Utah 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.

By Brice Wallace
Deseret Morning News

Full Story: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,630152770,00.html