various sessions and meet these people. I am sure that they would be pleased to discuss their approach for the Space Business Era. Right now, the space business appears to be in the areas in Launch Systems and Services, Communications, Materials Processing, and Remote Sensing. I'd like to add that materials processing in space evolved out of some things that NASA did on its Skylab program. Each of these areas will be addressed later by my colleagues. V. STS AND SPACE STATION As we expand our management processes to facilitate the commercial use of space, we shall continue to build our transportation systems infrastructure. Trade companies used sailing vessels (and later steamships) and harbors to base their operations. Aircraft and airports together provide necessary services to the communities they serve. Likewise, our STS and Space Station are necessary to support the future commercial use of space. The Space Transportation System (STS) provides routine access to space. More than just a delivery truck, it includes the ability to recover, repair or return payloads from space. Further, it allows manned interaction with processes on orbit. The Spacelab mission in November of last year showed that this man-machine interaction is of great benefit, allowing experimenters to vary the operation in progress to pursue newly-developed possibilities. Such interaction occurs between the flight crew and the experiment at hand and between flight crews and ground personnel, maximizing the benefit of the days on orbit. This same interaction was important in our STS mission when we retrieved, repaired and returned to orbit the Solar Max Satellite. A Space Station is viewed by industry as a necessary component for successful Commercial Use of Space. At a White House meeting last summer, leaders of U.S. industry (aerospace and non-aerospace) told the President that a U.S. commitment to a Space Station is the first step toward a significant industrial investment in space. In fact, an official of McDonnell Douglas stated, and I quote: The future size of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in space depends on having a manned Space Station. On January 25th of this year, the President of the United States stated in his State of the Union address: We can follow our dreams to distant stars, living and working in space for peaceful, economic and scientific gain. Tonight, I am directing NASA to develop a permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade . . . A space station will permit quantum leaps in our research in science, communications and in metals and life saving medicines which can be manufactured only in space. We want our friends to help us meet these challenges and share in the benefits. NASA will invite other countries to participate so we can strengthen peace, build prosperity, and expand freedom for all who share our goals . . . . . . space holds enormous potential for commerce today. . . . We will soon implement a number of initiatives, develop proposals to ease regulatory constrains, and, with NASA's help, promote private sector investment in space. The President's Space Station proposal is not an end in itself. It is part of his carefully conceived space strategy designed to provide the impetus for an expanded
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==