John Grunsfeld has served as an astronaut, Hubble repairman, NASA chief scientist, and associate administrator of the agency’s science mission directorate during his career. With the launch of Space Cadets 4 Harris, he’s adding political activist to the list.
“There isn’t a whole lot I can do to affect the election. I can talk to my family, I can talk to my friends, I can vote,” he said. “But maybe I can organize a call, not so much to necessarily raise a lot of money…but to bring people together who are interested in space science, astronomy, space exploration to show candidates and the rest of the nation that this is an interest group.”
Star-studded: Grunsfeld spearheaded a virtual fundraiser to support the Harris-Walz presidential campaign on Thursday night that raised more than $50,000. It included remarks from the who’s-who of the space world, including Bill Nye, former Virgin Galactic CEO (and congressional candidate) George Whitesides, two former NASA administrators—Charlie Bolden and Sean O’Keefe—commercial astronaut Sian Proctor, and a handful of Star Trek stars such as actor Robert Picardo and lead artist Mike Okuda.
The big why? Grunsfeld told Payload he was inspired to put together the event to support the Democratic ticket because he sees the party as one that wants to make the country stronger by supporting truth, STEM education, oversight, and international collaboration—all priorities he sees the Republican candidate actively working against.
“I worry about a future Trump administration that says we’re going to reduce our participation in international affairs and we’re going to look inwards,” he said. “That’s bad for exploration and bad for industry.”
Buy in: Grunsfield said he made the campaign aware of the event, but has not had any coordination beyond that and is not advising Harris on any space matters. Still, he said he hopes the fundraiser might help put space more on the campaign’s radar, especially given Harris’ position as chair of the National Space Council.
