lol, your not bursting any bubble. I don't ever recall the President Reagan
rescinded his offer. I do know that after Challenger, a ?law? was passed
essentially outlawing commercial payloads on Shuttle. This has nothing to
do with Reagan's free ET offer. The ET has alway belonged to NASA and is
not a commercial payload, it is NASA trash in orbit. It's essentially
thrown away after every launch with a perigee to impact the atmosphere burn
up. Reagan's offer was to allow anyone who wanted one, and wants to put it
to good use, a free ET. I've always assumed the transfer of ownership was
to take place somewhere in Orbit. To me, the obvious place for the transfer
to take place today, would be the Space Station.

Do you have a link showing when President Reagan rescinded his offer? I
looked and couldn't find it, and don't feel like going on an extended wild
goose chase looking for something that isn't there.

Mr. Griffin has yet to respond to my acceptance of President Reagan offer.
If it had been rescinded, I would think he would have a copy of Reagan's
letter rescinding it, and simply would have sent me a copy of Reagan's
letter or executive order. I would think I'm not the first person to
seriously ask for one.

To me, the Free External Tank offer represents more that just a chunk of
aluminum in Orbit. Yes, it'll be nice to take possession of it, and would
be a good start. But, it represents a commitment of the US government, an
offer made by the head of the Executive branch, President Ronald Reagan
that NASA will give Private Enterprise support in their quest to go into
space and join the adventure. Even if it is only NASA's trash in orbit. A
commitment made over twenty years ago.

I think the more important part of this discussion is what future
legislation needs to be proposed to improve the investment climate in the
United States for Private Enterprise. When I said "cutting of NASA's legs",
essentially giving NASA no way to get to LEO other than Private Enterprise,
it's not like NASA hasn't already cut off their own legs. This isn't the
first time, NASA did the exact same thing after the Apollo program ended.
They had no legs to Orbit.

NASA is doing the exact same thing again. Cutting their own legs off, and
wanting to grow a new one, and spending billions of dollars doing it.
Essentially re-growing their old Apollo legs. I'd like to see Private
Enterprise grow many different legs into Orbit, using their own money,
getting investments from others, vehicles of their own design.

Instead of a skinny stick to stand on, NASA would have a huge base of
Private Enterprise to rely on, to get to LEO. This was one of the problems
after Columbia, NASA had no way to get to Orbit.

It really looks like a Win-Win situation to me. NASA wins, Private
Enterprise wins.

All it'll take is the passage of the "right" piece of legislation, one that
makes everybody a winner.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

--
Craig Fink
Courtesy E-Mail Welcome @
--




Bob the Tomato wrote:

Hate to burst your bubble Craig, but IIRC President Reagan's offer was
rescinded about the time that OV-099 Challenger hit the ocean.


On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:05:06 -0600, Craig Fink
wrote:

Well, no response from Mr. Griffin yet. :-(

Mr. Griffin may not even know about President Reagan's offer, may not even
care about President Reagan's offer, and may be only concerned with
maintaining the status quo at his agency. Oh, well.

Looks like I need to take a different approach to get my Free External
Tank. Who is the right person to write? So, that I'm not wasting my time?
The one who might be able to....

Hummm, that would be Congress. They control the purse strings. A nice
little piece of legislation my get my my Free ET. A new law ... something
along the lines of ...

NASA cannot fund, design, build...operate, participate in the Earth to
LEO, LEO to Earth transportation, other than paying for the price of a
ticket to accomplish science and manned exploration of the Moon, Mars and
Solar System.

That should carve out a nice chunk for a "free" market in LEO to grow and
fill. NASA manned exploration would have to begin and end in LEO, all
transportation to and from LEO and Earth would be purchased on the
open "free" market at market prices. Essentially cutting the legs out from
underneath NASA, giving NASA the motivation to help Private Enterprise
become successful in building a "free" open market in LEO. Something
Private Enterprise wants to do anyway. It would also give confidence to
investors to invest their money in manned LEO transportation systems.
Every can see, NASA really does want to explore the Moon and Mars again,
including Private Enterprise and the American Public.

I'd call this a Win-Win situation, NASA wins, Private Enterprise wins.

Anybody else interested in helping work on a bill to nurture and develop a
LEO market. A change like this might take five or ten years to get passed,
and might need a little more work. Things like, what to do with the Space
Station.

Just a Thought,

--
Craig Fink
Courtesy E-Mail Welcome @