Former National Space Council official to share insight on end of space race at Oct. 26 Baker Institute lecture

Franz Brotzen
713-348-6775
franz.brotzen@rice.edu

Mark Albrecht, former executive secretary of the National Space Council, will speak on the decline of U.S. manned space exploration in a lecture Oct. 26 at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Who: Mark Albrecht, author and former executive secretary of the National Space Council.

What: Lecture on “Falling Back to Earth: A Firsthand Account of the Great Space Race and the End of the Cold War.” A book signing will follow.

When: 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26.

Where: Rice University, Baker Hall’s Kelly International Conference Facility, 6100 Main St.

Despite President Barack Obama’s calls for NASA to develop “game-changing” technologies, the space agency is undeniably in decline, Albrecht said. The United States continues to shrink its space ambition, as it has since the early 1990s. The American era of manned spaceflight is essentially over, Albrecht proclaims in his 2011 book, “Falling Back to Earth.”

Albrecht argues that this decay was triggered by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. His firsthand account charts the end of the space race, which effectively halted large-scale government science initiatives and led to the decline of aerospace industry.

The event is by invitation only but open to members of the news media. It will be webcast at http://bakerinstitute.org/events/falling-back-to-earth-a-firsthand-account-of-the-great-space-race-and-the-end-of-the-cold-war.

Members of the news media who want to attend should RSVP to Franz Brotzen at franz.brotzen@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.