The Laughing Wolf

An Open Letter To The Honorable George W. Bush

The Honorable George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Mr. President,

I write you to celebrate a rumor, and to express my hope that this rumor is true. Reports from inside your administration indicate that you are preparing to make a major policy statement about space, and America’s future in space.

I can think of no better thing to do, and no better time to do it than on the anniversary of the Wright Brother’s first powered flight at Kitty Hawk. Just as those two brothers put their personal time, money, and effort into the task of taking us to the air, there are today several companies that are putting their time, effort, and money into taking us to the stars. These companies represent the future even as they build on a proud American tradition of pledging lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to the tasks at hand.

These companies do this for the betterment of this great nation: the expansion of our technological base; the advancement of knowledge; the enrichment of our economy; and, the excitation and inspiration of our students and a new generation of entrepreneurs. Many of them do it without accepting money from the government, just as the Wright’s did all those many years ago. The time for reward is when success is achieved, not before.

Within the next few months or years, these companies will begin to take all of us to the stars, by giving us low-cost, reliable access to Earth orbit. Where we go from there is then up to us. Some desire to go to the Moon, others to Mars, and yet others to the rich potential represented by the asteroid belt and various moons. If they get there is up to them, the amount of work they are willing to put into the project, and the money that they can raise to fund such prodigious efforts.

It is my hope, Mr. President, that you consider these companies, the efforts they have made, and the results they are achieving even now. It is my hope that you will look upon what they have done, what they are poised to do, and what they need to move forward. The sad fact is that they are doing on a shoestring what NASA has been unable and unwilling to do on far larger budgets. They are innovating, they are daring, they are the modern repository of the can-do spirit that was the hallmark of the early NASA, and that was lost to the agency many years ago.

What these companies do is risky. Technological innovation and advancement is fraught with peril, from test failure to financial ruin. No effort to advance mankind is without risk to life, limb, and reputation; yet, there are those always willing to accept such risks, and it is to them that you must speak in the days ahead.

Your speech will address the future. I urge you to use as the foundation for your effort not the declining edifice of government, but rather the solid base of commercial efforts undertaken by the same types of citizens as those who colonized this country and settled the West. Those who were not content with the status quo and a sinecure job, but who chose rather to build new lives and new fortunes by exploring and exploiting new frontiers.

NASA did indeed take us to the moon, and that effort must not be belittled. The technological and related advancements that enabled that still reverberate within our economy and our national consciousness to this day. We should be proud of what we dared, for in daring we achieved great things.

To that end, it is my sincere hope that you will truly dare great challenges once again. Rather than attempting to recapture the past, let America move forward and once again set a standard, a new standard, that will shine as a beacon to the world. Freedom and free enterprise have always been a major portion of the light in Columbia’s torch. On the ground, this great beacon is limited by the curvature of the Earth. So let us instead place that beacon into the sky so that it can shine over the Earth and all the planets of the solar system. Let that great light serve as a goal to those below, and serve as a beam that will take mankind to the stars. Let us ride the light of free enterprise to the stars.

The government does indeed have a crucial role to play in this endeavor. It must provide the structure and regulation that will encourage private launch companies and private space ventures. It must safeguard the rights of individuals and corporations to go forth and explore and exploit the opportunities that await in space and on non-terrestrial bodies. It can assist those private companies in the same way that the government enabled commercial aviation, by purchasing those services rather than competing with them or attempting to stifle them. The government can provide knowledge, laboratories, and other resources to help overcome scientific and technological problems that are more than a single company can handle. It can do this through existing structures and partnerships, and by this bring those things new life and new purpose.

Mr. President, let us not send NASA back to the Moon, or on to Mars. Instead, let us send the best and brightest that are America to these places and beyond. The solar system is too vast for one single organization; but, it is just right for a country founded in individual liberty and the right to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Let loose the almost unlimited potential that is private, free enterprise. Reward those that succeed, and mourn not those that fail. Remove the barriers, refocus the government on its true and essential role in this process, and show the world what a free and willing people can accomplish. Set the challenge high, and place no limits on its achievement.

Just as few people of the day could have foreseen the myriad benefits that came from that one giant leap, few if any of us today can foresee the multitude of benefits that will come from setting a worthy challenge at this time. Make no mistake, however, but that such is needed. As the world is mired in a war with those that would bring down all, such is all the greater need for a goal that stretches the imagination and inspires to untold heights.

The country you lead, indeed all the world, now needs this more than ever before. Your people have come to expect you to do with a dogged determination the bold thing, the needed thing, and the right thing – no matter the cost. As you have set the example in other things, set the example now. Your people, the companies they form and invest in, and your Country deserve no less. Recreate not the past, but a new future that is the best of what America has to offer.

Sincerely,

C. Blake Powers
former Director of Outreach, NASA Space Product Development Program

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