California Space Enterprise Returns to Capitol Hill

"The California Space Authority (CSA) is a much needed organization. It provides a presence and a voice both in Washington, D.C., and within the state of California. CSA is California's 'face for space'," declared Lt.Gen. Michael Hamel, Commander, Space and Missile Systems Center, during California Space Week 2007.

Lt. Gen. Hamel was one of eight key executive branch officials to meet with CSA and its members during California 2pace Week 2007. He joined a distinguished group of speakers representing the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (Damon Wells, Senior Policy Director), Governor Schwarzenegger (Melissa Decker, Senior Director), NASA (Dr. Scott Horowitz, Associate Administrator for Space Exploration Systems and Dr. Lisa Porter, Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Research), the U.S. State Department (Anne Ganzer, Director for Policy), FAA (Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation), the U.S. Commerce Department (Ed Morris, Director, Office of Space Commercialization), and the U.S. Department of Labor (Mason Bishop, Deputy Assistant Secretary).

In addition to meeting with key executive branch officials, 61 California space stakeholders met in the offices of all 55 members of the California Congressional delegation, including the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The meeting in the Speaker's office included the Directors of all three NASA Centers in California - Dr. Charles Elachi of JPL, Dr. Pete Worden of NASA Ames Research Center, and Kevin Petersen of NASA Dryden Flight Research Center - as well as CSA Executive Director Andrea Seastrand, Deputy Director Janice Dunn, and Brian Chase, NASA Assistant Administrator of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.

The Center Directors focused their message upon climate change research being conducted at the centers as well as the economic impact of those centers within California. The Congressional meetings also focused upon the issues of the need for adequate resources for DoD space programs, creation of the space enterprise workforce of the future, streamlining the export licensing process for space hardware, and the application of space technology to homeland security challenges.

The Congressional meetings culminated in a reception on Capitol Hill which was attended by Congressional members and their staff as well as key executive branch officials. Rep. Ken Calvert, Ranking Member of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, announced at the reception that he will introduce legislation to change the name of NASA Dryden Flight Research Center to NASA Armstrong Research Center in order to honor Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the Moon and a former test pilot at that facility. Calvert said the legislation will also continue to recognize Hugh Dryden by naming the test range, which conducts significant aeronautical activities, after him. NASA Astronaut Carl Walz also spoke during the reception.

CA Space Week 2007 participants were also provided an opportunity to attend a lecture by Dr. Mike Brown of CalTech after hours at the National Air & Space Museum. The lecture focused upon "Pluto, Eris and the Dwarf Planets of the Outer Solar System".

CSA thanks the sponsors of California Space Week 2007: Aerojet, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, Wyle Laboratories, Xcor Aerospace and AIAA. Photos of CA Space Week 2007 can be found on the CSA website.

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