Conference 7.286::space

622.0. "Space "Summit" held -- a Space Activist's viewpoint" by 4347::GRIFFIN (Dave Griffin) Tue May 29 1990 22:37

[I post this for interest purposes only...]

From: [email protected] (Allen W. Sherzer)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: One Small Step for a Space Activist  Vol 1 No. 5
Date: 29 May 90 22:29:36 GMT
Organization: Ann Arbor Space Society

	       One Small Step for a Space Activist...
                             by
                        Allen Sherzer
                          Tim Kyger

                I Think They Mean It This Time!

Every week, the president meets with the congressional leadership to talk
about legislative issues. The May 1  meeting, however, was different; in
addition to the usual participants the leadership of the NASA authorization and
appropriation subcommittees attended. Unlike previous meetings, the only item
on the agenda was space. This "Space Summit" is the first time in 15 years a
meeting like this has been called.

The summit was not a decision making meeting but rather an open exchange of
views on the future of the US space program. President Bush reiterated his
support for bases on Luna and Mars and restated his belief that NASA will
need support from other public and private agencies to achieve this goal.
Members of Congress (with the notable exception of a few very powerful
members) also expressed support. The attendees also expressed the need for
greater continuity in NASA goals and programs. Hopefully, this will help to 
get stable multi-year funding for some of these projects. Finally, some ways
of paying for the President's space goals were discussed.

This is good news for the space movement. Some of our ideas and goals are being
accepted at the highest levels of government. Grassroots activism can make it 
possible if chapters write to and meet with their Representatives on a regular
basis. We must also use our public education efforts to make space an issue
people care about and ask about.

The ball is in our court. If we work to make what each of us believes in 
happen (whatever that is), it will. 

                       Legislative Roundup

         Space Transportation Services Purchase Act (HR 2674)

The vote on the FY'91 NASA authorization bill (HR 4196) by the full House
Science Committee has not yet happened, at this writing, and it may or
may not have happened by the time you read this. Chairman Roe faces his first
primary challenge in years, and naturally enough, his attention is focused on
re-election rather than markup. There is therefore time to exert pressure on
Mr. Roe. As we said last month, a compromise version of HR 2674 has been 
added as Title II to this bill. Activists need to work to support Title II of
the House FY'91 NASA bill AND get the Senate to pass their own authorization
bill with the Title II language in it.

Last month, many people wrote to Congressman Roe in support of Title II. The
House staff people working to support Title II were very appreciative of this
and send their thanks. Keep up the good work and keep the letters coming.

[As of today (May 29), a date for markup has not been set. It will not come
before June 5 because of the recess. Many letters have been sent to Roe but
more are needed to show there is wide support. If you support HR 2674, there
is an urgent need to WRITE to Roe for his support of Title II.]

Things you should do are:

1. WRITE Representative Roe (he hates phone calls). Ask him to support Title II
   of HR 4196 (NASA authorization bill). Congressman Roe's address is:
      Robert A Roe
      2243 RHOB
      Washington DC 20515

2. Call or write Senator Gore 202-224-4944 and ask him to include the original
   language of HR 2674 in the Senate FY'91 NASA authorization bill and to make
   passage of a Senate NASA authorization bill a priority. Senator Gore's
   address is:
        Senator Albert Gore
        393 RSOB
        Washington, DC 20510

3. Send a letter to Congressmen Walker, Packard, and Brown. They have worked
   hard to see make this bill happen. Let them know we appreciate their work.
   Their addresses are:
      Bob Walker             Ron Packard             George Brown
      2445 RHOB              434 CHOB                2188 RHOB
      Washington DC 20515    Washington DC 20515     Washington DC 20515

                       Space Exploration Initiative

The Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) is the President's Luna and Mars 
exploration and initial settlement program (SEI was the Human Exploration
Initiative but the name has changed). The Administration is a big supporter 
of the SEI; the President's budget contained almost $500 million to support
planning for a lunar and Mars base but it looks likely that this money will be
taken out of the SEI to free $$ for the Mission to Planet Earth.

The SEI program does not currently have the support needed to make it happen.
In particular, there are two members of Congress in a position to kill the SEI
all by themselves. Senator Barbra Mikulski (D-MD) and Congressman Bob Traxler
(D-MI) head the Appropriation Subcommittees from which the SEI will be funded.
Without their support, nothing will happen. We need to show them that there is
wide support among Americans for the exploration and development of space and
extraterrestrial resources via private enterprise.

Things you should do are:

1. Call, write, and VISIT your Representatives in Congress. Make sure they 
   know you support the return to the Moon and Mars base.

2. Get your chapters involved in public education. 
   - Make people aware of the benefits they get from space.
   - Make them aware that our space goals are not being pursued in Congress
   - Get people to think of space as a political issue; get them to demand
     support from their Representatives.

3. Call or write Senator Mikulski and Congressman Traxler. Let them know
   you support the GOALS of the President's Space Exploration Initiative. If
   you live in either of these Representative's home states, it is especially
   important that you both write and visit them to express your opinion.

4. Write the Vice President and Space Council. They are doing a good job and
   we need to say 'thanks'. They can be reached at:
       Dan Quale
       National Space Council
       Executive Office of the President
       Washington DC 20500

Finally, if you need help on any of this contact:

Allen Sherzer 
(313) 769-4108 (work) (313) 973-0941 (home) [email protected] (Internet)

Tim Kyger
(202) 225-2415 (work) (703) 548-1664 (home)

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| Allen W. Sherzer         |   Real men write self modifying code.          |
|   [email protected]            |                                                |
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Date: Fri, 24 Jun 1994 19:44:21 GMT
From: John Lewis <[email protected]>
Subject: ANNOUNCE: Space Activism on WWW
Newsgroups: sci.space

ANNOUNCEMENT

Space Activism page available on the World Wide Web (WWW)

NASA's budget is currently under review, and the atmosphere on the
Hill is pretty grim.  WE NEED YOUR HELP!  If you are interested in
supporting space development and exploration, see the Space Activism
home page at:

        http://muon.qrc.com/space/start.html

for information and tips on how best to get involved, links to current
space related projects and programs, government information, and other
space related sites and documents on the Internet.

Writing letters to your representatives IS effective and DOES make a
difference.  For example:

           To give you all a calibrator for what constitutes a large response
    on an issue like this, one House staffer on the Science, Space,
    and Technology Subcommittee (not the appropriations subcommittee)
    said she was amazed at the amount of letters their office had
    received - they got a grand total of ten.  It seems that on a
    low-budget item like Surveyor, anything more than half a dozen
    letters is considered a big response.  The power of net-prompted
    letter-writing campaigns becomes immediately apparent.

        Jeff Moersch: <[email protected]> regarding the
    Mars Surveyor Program

To access the WWW and the Space Activism page using telnet:

        telnet sunsite.unc.edu
        login: lynx
        type g (for go to)
        then http://muon.qrc.com/space/start.html

Please help support space development and exploration.  Make your
voice heard!

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John Lewis                                     Quantum Reseach Corporation
[email protected]                              (301) 657-3070 Fax: 3862
       Space Activism Page http://muon.qrc.com/space/start.html
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