In September, I had one of my childhood dreams come true.
I attended the OSIRIS-REx launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cocoa Beach, Florida. OSIRIS-REx has embarked on a seven-year mission to the asteroid called Bennu. Like many asteroids, Bennu may hold answers to some of life’s biggest mysteries: our origins of life on Earth, and the origins of Earth’s oceans.
Space travel has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I had a poster of Neil Armstrong on my bedroom wall—and I still have that tattered poster tucked away in my box of childhood memorabilia! Growing up, my family and I watched Star Trek and Sci-Fi movies like “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman,” “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.” When I thought about the idea of life in space it blew open my mind. It still does.
My colleague Jon Morse, CEO/Founder of the BoldlyGo Institute, invited me to attend the launch as a guest of the Denver office of Lockheed Martin, and NASA. BoldlyGo is advancing the pace of space discovery alongside NASA, Lockheed, and Ball Aerospace.
Jon is an example of someone who has combined his personal passion and expertise into a solid philanthropic strategy. With a career history as Director of Astrophysics at NASA, senior policy analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology, and a project scientist for an instrument now aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, Jon formed BoldlyGo (a 501(c)(3) organization) with his own funds. He builds on enthusiasm for space science and exploration, and gives people a chance to be part of cutting-edge missions.
According to Jon, there is a growing private space movement—such as space tourism and commercial Earth imaging—but it is largely driven by profit goals. BoldlyGo is seeking to go where no organization has gone before: to connect private philanthropy with frontier space-based science missions, where currently the government holds a 100 percent monopoly. Through a combination of philanthropic donations and crowdsourced funding, BoldlyGo intends to begin by building and launching two projects in the 2020s: SCIM, a Mars sample-return mission, and Astro-1, an innovative space telescope that would seek rocky worlds orbiting other nearby stars. In addition, BoldlyGo is a partner of Project Blue, a citizen-based effort to launch a compact space telescope to directly image Alpha Centauri A and B – the closest potentially habitable planet beyond our Solar System.
(For a great Q&A with Jon, read this article in Scientific American magazine: Making Space for Everyone.)
On the eve of the launch, Jon, I, and others watched from the outdoor deck of a building adjacent to the Vehicle Assembly Building—one of the largest buildings in the world, and where the space shuttle was assembled. It was a picture calm evening, with a buzz of chatter as we all waited in anticipation. From the viewing deck, we could hear mission control scroll through their launch list.
As the countdown hit zero, most people put down their cameras and phones to simply—watch.
The sheer power of the fuel igniting…. the sonic boom as it rolled across the land and gained height and speed…the massive force that sent nearly 5,000 pounds of metal off the ground.
Spectacular.
The OSIRIS-REx mission seeks to answer questions that are central to our experience as humans: Where did we come from? What is our destiny?
Philanthropists like Jon and others must answer these same questions. What are the passions that drive us to give? In what ways can we innovate and launch new thinking and new ways of being? What legacy do we want to leave—for our family, for the world? And in the case of space, even worlds beyond?
As you consider these questions, know that there are people and resources that can guide you. Our new toolkit: Balancing Passion and Strategy: A Family Office Guide to Meaningful Giving is coming to you this fall. This is the second in our EngagedPhilanthropy series for family offices and other families who wish to strengthen their philanthropy. Click here to be one of the first to receive the toolkit.
Until next time, enjoy these autumn days and longer, darker nights (all the better for stargazing!).
Nice post and inspiring story.
Thanks Russ – Jon’s vision for BoldlyGo and how he has paired his passion with strategy are inspiring! Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!