Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ncis.llnl.gov!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!ucsd!orion.cf.uci.edu!uci-ics!venera.isi.edu!cew
From: cew@venera.isi.edu (Craig E. Ward)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: NSS Board membership
Summary: Worrying too much.  Have faith, they're good people
Keywords: NSS, NSI, L5
Message-ID: <7359@venera.isi.edu>
Date: 24 Jan 89 01:48:26 GMT
References: <6145@thorin.cs.unc.edu> <181@v7fs1.UUCP>
Reply-To: cew@venera.isi.edu.UUCP (Craig E. Ward)
Followup-To: sic.space
Organization: Information Sciences Institute, Univ. of So. California
Lines: 48

In article <181@v7fs1.UUCP> mvp@v7fs1.UUCP (Mike Van Pelt) writes:
>In article <6145@thorin.cs.unc.edu> leech@zeta.cs.unc.edu () writes:
>>    I glanced at the letterhead of a fund-raiser I got from NSS today
>>and to my dismay found that James Van Allen is on the Board of
>>Governors. Has he moderated his robots-only stance, or does NSS no
>>longer want to build space colonies someday?
>
>I'd probably be more upset by this if I hadn't long
>since written NSS off.  The L-5 Society is dead and
>gone, unfortunately, and there's nothing to take its
>place.  I wish it wasn't so.
>

I don't see how anyone can "give up" on the National Space Society or
worry that James Van Allen in on the Board of Governors.  (Remember,
Boards of Governors usually lend credibility to a group, while Boards of
Directors set policy.)

In 1988, NSS was instrumental in getting the Space Settlement Act
through Congress.  The act amends the NASA charter to add space colonies
as a goal of NASA research.  Is this a sign that the Society has given
up on space colonies?  I don't think so.  I think it's damn good for a
two year old organization.

Even if James Van Allen is anti man-in-space, I think it is appropriate
that his opinions have an outlet of expression.  The Society must exist
in a pluralistic world and must be able to accommodate a wide variety of
opinions.  That he is on the Board of Governors is a good sign.  It says
that NSS is not run by fanatical demagogues and that Van Allen is not so
single-minded that he can not face contrary opinions.  What's wrong about
that?

As an NSS Chapter president, I have had the good fortune to meet and
talk with many of the leaders of NSS.  I have been uniformly impressed
with their intelligence and dedication and believe that the Society will
continue to grow and become stronger as the premier educational,
grass-roots activist organization of the space movement.

		Craig E. Ward
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