[On Spacecause Letterhead] Dear SpaceCause and SpacePac Contributors: We are in the middle of an enormously important battle! You have already received a letter from Charlie Walker explaining the crucial fight to save the Space Exploration Initiative in the Appropriations subcommittees, chaired by Rep. Robert Traxler (D-MI) in the House and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) in the Senate. Despite the dramatic number of telephone calls and letters received by his office, Traxler's subcommittee has "zeroed out" -- eliminated -- all funding for the Space Exploration Initiative. In fact, House staffers went on a "search and destroy" mission throughout the federal budget -- even eliminating discretionary money within the Department of Energy budget that was being used to fund Mars-mission studies! This is a disappointment, but not really a surprise. The back-room agreement to eliminate SEI funding was made between Mikulski and Traxler months ago, so that we were in the position of having to undo a done deal. But the battle is not over yet. In response to pressure to preserve space funding, Mikulski has moved any action by her subcommittee back until September, allowing us considerable time to break up the deal. And the Administration is negotiating hard in the "budget summit" to protect funding for the Moon and Mars missions. After Traxler's subcommittee acted, the Administration strongly stressed its support for SEI and attacked the action of the subcommittee -- with speeches by President Bush on June 20, and Vice President Quayle on the 21st, and in a White House strategy session on June 21 to which SpaceCause President Mark Hopkins, and NSS Executive Director Lori Garver, were invited for advice. But even with this strong support from the Administration, we will have to fight hard to preserve the Space Exploration Initiative. Here is our strategy: we are targeting the budget summiteers first. If space funding can be protected in the budget summit, then the deal between Mikulski and Traxler won't matter. So PLEASE WRITE ALL OF THE FOLLOWING: Congressmen: Richard Gephardt (D-MO) Newt Gingrich (R-GA) Senators: Wyche Fowler (D-GA) Phil Gramm (R-TX) Also, if you are represented by one of the following Congressmen or Senators, please contact him as well: Congressmen (U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515): Thomas Foley (D-WA) William Gray (D-PA) Jamie Whitten (D-MI) Leon Panetta (D-CA) Robert Michel (R-IL) Bill Archer (D-TX) Silvio Conte (R-MA) Bill Frenzel (D-MN) Senators (U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510): George Mitchell (D-ME) Jim Sasser (D-TN) Robert Byrd (D-WV) Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) Bob Dole (R-KS) Pete Domenici (R-NM) Mark Hatfield (R-OR) Bob Packwood (R-OR) Any Congressman or Senator can be reached by calling (202) 224-3121 and asking for the appropriate office. PLEASE CALL OR WRITE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so that we can have maximum effect on the budget summit. In order for this "end run" around Mikulski and Traxler to have an effect, we must act in a short time. This means that SpaceCause and SpacePac members -- the only ones that we can reach this quickly -- will play a vital role in making all of this work. YOUR LETTERS WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE! But don't think that we're stopping here. SpaceCause is in the middle of an ambitious outreach program designed to knit together space supporters wherever they are found -- particularly those who have not been active in the past. SpaceCause was instrumental in organizing the Space Support Forum, an informal group of most Space Movement organizations. The core group now consists of eight organizations with a total base of over 120,000 members. On April 10, 1990 a dozen leaders of SSF organizations, including SpaceCause President Mark Hopkins, met with Vice President Quayle. Out of that meeting has come an aggressive program to identify and mobilize pro-space elements who have previously not been active. This has led to advertisements (run at no charge) in the leading science fiction magazines, contacts with the pro-space segments of Hollywood (including the producers and cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation"), and cooperative efforts with aerospace unions, astronomy magazines, model rocket groups, subscribers to popular science magazines, the Planetary Society, and members of professional associations such as AIAA and AAS. A total of forty organizations are involved, with mailings going to over 480,000 people directly, and advertisements running in magazines that will reach over five million people. Already, this effort has produced a great deal of coverage -- for example, an article in Omni magazine that detailed the efforts of SpaceCause, and printed the addresses and telephone numbers of Mikulski and Traxler. ("Support Your Local Mars Probe," Omni, July, 1990 p. 32). A copy of this article was given to President Bush after SpaceCause President Mark Hopkins delivered it to Mark Albrecht, Executive Director of the National Space Council. All of this is important, and over time these efforts are certain to produce a dramatic increase in the size and effectiveness of the pro-space movement. But these massive outreach efforts will take time to have effect. In order to affect events this summer, and save funding for the moon and Mars, WE NEED YOUR HELP. At the moment, only SpaceCause and SpacePac members can swing into action soon enough to have maximum effect. So please write and call today. Please also make a contribution to SpaceCause today. SpaceCause is a grassroots organization, and depends on contributions from individuals like yourself to do its work. Because we are a lobbying organization, contributions to SpaceCause are not tax deductible. That means that we cannot rely on a few wealthy contributors. We need many smaller contributions from ordinary individuals. Getting Mikulski's subcommittee action delayed to until September is both an opportunity and a drain on our resources. It is an opportunity because it gives us two precious months more to save the Space Exploration Initiative. Is is a drain on our resources because two months of all-out fighting for the future of space exploration will be time-consuming and expensive. We need your help to keep the fight going. Although we are doing our best to get the most bang for the buck, through free advertisements and mailings, all of the efforts that we are engaged in cost money. Please send what you can. Remember: termination of the Space Exploration Initiative would be catastrophic. President Bush is a strong supporter of space exploration and settlement, but Presidents do not relish political embarassments, and losing on this one would be a major embarassment for the Administration. It is more likely than not that a defeat on funding for SEI would cause the President to retreat from space funding battles across the board, leading to major cuts in Space Station, Mission to Earth, and other programs as well as to a decade's delay in any efforts to return to the Moon and to explore Mars. None of us wants to see a calamity like that take place. Do your part to help stop it. Write the people listed above, and send your contribution to SpaceCause to help us carry on the fight. Remember -- if you want to see humankind move into outer space, the time to act is NOW! Ad Astra! Glenn H. Reynolds SpaceCause Communications Coordinator