Space industry wants word out

Members of Utah's aerospace industry want someone — perhaps a state-appointed champion or industry association — to help get the word out about what the industry means to the state.

Meeting on Tuesday during the Association of Space Explorers Planetary Congress, officials said most Utahns' understanding about the industry's effects on the state's overall economic development and their own lives is as nebulous as a nebula.

Jake Garn, a former U.S. senator from Utah who flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1984, said he is "amazed at how uninformed the people of Utah are, that how many people do not know every solid rocket motor for every shuttle flight was manufactured here in Utah? What sandhill have they had their heads stuck in?"

Utahns also are unaware of the activities of the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan and the composite industry in the state "and on and on and on," he said.

"I've had the advantage of having represented the whole state, all over, for so many years, and we have great talent and great industry in this state if we can figure out how to coordinate it and put it together. We would be competitive not only individually but collectively and capitalize on this aerospace industry that exists here that most people don't know about," Garn said.

Doug Sauvageau of ATK Thiokol, the shuttle booster manufacturer, said the Governor's Office of Economic Development needs to "facilitate, coordinate, disseminate this information so that we can have a good story for our community."

The public needs more information about the benefits of the industry's technologies and the work being done for NASA and the Department of Defense "so that they can understand what does that mean to them, not only from the economic development and the inflow of capital and jobs, but what does it mean to enhance their lifestyle and enhance their personal lives?"

Sauvageau described as "abysmal" publicity for this week's gathering of astronauts and cosmonauts in Utah. "The heroes of the world are in Salt Lake City and nobody knows it," he said, citing TV coverage lasting only 10 seconds on one Monday night newscast.

He said most people do not understand that NASA is only 0.7 percent of the federal budget.

"That is an example of the type of information, because if you go and ask people on the street, their answer is going to be, 'Oh, 20 to 30 percent.' I'll bet you. You need to help us coordinate and get that information out," Sauvageau said.

Others are oblivious to the upcoming use of ATK Thiokol rockets for moon and Mars trips, he added.