As the U.S. space industry gradually begins to privatize - with new space travel companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin emerging - it seems to many industry advocates that the father of American space travel, NASA, may be passing the torch.
As the government organization that put a man on the moon continues to suffer declines in funding, space privatization may be inevitable.
In what may be a symbolic gesture of this transition, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden spoke at a gathering at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, this week to acknowledge the critical role of small businesses in contributing to space exploration.
"Small business is crucial not only to NASA, but to the nation. Federal procurement opportunities for women, minority and veteran-owned small businesses are critical to the economy and to sustaining economic development," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
Bolden, along with other NASA officials, presented the Marshall Small Business Alliance with the agency's Small Business Administrator's Cup, for which the Alliance was recognized for the second time in three years.
While NASA is far from taking a backseat in the space industry similar to that of the flight industry's FAA, such awards go a long way in encouraging space entrepreneurs to incorporate in Texas, Alabama or any other state with a significant space industry presence.
Tags : ca, operations, small business management, tx
Posted: Mar 25th, 2011