Houston’s space ecosystem is a master class in what’s possible with public-private partnerships 
By Wade Chappell, Class of 2024

Conference information:

• Conference Program
• Space 101: PubCon Primer Session Recording
• Texas Lyceum Fellowship Paper: Making the Space Industry Accessible to Texas High School Students

Reflections:
These essays are the views of the authors alone and do not represent the positions of the Texas Lyceum.

Houston’s space ecosystem is a master class in what’s possible with public-private partnerships
By Wade Chappell, Class of 2024

In 2019, jaws dropped across Space City when NASA’s Johnson Space Center lost a bid to manage development of a lunar landing vehicle to the agency’s center in Alabama. Houston’s role in the original lunar landing 50 years prior was not as persuasive a key advantage in Alabama: workforce.

In the ensuing years, Houston city and business leaders collaborated to identify the skills needed for a thriving space industry and to create partnerships with all levels of educational institutions to ensure Houstonians are ready for space work. Now, this workforce development is reaping benefits with each ensuing year.

This type of public-private partnership is at the heart of the Texas Miracle. In 2011, the Texas Legislature passed a bill to allow taxing authorities to overcome infrastructure gaps that grossly exceed the region’s budget by allowing private investment for public benefit, building a foundation for growth. But even before that time, Texans were quick to respond to setbacks by collaborating to strengthen resiliency.

In 1994 in my hometown, Fort Worth, Carswell Air Force Base was closed. In response to a loss that was both economic and emotional, the city of Fort Worth created the Regional Coordination Committee to identify and implement solutions. The result later that year was the establishment of a new Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth. Now, the military city hosts 40 separate commands and around 10,000 active duty military, guardsmen, reservists and civilian employees. Base Leadership continues to invest in future wartime readiness and relies on the critical support of the business community not only in Fort Worth but across the region.

Fort Worth is not looking at the stars but deliberately growing its innovation ecosystem on the ground. There’s urgency for a combination of private business, public infrastructure and public benefit to forecast new industries and identify the specific skills our educational curriculum should produce. The result is a flywheel of economic development, an antifragility economy that approaches challenges as opportunities for growth.

Houston is undoubtedly Space City and will continue to attract businesses seeking an ecosystem that prepares its citizens for the space jobs of tomorrow. But perhaps the city should embrace the Latin phrase: Per aspera ad astra, through hardship to the stars. That frustrating setback on the lunar vehicle could prove to be critical for Houston’s future success.