and many others of his as well as others from the Space Policy Dept. at GWU by visiting the website, http://www.gwu.edu/~spi/.