For decades, the American space program has been held hostage by special interests who have kept us chained to planet Earth. Next year, that will change. In 2010, American citizens will visit Capitol Hill to take back the American space program. First Flight of this year-long effort is scheduled for the week of February 7-12, 2010.

The First Flight agenda will advocate for:

Legislation to provide matching funds to fly 200 teachers per year into space and to create a professional-development program that provides teachers with realistic spaceflight training experiences and knowledge they can bring back to their classrooms;

Full funding for NASA’s innovative Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research (CRuSR) program ;

Increased funding for the Centennial Challenges space prize program; and

Restoring NASA’s focus on research and exploration while turning space transportation over to the private sector, through:

* Ending Ares I launch-vehicle development and other NASA-unique vehicles;

* Securing commercial crew and cargo transportation services to meet the needs of NASA research and exploration programs, and

* Pursuing the “Flexible Path” for exploration of the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and beyond.

First Flight begins on Sunday, February 7 with a training session covering the issues and mechanics of Congressional visits. (Training will wind up in time for the First Flight Super Bowl Party.) Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will be our core briefing days when teams of volunteers visit Congressional offices to deliver the citizens’ space agenda. Thursday and Friday will be extended briefing days for smaller groups of volunteers who choose to spend additional time in DC.

Citizens who want to help open the space frontier are invited to join us for First Flight. Volunteers must be US citizens age 18 or older. All volunteers must commit to attend the training on Sunday, Feb. 7 and at least two of the three core briefing days (Feb 8-10).

There will be no fee to participate. A registration form for First Flight will be available on the Space Frontier Foundation’s website shortly (www.spacefrontier.org); you may also contact Project Manager Mike Heney via e mail at mike@heney.net.