Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Jack Kennedy Honored by Space Frontier Foundation
During the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing last month, the Space Frontier Foundation named Wise resident J. Jack Kennedy, Jr. the 2009 recipient of the "In-Service to the Frontier Award". Kennedy was commended during ceremonies held at the NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California for his landmark work on and advocacy of commercial space flight legislation enacted in Virginia and for his unwavering support for the SFF Teachers in Space program.
Kennedy, a former Virginia state legislator and licensed Virginia attorney, was deemed instrumental in the enactment of two major pieces of commercial space launch legislation: the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Liability and Immunity Act of 2007 and the Virginia ZeroGravity-ZeroTax Act of 2008.
Working with State Delegate Terry G. Kilgore and Governor Tim Kaine, Kennedy organized the drafting and passage of the Commercial Space Flight Liability and Immunity Act in 2007 which was subsequently adopted by Florida in 2008 and Texas in 2009. The measure was also considered by the New Mexico legislature this year. The Virginia law's intent is to lower insurance costs and mitigate business risk associated with launching humans to space from Wallops Island thereby attracting business to the area.
Last year, Kennedy collaborated with State Senator William C. Wampler, Jr. to obtain enactment of the ZeroGravity-ZeroTax Act exempting from state income taxation any profits earned by commercial space launch firms providing supplies to the orbiting International Space Station via launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport -Wallops Island and any profit from commercial space flight training conducted in Virginia.
In a February 2009 report, the Federal Aviation Administration hailed the two Virginia measures by calling "Virginia an Agent of Change" within the fledgling commercial space flight industry through the creation of the regulatory incentives now credited for being a driving force leading to a decision by at least one private space firm to launch from the state in the near-term.
Since the passage of the ZeroGravity-ZeroTax law, Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va. opted to launch re-supply missions to the International Space Station from Wallops Island, Va. following fierce competition between the states of Virginia and Florida. A $1.9 billion launch contract was awarded Christmas-eve 2008 which has resulted in space station re-supply launches set to commence in the spring of 2011 from Virginia's Eastern Shore.
"The Space Frontier Foundation international associations have been very intellectually stimulating and rewarding the past several years; and, I am humbled to have been honored by leaders of our nation's commercial space industry," Kennedy said of the honor of being named recipient of the annual national award.
"Moreover, I am honored to have the confidence of key state legislators who accepted my counsel on space-related legislation. One of my fondest hopes is to bear witness to the first launch of a human being to space from Virginia," Kennedy remarked.
Kennedy was appointed by Governor Tim Kaine to serve on the 13-member Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority in 2008 where he serves on the authority's executive committee. The committee is responsible for management of the FAA licensed commercial Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Accomack County.
While serving as an advisor to the Southwestern Virginia Technology Council and the Big Stone Gap Masons, Kennedy has supported the civic organizations in facilitating teacher space flight training competitions leading to zero gravity flights by two regional public school teachers to be named next month for parabolic flights set this October.
The three-term elected Wise County Clerk of Court sees his niche interest in space law and policy as an extension of his continuing legal education in the wake of being awarded a Master of Science in Space Law and Policy from the University of North Dakota in 2008. Kennedy was first named an “Advocate” of the New York-based non-profit Space Frontier Foundation at an event in Washington three years ago.
For further details see:
Space Frontier Foundation: http://spacefrontier.org/
FAA Report:
