SRIC4 #18: “The Little Rocket that Could – The Rise of the NewSpace Movement” by Samuel Coniglio

This is the preliminary webinar #18 of the IV SRI World Congress (SRIC4)

Abstract

We are on the edge of a new golden age of space travel. Not the golden age of government space agencies, but an age of diversification: where private rocket companies offer their services to any person, company, or government to take a ride to Low Earth Orbit and beyond. How did we get here? How come it took nearly 60 years from the first landing on the Moon to finally have a variety of space services that nearly anyone with the money could participate in? “The Little Rocket that Could” honors the pioneers of the “NewSpace” Movement: engineers and entrepreneurs who took chances to build rockets and spacecraft as alternatives to NASA’s Delta, Atlas, Titan, Saturn V and the Space Shuttle. It will cover the stories of people like Gary Hudson, a serial space entrepreneur and engineer, who since the 1980’s battled bureaucrats, the media, and lack of investors to build reusable rockets. Pioneering companies like Space Services Incorporated of America and their Conestoga 1 rocket helped streamline the launch approval process from dozens of US Government bureaucracies to just one. Then there was the saga of the Delta Clipper Experimental, the world’s first reusable rocket, which flew 12 times, and each time nearly ran out of funding. These stories and more are not known to modern audiences, who are blinded by the successes of the Billionaire-owned space companies. This new book will compare the pioneers with the latest companies and what the industry has learned.

A short bio

Samuel Coniglio is a book author, space futurist, technical writer, photographer, inventor, and private space industry advocate. He is a board member and former Vice-President of the Space Tourism Society. In the 1990’s, Samuel worked for McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) on the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, and the historic Delta Clipper Experimental (DC-X) reusable rocket program. In 2004, he helped run logistics for the XPRIZE Team film crew during the SpaceShipOne flights. He is involved with the National Space Society, Space Frontier Foundation, and Yuri’s Night. Samuel’s first book, “Creature Comforts in Space,” is a guide for designers to create an enjoyable and sustainable off-world lifestyle for humans onboard the next generation space stations. His second book, “The Little Rocket that Could,” honors the pioneers of the “NewSpace” Movement who paved the way for the commercial space industry.