Space Access 2010 - Gary Hudson, on The Past Forty Years In The Commercial Space Business And A View Of Its Future

Gary Hudson started off with a quote of something like “There is no history, only biography.” He thanked various people.

Gary says he got started in this business because of Walt Disney’s “Man in Space” series. Gary figured that would be something worth devoting his life to. He referenced a Mark Twain quote:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Gary was convinced that reusable space vehicles were the way to go. Gary says he has been lucky to be mentored over the years by various individuals. He reviewed various ideas developed over the years.

Winston Churchill said “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no lost of enthusiasm.” This was the lead in to the Percheron around the year of 1981. Gary feels that the government regulatory agencies have a bad sense of risk.

In 1982 Gary came back to largely reusable vehicles. He looked again at the Phoenix.

I missed a few things Gary said while I was checking out some web sites on Gary.

In 1990 Gary got together with Tom Clancy to work on an improved Phoenix. This was before email, they used to fax messages back and forth. This was the last Phoenix design Gary worked on.

Around this time Gary got involved with Burt Rotan. In 1992 Gary worked on the Skyrocket. It was the first winged vehicle he had worked on.

In 1994-1995 Gary decided he needed to make some money, so built K0 for Kistler.

In 1994 to1996 Gary worked on a peroxide propulsion issues.

In 1995 he worked on the Roton X rocket. They flew the Roton X three times. He says the Roton X was a bridge too far. He says it took two years off his life.

He decided to just work with paying customers.

He worked on a project to launch a rocket from a plane.

Gary is worried about the world economy. He had a couple comics from Delbert. Gary gave some advice about how to help new space to succeed.


The full agenda for Space Access 2010, with links


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