Virgin Galactic's Alex Tai Elected Chairman

Aero-News learned this week the Personal Spaceflight Federation (PSF) -- an organization comprised of private, public and non-profit organizations working to make commercial human spaceflight a reality -- has announced new members, a new slate of officers, and a new Chairman... all as the PSF continues to bolster support for the burgeoning commercial human spaceflight industry.  

PSF members include spaceship developers and operators, spaceports, space destinations, and space transportation agents.   In the past six months, Bigelow Aerospace, SpaceDev, AirLaunch LLC, and New Mexico's Spaceport America have joined up with existing members SpaceX, Scaled Composites, Space Adventures, Armadillo Aerospace, the X PRIZE Foundation, Rocketplane-Kistler, XCOR Aerospace, Transformational Space Corporation, Virgin Galactic, and the Mojave Spaceport to create an even more unified presence for the industry.

"The growing diversity of our membership is one of the true strengths of the Personal Spaceflight Federation," explained Michael S. Kelly, President of the emerging organization. "For example, we have four of the six COTS finalists on board, which just goes to show how even companies in heated competition with one another are willing to work together to address common issues."

Alex Tai, Senior Vice President and head of operations for Virgin Galactic and a board member of The Spaceship Company, was elected Chairman of the PSF along with a slate of new officers following the most recent meeting of the members, held in conjunction with the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles earlier this year.

Tai, who first began his career with Virgin as a commercial pilot for Virgin Atlantic, is also training to become the first commercial pilot for SpaceShipTwo, now in development.

"This new industry can now speak with a collective voice. We aim to fight for solid foundations in legislation and regulation, to confront together the issues that will be placed before us, and to facilitate the growth of a society with regular space travel for everyone," explained Tai .

 Additional officers include Vice-Chairman Jeff Greason, CEO of XCOR Aerospace; Treasurer Stuart O. "Stu" Witt, General Manager of the Mojave Spaceport; and Secretary George French, CEO of Rocketplane-Kistler. George French recently led the acquisition of Kistler Aerospace by suborbital spaceflight company Rocketplane Limited, Inc.

Michael S. Kelly, recently retained as President of the Personal Spaceflight Federation, holds a distinguished record as the long-time chairman of the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) and more recently as the Vice President of Flight Operations for the X PRIZE Cup.

Priorities Set

After several meetings throughout the year, members have also agreed on an agenda and set of priorities -- including:

• Member Coordination – Sharing resources, best practices, and staff expertise when addressing issues common to PSF members and critical to the industry.
• Government Interface – Working with Congress, the FAA, the State Department, and other Federal agencies to develop a legal and regulatory environment supportive of the growth of the commercial human spaceflight industry.
• Safety – Distributing best practices while working towards voluntary industry standards in areas such as spaceport operations, crew and passenger training, and vehicle manufacture, operations, and maintenance.
• Liability Protection – Bolstering liability protection at state and Federal levels and developing standard materials in such areas as informed consent.
• Insurance – Working with the insurance markets on behalf of member companies and informing the insurance industry about commercial spaceflight insurance needs and opportunities.
• Public Relations – Updating the media and general public with industry news, issues, and activities.

Earlier this year, the aerospace CEOs who make up the membership of the PSF met to discuss how to respond to new regulations proposed by the FAA. This spring, the FAA proposed two new regulations addressing crew and spaceflight participant safety as well as the testing of rocket-powered vehicles under a new "experimental permits" regulatory regime.

"We were able to use the technical expertise of our industry and the practical experience of the businessmen who make up our membership to further bolster the effectiveness of these new rules while at the same time allowing our industry the flexibility needed to innovate, especially with regard to safety," explained Kelly.

The PSF was formed in early 2005, after Congress’s passage of the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act.

FMI: www.personalspaceflight.org