----- Forwarded message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Fw: Space Access Update #113 01/04/06 > Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2006 19:26:59 -0800 > > Space Access Update #113 01/04/06 > Copyright 2006 by Space Access Society > ________________________________________________________________________ > > Do not hit "reply" to email us - it'll be buried in tides of spam, and > we won't ever see it. Email us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ________________________________________________________________________ > > We'll get back to talking about the rest of the world shortly, in our > next Update. This issue will be strictly about us, Space Access Society > and its founder and longtime Executive Director, Henry Vanderbilt. > > I am going to drop tradition now and forego the editorial "we". The > collective speaking-for-Space-Access-Society "we" will still pop up as > needed, but for reasons that will shortly become clear, I want to get > into practice clearly distinguishing my curmudgeonly personal views from > the carefully considered collective positions of that enigmatic virtual > organization, Space Access Society. > > Yes, all you colleagues, fellow-travellers, supporters, and seeing-what- > those-loons-are-up-to-this-time readers out there, after thirteen years > as Chief Cook & Bottle-Washer of this outfit, I am moving on. When I > got into this movement twenty years ago, my main ambition wasn't to do > policy and politics - I wanted to build spaceships. Policy and politics > was a means to an end. The time has arrived for me personally to go > help bend metal and burn propellant. More on that in a bit. > > Somewhat paradoxically (at least if you've assumed all there is to SAS > is the highly visible bit, me) this will mean that SAS's Updates will > come out more regularly, its website will be better maintained, and its > annual Space Access conference (April 20th-22nd in Phoenix Arizona, we > should have a hotel contract to announce within days) will continue to > improve and grow. > > So, how does SAS achieve these things while losing its Fearless Leader? > What happens to SAS, post-Henry? We, the ongoing confidential and > somewhat arbitrarily self-selected discussion group I will be handing > executive authority back to, have spent a lot of time thrashing that > question in recent weeks, and come to a number of conclusions. > > First, we don't think it practical to find one person to replace me. > The list of people we know with the variety of skills involved willing > to do the job for (in a good year) something approaching part-time > minimum wage is, uh, short. The danger of losing focus and diluting or > diverting our viewpoint in going over to a traditional non-profit with > fulltime paid staff seems acute; none of us has the time and energy to > guarantee such against agenda drift, bylaw-twiddling, donor-catering, > and other such time-honored diversions of space activist energies. > > Second, we've concluded that SAS does need to continue. Its key > products - its optimistic viewpoint that radically cheaper space > transportation is both highly desirable and possible without radical new > technology, its hard-headedly realistic views on how to actually get > there from here, and its annual conference where players in this new > field get together, brainstorm, trade information, and make deals - are > useful enough not to abandon lightly. The approach we've been pushing > all these years is finally gaining acceptance and showing signs of > working, but we've seen the revolution "unstoppable" before. It's too > soon to declare victory and throw a dissolution party. > > The answer we've come up with is to go even more minimalist-virtual than > we already are - to identify the essential tasks, slice them up among > our various selves finely enough so we can all go on making our various > livings, and carry on. The result should be an improvement in most > things we do. I've been more than a little distracted in recent years, > and have tended to let slide all but the highest-priority items. Again, > more on that in a bit. > > The chief downside we can see is that absent a single executive able to > make policy decisions on the spot, we are likely to move more slowly and > deliberately in anything short of a major crisis. This is not > necessarily a bad thing, we think. In general we think being right > trumps being first in this field - we're in this for the long haul. > > Practical details: I will be winding down my involvement and handing > off various slices of this job over the coming weeks. > > - SAS will stop accepting donations and paid memberships immediately - > the annual conference should cover all our reduced expenses for now. > Our - my - heartfelt thanks to all the people who've supported SAS with > membership dues and donations over the years. We couldn't have gotten > this far without you. As for new memberships, Space Access Society is a > state of mind as much as it is anything. If you believe radically > cheaper space access is both hugely important and near-term possible, > you're one of us. Pay your dues by doing what you can to advance the > cause as the chance arises. > > - Contact with Space Access Society will be via email; the office phone > will be gone shortly. There will at some point be several email boxes > on the www.space-access.org website for various departments - Press > Inquiries, Conference Questions, Letters To The Editor, Mail-List > Signup, and others as may become needed. For now use the > [EMAIL PROTECTED] email for all of these. We will retain > the paper mailbox at 5515 N 7th St #5-348, Phoenix AZ 85014, but it will > be checked infrequently other than right before the Space Access > conference, as we intend to use it mainly for conference registrations > and business. All other contacts are best made via email. > > - I will continue to work for SAS in one capacity: Organizing the > annual Space Access conference. That's the one part of this job I can't > hand off right away - there are a lot of non-obvious details involved in > putting a conference together successfully - so I will end up doing it > for a while longer. But I will be SAS's Conference Manager only. I > will not speak for SAS in public or make on-the-spot policy decisions > for SAS anymore. Come the conference I will likely stick to technical > and schedule work while someone else MC's. If you don't like your > speaking timeslot or Registration has lost your badge, talk to me, but I > will no longer be the go-to guy on SAS policy questions. SAS will come > up with official spokespersons when needed, but in general, the SAS > policy contact point will be the website email. > > A question that's bound to come up, sooner more likely than later: > Impartiality in running the conference. I will soon be working for a > player in this industry. My soon-to-be new boss approves of the > conference enough that he's agreed to allow me to go on running it on > the side, and will even donate some of my company time as a form of > sponsorship of the conference. Other companies are invited (and > encouraged - easy terms, no money down, talk to me and we'll make a > deal!) to be conference sponsors also. All sponsors will be listed > equally in the program and in all publicity. If anyone has a problem > with scheduling, I will as always do my best to work it out > satisfactorily. And if anyone has a problem with who is or is not > invited to speak at the conference, I can but assure them that I will as > always do my best to put together as interesting, informative, and > useful a conference as possible, that I will under the circumstances > bend over backwards to see that dissenting views are represented fairly, > and that all such issues will have been run past SAS's core > decisionmakers; none will be the result of my prejudices alone. > > > Why Now? > > It has been over thirteen years since I and a group of like-minded fans > of Radically Cheaper Space Transportation founded Space Access Society, > in order to promote development of RCST, ASAP. We had come to realize > we were a tiny minority, both in believing RCST possible in the near > term, and in having a coherent program to achieve it. We had also > realized we could be a tiny minority and still be effective, given sound > ideas and appropriate tactics. Minority pressure-group tactics, plus > "There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets > the credit"... But important issues were falling through the cracks > because we all had lives and jobs; our viewpoint needed to be more > consistantly and persistantly put forth if it was to have any chance of > catching on. > > Space Access Society was our answer. After I'd been agitating for > *someone* to do it for over a year, I ended up being the one who got > laid off and suddenly had the time, back in 1992. I called for > volunteers, eveyone else took one step back, and there I was... > > The intent of SAS has never been to empire-build; in my tenure I've > always kept to the minimum structure necessary to do the job. Indeed, > when I first started, SAS was designed to be disposable, on the theory > that in five years we'd have succeeded, SAS would no longer be needed, > and I could get a life again. Hah. I have, ahem, learned a bit about > patience and persistance since then. > > It's just as well that I'd never forgotten how to live like a starving > student - things were tight. Most everything we could have done to > raise substantial extra money involved compromising the mission, doing > things I hated and/or wasn't good at, or both. We more or less got by. > But a few years ago, I decided I had better not go on ignoring how deep > into a high-interest hole I'd fallen. So I started working my way back > out, which cut seriously into the time and energy I could put into SAS. > I like to think I've still managed to cover the most urgent essentials > since then, but I haven't been happy with how I've been doing this job > for a while now. > > I recently realized that I've personally outlasted the entire L-5 > Society, that it has been one hell of an interesting ride with any > number of truly fine people, but that I am seriously overdue to move on. > SAS has become overly identified with me in any case; it's always been > far more than one individual. And finally, after twenty years in the > trenches, I'm exhausted with politics. I look forward to backing off > from the ongoing policy thrash and bending metal instead. > > Did I mention I'll be going to work for a rocket company in the near > future? I'll leave it to my new employers to make whatever fuss about > that they think appropriate when the time comes. > > It's been a long strange road for the six-year-old boy who, watching one > of the Mercury-Atlas countdowns on the family black-and-white, heard the > announcers say they threw the $10 million rocket away every flight, and > thought to himself "they're never going to spend that much to send me up > there". Twenty-four years later, I started working to change all that. > Forty-four years later, I have a chance to go build affordable > spaceships. I'm going for it. > > God bless you all, especially those of you who'll go on laboring in the > political vineyards. Nobody appreciates what you do more than I. > > Henry Vanderbilt > 7:56 pm mst, January 4th, 2006 > > ________________________________________________________________________ > > Space Access Society's sole purpose is to promote radical reductions > in the cost of reaching space. You may redistribute this Update in > any medium you choose, as long as you do it unedited in its entirety. > You may reproduce sections of this Update beyond obvious "fair use" > quotes if you credit the source and include a pointer to our website. > ________________________________________________________________________ > > Space Access Society > http://www.space-access.org > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > "Reach low orbit and you're halfway to anywhere in the Solar System" > - Robert A. Heinlein >
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