Jay Inslee
In his State of the State Address, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee pointed to Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin and SpaceX as aerospace success stories. (Credit: Office of the Governor)

Even though they happened far from the Evergreen State, last year’s Pluto flyby and the rocket landings accomplished by Blue Origin and SpaceX were among the “big moments” mentioned today in Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s State of the State Address.

Hours later, President Barack Obama invoked America’s space effort as a model for innovation in his own State of the Union Address to Congress.

State of the State: ‘We’re at the forefront’

Inslee’s shout-out served to highlight the Seattle area’s space companies, which play key roles in space missions that unfold thousands or even billions of miles away. Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Redmond facility, for example, worked on the thrusters for NASA’s Curiosity rover mission to Mars as well as the Pluto-watching New Horizons spacecraft.

Blue Origin, the Kent-based company founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, successfully launched and landed its suborbital New Shepard rocket at a West Texas test range in November. And California-based SpaceX, which landed its Falcon 9 first-stage booster in Florida after an orbital launch in December, opened up a Redmond office last year to develop a new fleet of telecom satellites.

Here’s how Inslee phrased it in today’s address to the Washington Legislature in Olympia:

“Since we all last met, we’ve celebrated some big moments in the state of Washington. I want to begin today by taking a moment to highlight some of these.

“We witnessed a new milestone in space exploration. Remember those incredible photos of Pluto last year? We know how that spacecraft got there. Nine years ago, propulsion engineers over at Aerojet Rocketdyne in Redmond were working on the rockets for the New Horizons mission.

“And now we’re at the forefront with companies like Blue Origin and Space X. They’ve brought the future of space travel to our state, successfully launching — and landing — rockets over the past year. It’s exciting these companies recognize that the greatest aerospace workers in the world are found right here in the state of Washington.”

Inslee’s comments are likely hearten the advocates of a measure that would give space companies the same tax breaks that commercial airplane manufacturers currently enjoy. And the fact that he didn’t mention the state’s largest airplane manufacturer, Boeing, may turn some heads. Just this month, the state Department of Revenue ruled that Boeing and other aerospace companies will have to start disclosing how they’ve benefited from their tax breaks.

But Inslee didn’t get into any specifics relating to the state’s aerospace industry. Instead, the space-centric remarks served as an inspirational prelude for a run-through of the governor’s legislative agenda. The main points of that agenda include increased funding for education and the mental health system. Inslee also voiced support for the “Raise Up Washington” initiative to boost the minimum wage and mandate sick-leave benefits.

On the environmental front, Inslee said the state needs “to continue to take action on protecting our clean air and clean water, particularly from the threat of carbon pollution.” The governor said he was heartened by the business community’s engagement in developing a Clean Air Rule to limit carbon emissions.

Obama and moonshot
The webcast of the State of the Union Address paired President Barack Obama’s comments on America’s spirit of discovery with a picture of a NASA astronaut on the moon. (Credit: White House)

State of the Union: ‘Discovery is in our DNA’

Like Inslee, Obama turned to space exploration primarily to set the scene for other policy initiatives. As he spoke, the White House’s webcast flashed graphics that included a snapshot of the president gazing at Venus and the moon, a SpaceX rocket blasting off and an astronaut saluting the U.S. flag on the moon.

Here’s a key excerpt from the State of the Union Address:

“Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn’t deny Sputnik was up there. We didn’t argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program almost overnight, and 12 years later, we were walking on the moon.

“That spirit of discovery is in our DNA. America is Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver. America is Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson and Sally Ride. America is every immigrant and entrepreneur from Boston to Austin to Silicon Valley racing to shape a better future. That’s who we are. And over the past seven years, we’ve nurtured that spirit.

“We’ve protected an open Internet, and taken bold new steps to get more students and low-income Americans online. We’ve launched next-generation manufacturing hubs, and online tools that give an entrepreneur everything he or she needs to start a business in a single day.

“But we can do so much more. Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer. Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources that they’ve had in over a decade. So tonight, I’m announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past 40 years, I’m putting Joe in charge of Mission Control. For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the families that we can still save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all. What do you say, Joe? Let’s make it happen.”

Characterizing the fight against cancer as a “new moonshot” is likely to resonate with Seattle-based biotech ventures including Juno Therapeutics, Navigating Cancer, Adaptive Biotechnologies, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and Nohla Therapeutics. Will Biden’s efforts add more firepower to the fight? Stay tuned. …

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