Fight For Space - Documentary Film on the future of space flight.

[Eventide]

Hello Space Enthusiasts,

I'm a film director/writer currently in production of a documentary film with the working title of Fight For Space, which will take a very critical look at the future of our nations manned space program. The film is rooted in the belief that the space program is not just a jobs program, but a motivator for science, innovation, education, technology, and human inspiration.

We are not creating your typical space film where we show a bunch of pretty video with voice over. This is more of a exploratory documentary where we go out and ask the hard questions to the people that know what is going on. We are also also talking with people off the street, asking them what their opinions are with the space program and taking all of this into account. At the end of the film we will form a general solution to the problem after we have gathered the proper evidence from all sources.

To give you a general idea as to where we have gone with this documentary so far: In April we visited the National Space Symposium where we interviewed just to name a few: Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Astronaut Leroy Chaio, Robert Zubrin, NASA employees, executives from Lockheed, Grumman, Rocketdyne, Honeywell, and more. Just recently I traveled to Southern California where I interviewed Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and also have recently interviewed Dr. Kelvin Long of the 100 Year Starship project. Many more on the way.

To help with research, I would like to ask for your input. Serious and humorous. Let me know what you think the problem is with our space program. Any stories about how space has impacted you or someone else. What is your opinion on this topic? Is there someone we should be talking to?

This film will explore all sides of the argument for and against space. This information will help to structure the film's story and I appreciate any assistance given.

Please respond by posting in this thread or by emailing paul@fightforspace.com

Thank you,

Paul Hildebrandt
Director

[aquitaine]

I would suggest adding to that list of interviewees if possible Elon Musk and Jeff Greason (a youtube link to his TED talk on the subject here from a year ago.). Ultimately the only chance we have for a serious space effort, and the only hope for common folk like us to get into space, is for spaceflight to be commercialized through the efforts of SpaceX, XCor, and others. They are the future.

[mutleyeng]

ignor everything i say cos im a foreigner.
where you say the film has the belief that the space program is not just a jobs program, do you mean that it actually isnt, or that it shouldnt be?
Most criticism i hear seems to be that it is the primary policy driver - so show that it is, or show that it isnt, but dont ignor the question.
Also, if you only talk about manned space flight, you miss out on all that great cosmological stuff, and its an interesting angle at how the manned and unmanned compete for resources - it seems unmanned has lost the fight with budgets for planetary sciences devistated. Good thing or bad thing?

[Eventide]

By mentioning the jobs what we are trying to point out is that the majority of the political focus on NASA & Space is how jobs were lost at NASA or how we need to support the space coast, etc. No one is disagreeing that NASA is an important part of Florida's economy, it is. What we are trying to bring forth is that space is not just a jobs program, there is more of a reason to support NASA & other space endeavors for a reason that goes beyond just supporting NASA workers. Reasons that can lift up the entire economy.

[aquitaine]

By mentioning the jobs what we are trying to point out is that the majority of the political focus on NASA & Space is how jobs were lost at NASA or how we need to support the space coast, etc. No one is disagreeing that NASA is an important part of Florida's economy, it is. What we are trying to bring forth is that space is not just a jobs program, there is more of a reason to support NASA & other space endeavors for a reason that goes beyond just supporting NASA workers. Reasons that can lift up the entire economy.

NASA's COTS and CCDev programs do a pretty good job of this. In fact, NASA should be doing more of that instead of being forced by congress to squander billions on the much derided Senate Launch System (also known as the Space Launch System).

[mutleyeng]

Does anyone think that political support for funding will grow as China progresses in its space program?
Its not a cold war scenario, but it is nearly as powerfull...national prestige.
I sense some concern from those who are already interested parties, but once it becomes clear to everyone that China are going to the moon, could it spark a new space race - the race for Shackleton crater perhaps?

[publiusr]

Heck just seeing our knock-down drag-out fights here should make your film.

First you need to know that there are a lot of camps out there. public vs private, military vs civilian, human vs robotic, winged vs. ballistic, solids vs liquids, pump-fed vs. pressure fed. And that's all on the pro-space side. The anti-space side appears to be more unified because they don't understand the importance of such arguements.

Different camps fight one another and that gives the ilusion that NASA can't do anything, when what you get is a Chief Admin. who either supports one camp or another.

Interview Zubrin, Griffin, Musk, Bezo, Allen, Carmack and all the other usual suspecs. Also interview folks overseas, who seem to be favoring a return to the moon. Different destinations also are a bone of contention. In many respects, interservice rivalry is similar to what goes on in spaceflight.

In terms of privatization, it might be useful for you to read the book Free Flight in that it shows how venture capitalists avoid aerospace and aviation start-ups, and that the mega rich have been operating at a loss and compete for tax dollars no less so than the 'old boy networks' they claim to be so different from. The Movie "revenge of the Electric car should also be required viewing in seeing Musks money problems with firms with huge up-front costs. If you delay a launch, that is expected. delay a line of cars and people get more angry.

When you produce products with large up-front costs, you open yourself up to the problems of each component-producer has with his own production. A spider's web is strengthened by having lots of strands. In manufacturing it is the opposite. If one supplyier sufferes from a sick-out, and another supplier has his factory hit by a storm--all of these factors fall upon a producer who might have 90% of an electic car done--but he can't sell a car until its all in and working. Many internet start-ups learn the hard way that spaceflight can be more TVA or GM than MSN.

This is why computer start-ups can have a better chance at raising money. Musks cash cow was paypal--which exists on the web. He has burned through a lot of that money.

You might start your documentary with Musk being forced off the coast thanks to "range safety." because Musks rocket might have hit one of the Air Force ULA EELVs. The Boeing employee theft of EELV data from Lock Mart before ULA formed might tell you just how dirty this can all be.

[kamaz]

Since you have Robert Zubrin please also interview Paul Spudis. This will give you two sides on the "Moon vs. Mars" issue.

The common argument against spaceflight is that it wastes money for no benefit. Ask someone from ISRO (or Indian gov't) why India spends money on space program despite having widespread poverty.

Ask someone from Reaction Engines Ltd. about SKYLON.

If you want to understand how we got into this mess in the first place, ask James A. Dewar, the author of To the End of the Solar System: The Story of the Nuclear Rocket. The book has some great insights on who almost killed spaceflight around 1970 and why. Also, August 1968 meeting of Space Task Group with Nixon is worth looking into.

[Ara Pacis]

Space. It's everywhere and it's a conundrum. It's so empty and yet so full of promise and danger. It may be our future, and yet it will be the source of our ultimate demise. When we look up into the night sky we are full of both wonder at the endless inspiration and dread at the unfathomable immenseness.

It is in the role of inspiration that we may find our strongest need for a space program to fulfill. People, individually or as groups, desire to have meaning, to make a difference, to obtain a sense of purpose and ultimately a sense of achievement in some great endeavor. Many are inspired to study, learn and work in the sciences and having a program for their employment and competition is necessary for society to maintain a high level of proficiency. It also serves as a repository for the knowledge of certain technologies that might otherwise need to be maintained by a military-industrial complex.

A great endeavor such as laying the foundation of a space-access infrastructure is akin to the building of the pyramids in several ways. It's a highly visible project that will continue after the careers or lives of its participants. It's an achievement that would be remembered as a great wonder. And most importantly, it is a project that can pull people together from multiple countries all across the planet in unified effort for a program that will benefit all (possibly reducing the need for militaries as well).

There are also plenty of other reasons to go to space. We have less concern about tearing apart asteroids or lunar mountains for minerals, while on earth such widespread activities can devastate the environment and ruin people's lives. We might be able to find rare elements and minerals that might be useful in industry if they were to become available in suitable quantities. We might also be able to manufacture objects in ways that may be better than those manufactured on earth, a high pressure, high gravity environment. And, of course, there's always the potential save the earth from an asteroid impact.

A lot of people claim that space is too expensive and that we need to use our money and energy elsewhere in the economy because there's always someone who needs something else (starving kids somewhere, etc). Fortunately, the economy, including space endeavors, are not a zero-sum game. However, there are issues with cost over-runs and general inefficiency. Like most products and services, space access and infrastructure can benefit from economies of scale, if we were to go to space in a big way. Instead of having a single vehicle like the STS that served as an ascent vehicle, cargo lift, passenger craft, motel/Recreational Vehicle, lab, and re-entry vehicle, perhaps we could have different vehicles and structures for each. With more mobile launch paradigms we might be able to launch passengers to a space station with a short duration of free-fall, which would reduce the demands for long-term life support and associated mass, thus lowering expense. Over time, as we launch and build infrastructure all of these savings will produce a synergistic virtuous cycle for space access and for related industries and jobs on earth.

Private enterprise is a good start, although private business cycles tend to be too short for long-term investment, which requires something long-lived like government or religion or a dedicated social organization/society. If people are iffy on supporting it with taxes or fees, perhaps bonds could be issued with coupons redeemable in related novelties sourced from space or the ability to put something into space or be part of something put into space (off-world ash-burial?).

Personally, I've been space-happy since I was knee-high to a Skywalker. Star Wars was probably my first.... scratch that, Apollo 17 may have been my first memory, playing with a plastic Saturn V as a baby or toddler, as I was born shortly before the last mission. But Star Wars was formative and I begged to see it several times at the drive-in. And to explain how inspiring the movies were, I recall the drive home from the theatre in winter, I think, after watching "The Empire Strikes Back" and the snow in the headlights looked like stars zooming by like in hyperspace to my little wondering eyes.

But it's late and I'm rambling now. Does this help answer your questions?