Courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News, by Steve Ramirez
LAS CRUCES — Wayne Hale, a former space shuttle program manager who now works as a consultant for a commercial space flight company, urged supporters of the fledgling industry Tuesday to continue to push for state legislation that will allow companies to conduct business in New Mexico.
“Here we are 100 years later, and we’re at the verge of the commercial flight industry,” said Hale, referring to time that has passed since the invention of the airplane to the beginning of commercial space flight. “… I encourage New Mexico to pass informed consent legislation that will enable the commercial spaceflight industry to go forward. Otherwise, you may have a sizable investment already made that goes for naught.”
Hale is a consultant for Special Aerospace Services in Boulder, Colo., who was the keynote speaker at a community partnership luncheon, the preliminary event to the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight, which begins today at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Museum. Hale retired from NASA in 2010 as the deputy associate administrator of strategic partnerships in NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. Before that, Hale served as the space shuttle program manager and the shuttle launch integration manager. He was a space shuttle flight director for 40 shuttle flights.
Hale, speaking to gathering of about 60 people at the luncheon, said although New Mexico’s legacy in the aerospace industry is long and heralded, other states and countries are more than willing to lure the commercial space flight industry away from the state if legislation isn’t approved. “There is no doubt there is a market, there is an industry,” Hale said. “There has been a pent-up demand, there is a clearly a market among the very rich for commercial space travel, and clearly there is a market for research and science. “…Texas would love to have a spaceport, Virginia would love to have a space tourism industry there. Even California has laws for informed consent.”
The New Mexico Legislature has enacted law that provides informed consent to operators, such as Virgin Galactic, at Spaceport America in Sierra County. However, similar legislation that would have also applied to suppliers of commercial spaceflight companies never got out of legislative committees. The New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association lobbied against the proposed legislation, and was able to persuade some lawmakers not to take it beyond the committee level.
“The most important thing we can do is remind them the state has made this huge investment,” Hale said. “If you’re not careful, you can lose that business to states that have friendlier laws.”
Pat Hynes, symposium chair, and director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, said there must be continued efforts to lobby for added legislation when the New Mexico Legislature meets for a 60-day session in January. “All that talent and heritage we have here in the state is a lot,” Hynes said. “We need to be informed, and to do as much as we can to advocate for this legislation.”
State Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, said the proposed legislation will again come to the Legislature. “The bill is already prepared, the bill will be out there again,” Papen said. “My hope is that whoever is opposing it, we can work out some sort of compromise, so New Mexico can profit from it and to protect the investment the state has already made.”
Papen added White Sands Missile Range has supported the legislation. When the version of the bill to protect operators was considered by the Legislature several years ago, a federal official went to Santa Fe to endorse the bill. “That was the first time a federal official came (to New Mexico) to speak in support of legislation,” Papen said.
Steve Ramirez can be reached at (575) 541-5452. Also follow him on Twitter: @SteveRamirez6.
