News Release

* Exploding Rocket * Climate Change

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virgin-galactic-spaceship-two-crashKARL GROSSMAN, kgrossman at hamptons.com
Professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College of New York, Grossman is author of the book, The Wrong Stuff: The Space’s Program’s Nuclear Threat to Our Planet. He just wrote the piece “Privatizing Space Travel When Spaceships Explode,” which states: “Much of the U.S. space program has become privatized in recent years and now instead of a sometimes bumbling bureaucracy doing dumb things like launching the Challenger shuttle in frigid weather when its O-rings holding in its fuel weren’t flexible, there are corporations seeking to make big bucks.

“The explosions last week of an Antares rocket on Tuesday and the Virgin Galactic SpaceShip2 on Friday were disasters and, considering the death of a SpaceShip2 pilot and serious injury to the other pilot, tragedies. …”

AP reports: “Climate change is happening, it’s almost entirely man’s fault and limiting its impacts may require reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero this century, the U.N.’s panel on climate science said Sunday.” See: “The Time to Act is Now: IPCC Issues ‘Final Word’ on Climate Change.”

DAPHNE WYSHAM, daphne at ips-dc.org, @daphnewysham
Wysham is climate policy fellow at the Center for Sustainable Economy and associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Her most recent pieces include “Fossil Fuels: The Tide is Turning” and “Is the Democrats’ Talkathon on Climate Change Just Talk?”

KIM FRACZEK, kim at saneenergyproject.org
Fraczek is with the group Sane Energy Project, one of a number of grassroots groups this week protesting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under the banner “Beyond Extreme Energy.”

KEVIN ZEESE, kzeese at earthlink.net
Zeese is with Popular Resistance, another group involved in protests in Washington, D.C. this week. The group has recently put out “Open Letter: Democratic Party Failing On The Climate Crisis.”