Where would we be?
For my very first blog post, I think I’ll start at the top. The top of what you ask? Well, when you are talking about space, everything is “on top” but I’m talking about the people who have brought space closer to us and far more accessible than was previously thought possible. Where would we be without them?
Time magazine recently named Elon Musk the Person of the Year for 2021 – and deservedly so I think. But really they could have named him that in any one of the previous ten years. If they had, I and nearly every other space geek would have agreed with the selection. Musk, founder, CEO and Chief Engineer of SpaceX, is a bit unconventional in his approach to business but I think we all agree that he gets stuff done.
And of late, you could add Jeff Bezos as a candidate (again – he already was a winner in 1999 for leading Amazon) due to the work he has pushed forward with space tourism, the multiple successful launches, and thankfully safe landings of the Blue Origin New Shepard craft. The most recent of which included Alan Shepard’s daughter Laura as a passenger. Alan Shepard was the first American to go to space and the Blue Origin rocket was named after him. Bezos of course was the founder of Amazon and created Blue Origin in 2000. Honestly, over the years I really didn’t think his company was going anywhere close to space but I’m glad they did – it helps the industry.
With any luck in the next few years you could add Sir Richard Branson to the list of Person of the Year hopefuls. His company Virgin Galactic is also trying to develop space tourism but with a rocket plane sort of approach. Like Blue Origin, they also found success with reaching space in 2021.
And even though their approaches are slow and costly, of course we should also throw a hat in the “persons of the year” ring for each of the governmental space agencies around the world. They include NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the China National Space Administration (CNSA). And there are many other countries with ancillary space programs that support efforts in space.
Billions and billions…
So what’s the deal here? You have to be a billionaire or a government to get anything done in space? No, but it certainly helps. However, not everything in space revolves around the rocket and a really large bankroll!
Dr. Robert Zubrin, author and aerospace engineer, created the Mars Society in 1998 and still runs it today. The Mars Society is the largest space advocacy group in the world with thousands of paid members – myself included. They also support several projects around the world to further Mars education and research. Besides being the President of the Mars Society, Zubrin is also President of Pioneer Astronautics in Boulder Colorado that does development on aerospace technologies. I actually met Dr. Zubrin at his office in Boulder in September of 2021 and we traded signed copies of our books. I gave him my book: Hungry For Mars? Here’s Your Menu! He gave me the 25th anniversary edition of his book: The Case For Mars. I’m pretty sure I got the better deal!
Although currently lesser known, the former jumbo jet pilot John Blincow might be on Time’s contender list soon if his ideas come to fruition. Blincow is the President of Los Angeles based Gateway Spaceport LLC. They are designing and building the first true rotating spaceport where private individuals and companies can rent modules to do research or just be a tourist. This is another group that I believe will have a huge impact on our lives in space and I am also a paid crew member of the spaceport.
There are others that I have not mentioned who are currently working on their own piece of the space puzzle. And there were many before the current group who did their part to foster space industry growth. Most importantly, YOU can be on that list too! You do not need to have a lot of money or have a doctorate level education to make an impact.
Anyone can talk to their friends, relatives and co-workers about the current activities or future of space.
Anyone can volunteer.
Anyone can give money to groups like the Mars Society or companies like Gateway Spaceport.
Anyone can write a book.
1 thought on “Where would we be?”
This author is very insightful.