Mr. Bailey goes to Washington

[cue the patriotic music]
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the 110th Congress, I beseech you to support the exploration and investigation of outer space!!!"

Ok, perhaps it was not that dramatic, but talking to Congressional staffers with the Space Exploration Alliance this week was a LOT of fun! I flew into DC on Sunday and got some basic training with the other Blitz participants. Then it was off to George and Loretta's place for a cook out!

A big THANK YOU to George and Loretta for allowing me to borrow their couch for a few nights. It is always a blast to hang out with the space honeymooners!!

Monday and Tuesday were spent running all over the Congressional office buildings talking to different staffers with long-time space nut Gary Barnhard. Gary is a great guy that knows a about solar power satellites as well as political stuff. We discussed several points with each of the staffers and got fairly positive responses. The meetings I learned the most from were the two toughest: a staffer from TN that was most concerned with science (not exploration) and the Congressman from TX that liked space but was unimpressed with NASA. In both cases, it was most important to listen and respond to their concerns instead of just hitting our talking points. All of the lobbying and meetings with numerous space groups over the past few months seem to have done some good as the House subcommittee increased NASA funding by $290 million!

You can read our press release (and my quote!) here: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=22839

Going home is usually the least-noteworthy portion of a trip, but this time was an exception! I got to DCA (Washington-Reagan National Airport) via the Metro and went quickly through security. I arrived at my gate to find rampant flight delays and cancellation. After about 3 hours of juggling, US Airways finally dropped my flight and had us reschedule for the next morning. My friend Brett lives just down the street from DCA and was kind enough to pick me up and let me crash for a few hours on his couch. THANKS, Brett! My other option was to sleep on the hard floor of the airport with a thin airplane blanket (many other people had to do this!). I love the small, efficient operation of DCA (especially the easy Metro access), but Orlando has everyone beat with the nice cushy couches and excellent food court.

Traveling is fun, but it is nice to be back at home again for a few days!!