Rick Tumlinson, Author at SpaceNews

Save Freedom: We must stop the destruction of the International Space Station

Rick Tumlinson — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Rick Tumlinson writes that the International Space Station must be preserved rather than destroyed in reentry.

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The future of the Space Force isn’t on Earth — it’s in the solar system

Rick Tumlinson — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 19:21:02 +0000

In order to prepare for the military challenges of tomorrow, the Space Force should plan for operations on the moon and beyond.

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The White House versus the private sector in space

Rick Tumlinson — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 15:30:00 +0000

Rick Tumlinson argues that the Commercial Space Act put forth by Congress offers better NewSpace regulations than the White House.

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Op-ed | Do not cancel space station’s new culture of commercial cooperation

Rick Tumlinson — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 14:49:49 +0000

The announcement of NASA’s plans to end discounted pricing is not just short sighted. It reeks of sabotage.

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Op-ed | Space startups, Darwin and the coronavirus

Rick Tumlinson — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 13:25:14 +0000

For many smaller space startups and entrepreneurial enterprises, COVID-19 is a potential deathblow. As in many other industries, the hard fact is that many space startups are simply going to go away in the next few months.

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Op-ed | The need to dream in darkness

Rick Tumlinson — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 15:05:32 +0000

Spaceship Earth has a deadly infection, and it has already spread to all decks and levels.

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Op-ed | What should we call the men and women of Space Force?

Rick Tumlinson — Tue, 21 Jan 2020 19:06:12 +0000

Last year, I was invited by the U.S. government to a couple of workshops to help visualize future scenarios and strategies, which triggered a question in my mind: So what do you call members of the Space Force in all their varied roles?

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Op-ed | Why we’re not on the moon now (and how we can stay next time we go)

Rick Tumlinson — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 12:00:22 +0000

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first humans to walk on the moon, you might notice we aren’t celebrating it on the moon. Why?

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Op-ed | How We Go to Mars

Rick Tumlinson — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 17:56:44 +0000

We are going to Mars. The only questions are: When? Who? How? Which way? And, of course, Why?

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Op-ed | The Summit, the Solution, the Possibility

Rick Tumlinson — Wed, 27 May 2015 13:40:21 +0000

Can we get past our positions so we can work together to throw open the frontier for the people of Earth?

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Op-ed | We Must Be Our Own Kennedy

Rick Tumlinson — Tue, 05 May 2015 15:01:59 +0000

“We cannot wait for the next Kennedy to set us on our path to the stars,” writes Space Frontiers Foundation co-founder Rick Tumlinson. “We must be our own Kennedys, set the path ourselves and do what it takes to make it happen

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Op-Ed | The Remarkable Thing about Obama’s ‘To Stay’ Remark

Rick Tumlinson — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 20:29:47 +0000

Space exploration evangelist Rick Tumlinson says he nearly choked on his almond milk when President Obama declared during his State of the Union address that we are going into space not just to explore but to stay.

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Commentary | Keep ISS Alive!

Rick Tumlinson — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 08:33:31 +0000

In the 1990s as a leader of the Space Frontier Foundation, I worked to cancel what was then called Space Station Freedom.

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Commentary | Apollo’s Children: The Waiting Is Over

Rick Tumlinson — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 08:34:23 +0000

The United States must lead humanity back to the Moon and to the universe beyond.

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Commentary | A New Conversation — A Shared Voice

Rick Tumlinson — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 10:32:59 +0000

I decided to “create a clearing for a new conversation” with those who I had seen as enemies before — a conversation about what is possible if we learn from our battles and what we can accomplish if we work together to apply these lessons to our future.

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Commentary | The ‘X’ Factor

Rick Tumlinson — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 08:34:10 +0000

The flights of the DC-X and DC-XA were barrier-shattering and mind-opening to the space community.

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Commentary | LEO to NEO: Frontier Partnerships That Work

Rick Tumlinson — Mon, 27 May 2013 08:24:25 +0000

The U.S. government is slowly awakening to the possibility that rather than a threat to its longtime hegemony in space, a new partner has arrived on the scene, with new ideas, new minds and new investors who can take on some of the work needed to at last open space to humanity.

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Commentary | Making the ‘New Space’ Age Happen

Rick Tumlinson — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:34:09 +0000

We stand poised to enter a new age — an age many of us believe will be born of our breakout into space.

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We Are Here To Build a Spaceflight Industry

Rick Tumlinson

As I watch the U.S. election process unfold, it reminds me of how far we have yet to go in the battle for the hearts and minds of our political class in terms of understanding the seismic shift under way in space, and what would be possible if they would actually lead instead of fighting it or, as is the case with most, missing its significance completely.

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Lead, Follow and Get Out of the Way

Rick Tumlinson — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 08:00:00 +0000

In years to come 2012 will be seen as the beginning of the frontier era in space. By 2030 there will be people on the Moon, Mars and in the free space between worlds. The first permanent communities beyond Earth will be founded, the first major products and inventions created there will have long since changed the markets and medical establishments of the planet, the first harvests of resources and energy from space will begin, and the first fortunes based on frontier-related activities in space will be made.

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A Challenge To Unite

Rick Tumlinson

It’s been a couple of weeks since the NASA budget came out and fingers are still pointing as to who screwed up where, whose program ate what budget and why, and why is mine being singled out while yours is being kept alive? Meanwhile, in partial answer to that question, congressional staffers and their bosses are madly walking the halls, working to get this or that “must have for our national future in space” local jobs program funded or refunded, and the lobbyists are out in full force, fanning out to make sure their bosses make good money off our dreams.

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Exploration: Process vs. Product

Rick Tumlinson

Dear Mars Science Laboratory team, Thank you! In the middle of an ongoing and completely absurd debate about how much U.S. taxpayer money should be put into the pockets of congressional donors in the name of not building rockets that will not support the opening of space in any way, you are going exploring.

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Decision Time for America’s Future in Space

Rick Tumlinson — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 08:00:00 +0000

There are moments in time when a decision or set of decisions that may seem or may not seem important can change the vector of history — times when a simple choice can decide the course of civilization. These moments of choice are framed and defined by a coincidence of historical forces converging at exactly the right time. The same or similar choice made in a different moment, by a different person in a different place, might have little or no effect, but when the forces, players, moment and place do line up, amazing things can happen. Isabella made such a choice; the Founding Fathers made such a choice; Kennedy made such a choice. From each of these flowed other decisions, actions and reactions, an infinite number of smaller choices, each leading to its own infinite number of actions and reactions, literally changing the future in the years, decades and centuries after.

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More Bang for Our Buck Rogers Bucks

Rick Tumlinson

No bucks, no Buck Rogers. It’s one of the tritest phrases in space policy debates, often used to wheedle more money from doubtful taxpayers.

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