![]() ![]() Mitchell has always had an uncanny ability to read people, something that makes him particularly good at what he does. He learned fast, and soon everyone else deferred to him when there was a question about the space program. He had never considered the years of research and training, let alone the funding and the politics, that had allowed those things to occur, putting Houston at the center of the show.īut when he grew up, Mitchell spent years working at Grumman Aerospace, an Apollo-era NASA contractor, before taking a job with the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership and setting out to understand what went on at the JSC. As a kid growing up outside of Houston, he’d marveled, along with the rest of the world, at Neil Armstrong taking those first steps on the moon, but he never gave much thought to how it all happened. In fact, he knew almost nothing about space exploration. When Mitchell started making these trips 18 years ago, he knew none of this. If he wanted something, he’d just push and push until he got it,” Mitchell says, laughing and shaking his head. “Lord, though, there was nothing like LBJ to get things done. But there are comers who want what Houston has, who have been working to carve off some of the programs, funding, and jobs for centers in their own parts of the country. The Johnson Space Center has been the home of human spaceflight for more than 50 years, ever since Houston welcomed the Mercury Seven-the very first seven astronauts to travel to space, as part of Project Mercury-with an enormous barbecue and a special performance by the famed stripper Sally Rand in Sam Houston Coliseum. “We need to make sure the Johnson Space Center is on the radar screen, and that there is a serious conversation about what they are historically in charge of, human spaceflight,” adds Martin, Mitchell’s wingman, whose district includes JSC. “And everyone knows that when there’s anything to do with astronauts or astronaut training, that is supposed to be right there in Houston,” Mitchell tells Babin. ![]() issued a request for bids to put together the Orion modules-which astronauts will train on before making the first manned launches of the spacecraft, slated for the 2020s-without placing the project at the JSC, instead leaving its location open-ended. It’s the fact that Houston has to share the Commercial Crew Program-a joint project of NASA, SpaceX, and Boeing to build commercial spacecrafts that will launch astronauts into low-Earth orbit from U.S. The Johnson Space Center is the home of human spaceflight, but we’re not getting what we should be getting. The other side of it hasn’t been used in years. We only use Mission Control for the International Space Station. Locally, though, there’s growing concern that other centers across the country-the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida-are getting ahead of the Johnson Space Center. Trump has proposed increasing the agency’s 2019 budget to $19.9 billion from $19.5 billion, while Congress is looking to up the ante even more, appropriating $21.5 billion. going back to the moon, constructing a lunar-orbiting space station, and reaching Mars. There’s even been a slight bump in funding.Įvery new White House administration has the power to dictate NASA’s missions, and President Donald Trump has repeatedly indicated that he wants to see the U.S. Engineers are making progress constructing the Orion capsule and Space Launch System rocket for the Mars jump. Representative Jim Bridenstine, an Oklahoma Republican, was confirmed as its administrator, replacing Charles Bolden more than a year after the former astronaut retired. What’s frustrating is that while the JSC is struggling, things seem to be going well for NASA as a whole. Representative Brian Babin’s office, which is decked out with a wall of framed NASA posters. But that’s out the window as they file into U.S. ![]() Nobody with Citizens for Space Exploration is supposed to be pushing for support for any particular one of the 10 centers that make up the civil space program. Usually these meetings are kept purposefully vague. Still, they might need a little reminder of just how important the Johnson Space Center is to Space City. Each of today’s eight meetings will be with politicians from Texas. Maybe they’re preaching to the choir a little. All are Republicans charged in some way with protecting the Johnson Space Center, and all are here on behalf of Citizens for Space Exploration, a multistate nonprofit organization based in Houston. These utterly tireless men-who will troop six miles through the course of this rainy day in May-are Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership President Bob Mitchell, Houston City Council Member Dave Martin, and Texas State Representative Dennis Paul. ![]()
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