an open letter to the Senior Advisor of the President of the United States

sent August 13, 2009 at 7:40pm GMT

David Axelrod
Senior Advisor to the President

Good day David,
Thank you for your update on your Health Reform proposals and the misconceptions (FUD Attacks) that are being spread regarding it... I find it un-nerving that there are people who are willing to see other's suffer, while they go their own greedy ways... during the election, I had an encounter with some ‘conservative’ people on a comment page regarding an ‘honor killing’ in Georgia… I felt I had stepped off a ledge in the water, and went from 3 feet above water to 10 feet under in short order…
But this brings me to my topic today... I felt yesterday, that same feeling watching the Augustine Committee hearing, Aug 12th… I realize they have 18 days before the results of the Augustine Commission on Human Space Flight will be briefed to you and the President.... I have been following the US and world space industry for 50 years now, and more recently the Direct v3.0 development proposals for the past year
There was a decided lack of understanding given to the Direct v3.0 approach to the Vision for Space Exploration… while Direct is supported by the Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicle, Jupiter Class… I felt that the Vision for Exploration expounded by the taking up of that Vehicle, was missed, and the Vehicle (like a picture without a frame) was left dangling with the other SDLV, Not Shuttle C…
I am going to keep this short, but I would ask, that when the time comes for a hearing of the Options from the Committee, that you asked for a more detailed explanation of the Architecture that is Direct v3.0, or get it from Ross Tierny and Chuck Longton, www.directlauncher.com, it is a better way forward, in that it has been both Technically, Fiscally, and Politically vetted by long and broad ranging discussion, by advocates and detractors together…
If the President really wants to get the US and there by the world out of the doldrums of this recession, an affordable, sustainable, safe, way forward is in this Vision… it is the work of 3 years and many thousands of man hours, by the Direct Team, and many others on this forum, http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=18139.810, who some are Engineers (like Steven, Danny and Jim who are not on the Direct Team) and Computer experts, and others like myself who are just interested in Space Flight… we are all interested in the United States having a successful Space Exploration Vision, not one that in 5-6 years is again on the ropes and another Augustine Committee is required to examine why…