Our History

The 2000s

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The 2000s saw the Foundation shift from early advocacy into direct movement-building and institutional influence. While still driven by its founding principles—cheap access, private enterprise, and space settlement—the Foundation evolved into a key hub for the emerging NewSpace community. During this decade, it amplified its policy efforts, nurtured entrepreneurial ecosystems, and expanded its role as a bridge between space startups, media, and government.

Major Initiatives

• NewSpace Conference (rebranded and scaled):

  What began in the 1990s matured into an annual flagship event—NewSpace Conference—serving as the central gathering for entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, and advocates in the commercial space sector. By mid-decade, it had become a launchpad for partnerships, product announcements, and policy initiatives.

• Teachers in Space:

  Launched in the mid-2000s, this grassroots initiative aimed to put American teachers aboard future suborbital flights. The program sought to inspire students, energize public support, and demonstrate the educational potential of spaceflight. It echoed the spirit of the Challenger-era “Teacher in Space” program but was organized outside of NASA and aimed to be privately executed.

• Citizens’ Space Agenda & Congressional Engagement:

  The Foundation expanded its lobbying efforts with structured advocacy on Capitol Hill. Volunteers regularly visited congressional offices to push for policies that supported commercial spaceflight, RLV development, and regulatory reform. They emphasized support for prize-based incentives and consistent FAA oversight under AST.

Policy Advocacy

• Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act (2004):

  The Foundation was a visible, vocal supporter of the 2004 amendments that created a legal framework for commercial human spaceflight. These changes enabled firms like Scaled Composites, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic to test and operate under a streamlined licensing system.

• Support for X-Prize and RLV Development:

  The Foundation strongly backed the Ansari X-Prize (won in 2004 by Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipOne) as a model for how government and private philanthropy could incentivize technical breakthroughs. Foundation leadership and members were heavily involved in promoting and supporting this effort both before and after the prize was awarded.

• Space Settlement as a Policy Goal:

  The Foundation continued to press for explicit recognition of human space settlement—not just exploration or science—as a national space goal. This included press statements, congressional testimony, and positioning papers that argued for refocusing NASA’s human spaceflight programs on enabling permanent off-Earth communities.

Influential Events

• SpaceShipOne Flights (2004):

  The successful suborbital flights of SpaceShipOne represented a vindication of the Foundation’s long-standing support for privately developed human spaceflight. Foundation figures, including co-founder Rick Tumlinson, were involved in shaping the public narrative around the importance of these achievements.

• Foundation Speakers at Key Forums:

  Members of the Foundation routinely spoke at conferences, workshops, and legislative hearings throughout the decade, positioning the organization as a go-to voice for space commercialization and public interest in private space access.

• Leadership and Organizational Growth:

  The Foundation formalized many of its internal structures during this decade, bringing in new leadership, expanding its board, and increasing its professionalization. This made it more effective in coalition-building with industry and interfacing with policymakers.

Publications and Media

• The Frontier Files and Essays:

  Continuing from the 1990s, the Foundation published frequent essays online, including the “Frontier Files,” which laid out philosophical, technical, and policy positions in a compelling public-facing style. These were widely read in early commercial space circles.

• Media Appearances and Commentary:

  Foundation representatives were quoted in Wired, The New York Times, Aviation Week, and on cable news as the NewSpace sector began to emerge. They helped shape the narrative that companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic weren’t fringe efforts but the future of space access.

• Partnerships with Emerging Media:

  As blogs, online magazines, and alternative press grew in importance, the Foundation engaged actively with them, helping create the early digital infrastructure of the NewSpace conversation (e.g., HobbySpace, The Space Review, NASAWatch, etc.).

Legacy

By the end of the 2000s, the Foundation had solidified its role as the moral and strategic center of the NewSpace movement. Its legacy for the decade includes:

• Helping pass the first true commercial human spaceflight legislation (2004).

• Supporting and amplifying the success of SpaceShipOne, which changed public and policy perceptions of what was possible.

• Launching the Teachers in Space program, highlighting the cultural impact of spaceflight.

• Hosting the NewSpace Conference, which became the sector’s most important annual gathering.

• Popularizing space settlement as a national goal.

The 2000s were a decade of transition—from advocacy to infrastructure-building—and the Foundation stood at the center of a growing movement that would shape the 2010s and beyond.