NEWS RELEASE: Last Ever Space Shuttle Launch July 8 -- News/Interview/Talk Show Opportunity


The  Coalition  To  Save  Manned  Space  Exploration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Art Harman
The Coalition to Save Manned Space Exploration
703-938-9626
info@SaveMannedSpace.com

Last Ever Space Shuttle Launch July 8
Expert Available for Commentary, Analysis, Talk Shows

As the last ever shuttle mission blasts off on July 8 at 11:26 AM, Americans are concerned at the chaos in our space program--will we ever go to the moon or Mars, or will other nations assume leadership and control of space? And, for the first time ever, Russia will gain complete control of access to the International Space Station.

Mr. Art Harman, the Director of the Coalition to Save Manned Space Exploration is available for news interviews and talk shows at 703-967-4802 to discuss this topic.

Items of discussion can include:
  • Is a last-minute reprieve possible for the shuttles? Recent developments offer a faint bit of hope.
  • The loss of national prestige as it sinks in that America truly is out of the launch business for a few years and is in chaos for future missions. The importance of national prestige is virtually ignored today, yet China, Russia and others well understand its power at home and internationally. Even in negotiations completely unrelated to space, the US would stand a little taller if we were expanding and not contracting space activities.
  • The troubling answers I have gotten from NASA and Congressional advisors to my question "what contingency plans exist to launch large replacements to the space station in an emergency" (in a word, "none"). Essential if space junk destroyed a solar panel. Astronauts and experts just signed an urgent letter to NASA on exactly this point. 
  • The insanity of intentionally destroying tens of thousands of jobs during the worst recession--especially job losses in highly technical fields.
  • The un-talked of potential for blackmail by Russia should relations seriously sour. Might they privately demand concessions in foreign and defense policies to keep launching our crew? Unlikely, but who could have predicted the Arab Spring a year ago?
  • The cost of NASA in perspective. More is spent ($20 billion) on just air-conditioning military tents in Iraq and Afghanistan than NASA's entire budget! Cancelling the shuttle and eschewing a bold space program saves only a 'drop in the bucket' in the scheme of things, yet the investment payoffs of a bold space program in new inventions and jobs would be incalculable.
  • How NASA is sabotaging heavy lift rocket (SLS) development by having no real plan to do anything with it. No plan may guarantee it is only used for a few demonstration launches then scrapped like the shuttles. No set plan means we'll never build the lunar lab to learn how to live on Mars--and Mars would forever remain a decade or two in the future.
  • Plans by Russia, China and others to go where we won't--the very real race we are sitting out. Examples just this year include Russia's soil-return mission to Mars' moon; and China launches two major advances in their well-funded JFK-like plans to go to the moon.
  • A Chinese or Russian flag on the moon: "We came in peace for all mankind," or "Keep out!" 
  • Why space scientists, advocates, astronauts, members of Congress and candidates for office should endorse one common space road map.
  • How can we re-launch a space program which will inspire our nation and result in tremendous growth in high tech jobs, innovations and investments?
  • How one report, the 'Augustine Commission,' sold out America's future in space.
  • How has America's leadership and investments in space benefited Americans, and what new discoveries in the next 50 years might we see from the space program? 
  • How NASA can be saved from bureaucracy. How the private sector can lead in space.
Mr. Harman can offer insights on these and other topics. He is happy to field talk show calls.

You are invited to offer your listeners news and commentary on the occasion of the final ever shuttle launch.

If you would like to schedule Mr. Harman, please call 703-967-4802.

Art Harman is the Director of the Coalition to Save Manned Space Exploration, and has worked in the public policy arena for three decades in the Nation's Capital; he is a powerful advocate for launching a bold new space program. Podcasts of some earlier interviews are available on www.SaveMannedSpace.com. The goal of the Coalition is to help rebuild public interest in the space program to result in greater support by Congress and the Administration.

"The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space." JFK at Rice University, September 12, 1962.

--30--
The Coalition to Save Manned Space Exploration
703-938-9626
450 Maple Avenue, East, Suite 309
Vienna, VA 22180
info@SaveMannedSpace.com
www.SaveMannedSpace.com
www.Facebook.com/SaveMannedSpace
www.Twitter.com/SaveMannedSpace
www.Youtube.com/SaveMannedSpace