Vice President Kamala Harris made her way back to her hometown of Oakland Friday for a discussion about the future of our nation’s space program.
The plan is to build on recent public private space partnerships, like the James Webb Telescope, with the main camera built in Silicon Valley, and the NASA-Ames powered ingenuity helicopter on Mars.
Harris told the crowd gathered at Oakland’s Chabot Space Center that a closer partnership between the government and private companies, like SpaceX and Northrop Grumman is in the works.
She said her office plans to revamp regulations to make it easier to work together and create jobs, at least one space tech giant at the event said they’re on board.
"Their work is accelerating innovation in the space sector, and shaping our nation's future in space,” said Harris. “Working with us, they are allowing us together to build a capable, creative, and increasingly diverse STEM workforce."
"The advancement of the space industry, as well as private industry for space, means thousands and thousands of jobs,” said Tom Wilson, president of Northrop Grumman Space Systems. “We've got tons of job openings at Northrop Grumman and other companies today that we're hoping to fill."
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The vice president, who is also the chair of the National Space Council, said that the council will get together next month to work out how to build an even better relationship between regulatory agencies and the private sector.
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