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“We do not have routine access to space because we believe we can’t do it. Our spiritual crisis is caused by a failure of will, and that failure of will is the spiritual crisis.”
“Our crisis is real enough, but it is self-imposed; we have only to recognize the nature of the crisis and it will be solved. The nation must understand, once and for all, that the goal is not access to space for an elite few, but for all Americans, and indeed for all mankind. Given that understanding we can proceed.”
Those are the words of the Executive Summary of the Citizens’ Advisory Council on National Space Policy.
Below are never-before-seen images that will be included in the upcoming STEP FURTHER OUT! this May 2020.
At this 1983 meeting science fiction authors Greg Benford, Robert Heinlein, Jerry Pournelle, Poul Anderson, Stephen Barnes attended this conference at Larry Niven’s to provide recommendation to the President on National Space Policy.
The group, which has decided to call itself the Citizens Advisory Council on National Space Policy, charged itself with two goals for the all-too-short three-day weekend. It was to come up with an “insurance policy” for the space program; that is, a plan for the next fiscal year which would be acceptable to the Reagan Administration and keep the program going. Next was the harder goal of plotting a course for the next twenty years that would put the United States in a position to take full advantage of the resources of space.
The Council urged that the United States adopt a firm, strong space policy, one that would guarantee a permanent U.S. presence in space, while encouraging private enterprise to take on a larger role. The report stressed that the economy can only be helped by the development of new technologies and the utilization of extraterrestrial resources.
In the short term, the Council recommended that President Reagan maintain our present capabilities in space and consider some new programs for Fiscal Year 1982.
Let’s keep this alive, along with the others like B612.
Had to look that up! For those like me that whiffed Hammer 101, the B612 Foundation helps protect Earth from asteroid impacts. They work with Caltech on synthetic tracking. Learn more about these hero astronomers at https://b612foundation.org/ Become a mission crew member and save Civilization.