Thanks again for your support of the JustSpace Alliance and for subscribing to our newsletter! It’s been one year since our official founding, and we’ve spent most of 2019 forming partnerships, talking to and learning from our allies, and filling out tax forms. We’re excited about the possibilities that lay ahead in 2020 as we pursue the mission of the JustSpace Alliance: to advocate for a more inclusive and ethical future in space, and to harness visions of tomorrow for a more just and equitable world today.

Recent Events

The critically acclaimed Flash Forward podcast, which explores the ramifications of a different possible (or not so possible) technology-based future in every episode, just concluded a season of episodes about crime and justice. The host of Flash Forward, Rose Eveleth, invited our co-founders Lucianne Walkowicz and Erika Nesvold to appear as guests on a recent episode, Moon Court, about the issues surrounding criminal justice in space.

Co-founders Erika Nesvold and Lucianne Walkowicz also traveled to Washington, D.C. last month to attend the 70th International Astronautical Congress. While the JustSpace Alliance did not have an official presence at the conference, it was a great opportunity to speak to several of our partners in person, as well as to form new alliances with other individuals and groups working to prioritize ethics and human rights in the space industry. 

To Read

The International Astronautical Congress also played host to a controversy involving space, politics, and social justice. The IAC invited U.S. Vice President Mike Pence to speak at the Opening Ceremony, a move that angered some attendees due to Vice President Pence’s record of spearheading and supporting policies that dismantle the rights of marginalized groups. Several concerned attendees (including JustSpace co-founder Lucianne Walkowicz) drafted an open letter to the conference organizers protesting Vice President Pence’s invitation. Meghan Bartels for Space.com and Jeff Foust for Space News wrote articles on the controversy, while others, such as Keith Cowing of NASA Watch, voiced their own objections to the VP’s presence and emphasized the importance of an inclusive future in space. You can read the open letter, which as of this writing has over 230 signatures, here. 

Some attendees also walked out on Pence’s remarks; JustSpace’s Walkowicz chose to dress for the occasion in a costume from Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale. The back of the costume was emblazoned with the words “Will We Be Human on the Moon”, in reference to the administration’s marketing of the next moon initiative, Artemis, as sending the first woman to the Moon. The word “woman” appeared twice in Pence’s remarks, whereas “mankind” appeared six times. 

Archaeologist and remote sensing expert Sarah Parcak (author of Archaeology From Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past) had an excellent opinion piece in the New York Times last month on the ethical implications of satellite surveillance: Are We Ready for Satellites That See Our Every Move?

If you’re intrigued by the overlap of archaeology and space, we highly recommend Dr Space Junk vs The Universe: Archaeology and the Future, the new book by space archaeologist and friend of the JustSpace Alliance, Alice Gorman.

Anthropologist and JustSpace Alliance Board member Michael Oman-Reagan has put together some great Twitter threads recently, but we wanted to highlight this thread in particular, discussing the steps we need to take here on Earth to learn how to not just survive in space, but to thrive. The thread touches on a range of topics, including climate change and habitability, migration and hospitality, diversity and problem-solving, and the opportunities we have to change and grow into a better society. There are also several links for those who want to learn more about these topics.

Earlier this month, astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir performed the first all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station. You may recall that back in March of this year, plans for a similar all-female spacewalk by Koch and astronaut Anne McClain were cancelled when it was determined that Koch and McClain both needed medium-sized spacesuits to complete the mission, but only one was available and ready on the station. Science fiction author Mary Robinette Kowal wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post in reaction to the March spacewalk: If space is the future, that future needs to include everyone. After the successful spacewalk this month, Koch and Meir co-authored a piece reflecting on their accomplishment and on the struggles of working with equipment designed for larger bodies: It’s tough being small in a big-suit world. We still spacewalked.

How You Can Help

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If you’ve read or written a piece that you think we should include in a future newsletter, please send us a link at [email protected].