Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry

The Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry was formed jointly by United States President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

and the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

in 2001. Its first public meeting was held on November 27, 2001, and its final report was given on November 18, 2002.

Introduction

An excerpt from the introduction of the Interim Report #2 of the commission:

"The Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry was established by Section 1092 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2001, Public Law 106-398. It was formed to study the future of the U.S. aerospace industry in the global economy, particularly in relationship to U.S. national security; and to assess the future importance of the domestic aerospace industry for the economic and national security of the United States."

Commissioners

The Commission consisted of 12 members, six of whom were appointed by the President, and six appointed by Congress (three from the House and three from the Senate).

Presidential appointees

Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...

- former Astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
Ed Bolen - President of General Aviation Manufacturers Association
John W. Douglass
John W. Douglass
John W. Douglass is a retired Brigadier General in the United States Air Force. He served as United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1995 to 1998. He is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman Frank Wolf in Virginia's 10th District.-Early life and education:John W...

- former Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, a science communicator, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and a Research Associate in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History...

- astrophysicist
Robert Smith Walker
Robert Smith Walker
Robert Smith Walker, popularly known as Bob Walker, is a former American politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1977 to 1997. He was known for his fiery rhetoric and knowledge of parliamentary procedure.Born in Bradford,...

- former U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania
Heidi Wood - Managing Director, Morgan Stanley

Executive Director - Charles H. Huettner

Senate appointees

John Hamre
John Hamre
John J. Hamre is a specialist in international studies, a former Washington bureaucrat and the current president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a position he has held with that think tank since April 2000.-Education:Hamre is the son of Melvin Sanders and Ruth Lucile...
William Schneider, Jr.
William Schneider, Jr.
William J. Schneider, Jr. is an American who has served in a number of prominent federal government positions.Schneider served as Under-Secretary of State in the Reagan administration, and later became a member of the Project for the New American Century...
Robert J. Stevens
Robert J. Stevens
Robert J. Stevens, born in 1951, is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lockheed Martin.-Early life:Born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Mr. Stevens is a summa cum laude graduate of Slippery Rock University from which he received the Distinguished Alumni Award...

- Chairman, President, and CEO of Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

House appointees

Tom Buffenbarger - President of the International Association of Machinists
F. Whitten Peters
Tillie K. Fowler

Reports

The commission produced three interim reports and a final report.

Interim report #1 - December 18, 2001
Interim report #2 - March 20, 2002
Interim report #3 - June 26, 2002
Final report - November 18, 2002

Meetings

The commission held six public meetings the hear testimonies and gain different perspectives. The first meeting was held on November 27, 2001, where the commission heard testimonies from the Administration, Congress, and the Executive Brach. The second meeting was held on February 12, 2002, which consisted of Air Transportation Capacity / Infrastructure discussions, and well as Export Control discussions. The third meeting was held on May 14, 2002, and included discussions on Space, including a testimony from Sean O'Keefe

Sean O'Keefe

Sean O'Keefe is the CEO of EADS North America, a subsidiary of the European aerospace firm EADS, a former Administrator of NASA, and former chancellor of Louisiana State University . O'Keefe is also a former member of the board of directors of DuPont...

.

The three other public meetings were held on August 22, 2002, September 17, 2002, and October 23, 2002.