Cantwell Joins Senate Hearing on Commercial Human Space Travel
WA’s space industry supports a $4.6 billion economy & 13,000 jobs Cantwell questions representatives from leading space companies, including SpaceX and Kent-based Blue Origin: “What do we need to do to get this right at NASA and in the private sector in encouraging a very, very robust space workforce?”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, joined a Commerce subcommittee hearing focused on promoting safety and innovation in commercial space travel to question industry witnesses on the opportunities and challenges ahead, and how to ensure both safety and competitiveness.
“In the State of Washington, we like to say that Seattle is the ‘Silicon Valley of Space,’” Sen. Cantwell said. “I’m very concerned about workforce needs at FAA, at NASA, in the space sector in general, and what we need to do to further incent or encourage young people… particularly women, to go into that field.”
“Play the long game,” said Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President of the New Shepard Business Unit at Kent-based company Blue Origin. “You get more women, more people of color engaged. And you start that at an incredibly early age to make it more attractive, more appealing to those groups to join the type of workforce that we need in this industry … Make the pool bigger, start early.”
Sen. Cantwell responded:
“I've traveled to various facilities around the country, it's clear to me that there are a lot of technical people at our space facilities that don't have four-year degrees. And we need to send out a big loud message everywhere that these are technical jobs that are well-paying jobs. …I don’t know if we're missing a space at community college where we're saying, ‘this is your space technician program’ or something like that. But I feel like we should be doing more in this particular area. As I said, my region is very interested in this as we transfer to more rapid-pace manufacturing and production.”
The hearing in the Subcommittee on Space and Science, titled “Promoting Safety, Innovation, and Competitiveness in U.S. Commercial Human Space Activities,” considered human activities in the growing commercial space sector, focusing on safety, global competitiveness, and the federal government’s role in regulating human activities in space, ranging from suborbital flights to lunar surface habitats. Experts testified about the importance of streamlined authorization processes, safety regulations for in-space operations, and responsibilities of government agencies overseeing commercial human space activities.
Witnesses included:
- Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President of the New Shepard Business Unit, Blue Origin (which is headquartered in Kent, WA)
- William Gerstenmaier, Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceX (which has a location in Redmond, WA)
- Caryn Schenewerk, President, CS Consulting
- Wayne Monteith, President and General Manager, National Aerospace Solutions
- Sirisha Bandla, Vice President of Government Affairs and Research, Virgin Galactic
Video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks, questions, and witness responses at the hearing can be viewed HERE. A transcript is available HERE.
In July, Sen. Cantwell hosted a Washington State Space Summit at Blue Origin in Kent alongside NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The summit featured a trade show with 20 space companies, industry groups, and STEM educators from across the State of Washington, followed by a panel discussion.
A one-page background information document including stats on Washington state’s space economy and Sen. Cantwell’s actions is available HERE.
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