SNCorp CEO Invited To Join The Panel To Advance Administration's Space Goals

 Vice President Mike Pence, Chairman of the National Space Council, has announced the candidates selected to serve on the National Space Council’s Users Advisory Group. Pending official appointment by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the selected members of the Users Advisory Group will serve to fulfill President Trump’s mandate to “foster close coordination, cooperation, and technology and information exchange” across our nation’s space enterprise. The announcement was made on the eve of the second meeting of the National Space Council. “Moon, Mars, and Worlds Beyond: Winning the Next Frontier” includes testimonials from leaders in the civil, commercial, and national security sectors about the importance of the United States’ space enterprise.

Pence returned to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 20, to chair a meeting of the recently re-established National Space Council.

The National Space Council's role is to advise the president on America's space policy and strategy, and review the nation's long-range goals for space activities. The council includes leaders in government from both civil and military space programs.

The council's historic roots go back to the earliest days of NASA when the agency was established in 1958. Through 1973, it was known as the National Aeronautics and Space Council. From 1989 to 1993, the group was the National Space Council, guiding NASA and helping achieve the agency's ambitious milestones.
 
At the meeting, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) CEO Fatih Ozmen is among leaders of the nation’s top aerospace and defense companies invited to join the Council’s Users’ Advisory Group.
 
SNC is best known publicly for the company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft – nicknamed “America’s spaceplane” – and is under contract with NASA to service the International Space Station (ISS) starting in 2020. Dream Chaser is a reusable space utility vehicle capable of transportation and other missions in low-Earth orbit, and the only commercial, lifting-body vehicle capable of a runway landing. Dream Chaser successfully completed a free flight test in November at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center.

Responding to the invitation, Ozmen praised the Trump Administration’s energy and attention on space, saying, “it will light a fire in our national imagination and inspire our children toward what is possible.” Describing space as “a bridge to bring the world and cultures together,” Ozmen calls for U.S. leadership in building the “highways in space,” or the critical infrastructures that will enable and sustain a vibrant, U.S.-led space economy.

Ozmen provided testimony to the Council in October alongside representatives of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin on a panel highlighting the most innovative U.S. companies in space. Ozmen told the Council that the U.S. has economic and national security interests in promoting U.S. leadership in this largely uncharted frontier.

Also attending the second National Space Council meeting was SNC President, Eren Ozmen. The Ozmens are the sole owners of SNC, the largest privately-held, woman-owned aerospace and defense company in the U.S.

Other appointees of the Advisory Group include:

• Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 Astronaut
• Tory Bruno, President and CEO of United Launch Alliance
• Wes Bush, CEO of Northrop Grumman
• Dean Cheng, Scholar at the Heritage Foundation
• Eileen Collins, 4-time Shuttle astronaut, first female shuttle commander
• Steve Crisafulli, Former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives
• Mary Lynne Dittmar, President and CEO of The Coalition for Deep Space Exploration
• Adm. Jim Ellis, Retired 4-star Admiral, former head of STRATCOM, and member of the Space Foundation Board of Directors
• Tim Ellis, CEO of Relativity Space
• Newt Gingrich, Author, former Speaker of the House
• Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin Corporation
• Homer Hickam, Author of the book “Rocket Boys” and former NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center engineer
• Governor Kay Ivey, Governor of Alabama
• Fred Klipsch, Founder and Chairman of Hoosiers for Quality Education
• Les Lyles, Retired 4-star Air Force General and member of the NASA Advisory Council
• Pam Melroy, 3-time Shuttle astronaut and former Deputy Director of the Tactical Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of the Boeing Company
• G.P. Bud Peterson, President of the Georgia Institute of Technology
• Jack Schmitt, Apollo 17 Astronaut and former Senator
• Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of SpaceX
• Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin
• Eric Stallmer, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation
• David Thompson, Founder and CEO of Orbital ATK
• Pamela Vaughan, Board Certified Science Teacher
• Mandy Vaughn, President of VOX Launch Company
• Stu Witt, Founder of Mojave Air and Spaceport, former Navy pilot, former Chairman of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation
• David Wolf, 4-time Shuttle astronaut and physician
• Pete Worden, Former Air Force General and NASA Ames Center Director

(Source: White House and SNCorp news releases. White House image)

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov, www.sncorp.com