FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia Griffin, 713-488-4075
Fax: 713-488-7903
Freedom Fighters push petition to save space station
Move over Contras, Afghan rebels, even Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. There's a new group of freedom fighters on the scene. Except the "freedom" this group is fighting for is Space Station Freedom.
Volunteers calling themselves the Space Station Freedom Fighters are busy collecting signatures from across the country in a petition drive which supports the completion of NASA's space station. Much like the Perot volunteers last year, these citizens are canvassing the country with their petition seeking signatures from every state. The Freedom Fighters will then present their petition to the new Congress hoping to convince the lawmakers to continue funding for the orbiting laboratory.
"There has never been a demonstration of public support quite like this for a spacecraft," said Cynthia Griffin, Freedom Fighter volunteer and writer. "Probably the closest was years ago when the public named the first space shuttle after the Enterprise from Star Trek."
The Freedom Fighter petition drive started in Houston last summer with a public rally in support of Space Station Freedom. Nearly 700 people turned out to show their support and sign the petition. Since then the petition has collected over 10,000 signatures from forty-eight states.
The grass roots effort has been driven entirely by volunteers without the benefit of a formal organization or network. "We gave the petition to friends and relatives to sign and it spread from there," explained Griffin. Who can be a Freedom Fighter? "Anyone who signs the petition and passes it around."
That includes children, according to Freedom Fighter Dave Majchrowicz, an aerospace engineer. "I'm a Freedom Fighter because I want my four children to have something to look forward to. I'm doing this mainly for children because they will gain the most from Space Station Freedom in the next century."
For Patrick Williams, college student, becoming a Freedom Fighter was only natural. The lure of space began when his mother took him to see Star Wars as a child. "The space program motivated me in school," he said. "I want to see Space Station Freedom completed and I would like to be in space one day."
Griffin notes that Space Station Freedom is targeted for cancellation by some members of Congress. "I would like to ask them if they could stand before a classroom of children and tell the children they canceled the manned space program," said Griffin. "Because in effect that's what they would be doing. Our country is benefiting from thirty years of technology provided by our space program. We must continue it. Space Station Freedom is the next step."
The Freedom Fighter petition reads in part: "We, the people of the United States of America, petition the Congress and President . . . to establish, in orbit, Space Station Freedom and to do so by the end of the decade."
[for blank copies of the petition for Space Station Freedom, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to:
