NASA to explore selling naming rights to rockets, putting astronauts in ads

WASHINGTON - The constant creep of corporate America into all aspects of everyday life - from the Allstate Sugar Bowl to Minute Maid Park - may soon conquer a new frontier.

The final frontier.

NASA’s administrator Jim Bridenstine has directed the space agency to look at boosting its brand by selling naming rights to rockets and spacecraft and allowing its astronauts to appear in commercials and on cereal boxes, as if they were celebrity athletes.

While officials stress that nothing has been decided, the idea could mark a giant cultural leap for the taxpayer-funded government agency and could run into ethics regulations that prevent government officials from using public office for private gain.

NASA has steadfastly stayed away from endorsing any particular product or company - even going so far as to call the M&Ms astronauts gobble in space “candy-coated chocolates” for fear of even appearing to favor one brand of candy.

But during a recent meeting of a NASA advisory council, Bridenstine announced he was standing up a committee to examine what he called the “provocative questions” of turning its rockets into corporate billboards the way advertisements decorate NASCAR racecars.

“Is it possible for NASA to offset some of its costs by selling the naming rights to its spacecraft, or the naming rights to its rockets,” Bridenstine said. “I’m telling you there is interest in that right now. The question is: Is it possible? The answer is: I don’t know, but we want somebody to give us advice on whether it is.”

He also said he wanted astronauts to be not only more accessible to journalists but even to participate in marketing opportunities to boost their brands - and that of the space agency.

“I’d like to see kids growing up, instead of maybe wanting to be like a professional sports star, I’d like to see them grow up wanting to be a NASA astronaut, or a NASA scientist,” he said. “I’d like to see, maybe one day, NASA astronauts on the cover of a cereal box, embedded into the American culture.”

The effort is part of a broader effort to generate more private-sector involvement in low Earth orbit. NASA already relies on companies to fly cargo to the space station - and is already on path to relying on companies to deliver crew. The White House has also said it would like to end direct funding for the International Space Station, and turn over operations of the orbiting laboratory to a private entity. Meanwhile, there are other companies looking to develop their own commercial space stations. And the White House is working to ease regulations to promote private-sector growth.

“As NASA looks toward the future of private-sector space stations, it’s vital to explore these kinds of innovative commercial concepts to ensure that the U.S. maintains an ongoing presence is low Earth orbit,” said Mike Gold, the chairman of the new NASA committee.

That idea to privatize the International Space Station has run into opposition from Congress, who said the United States shouldn’t cede control of an asset that it has invested nearly $100 billion in.

Likewise, the idea to sell naming rights, or have astronauts appear in commercials, was met with skepticism from many NASA experts. Scott Kelly, the former NASA astronaut who spent nearly a year in space, said in an email to the Washington Post that it “would be a dramatic shift from the rules prohibiting government officials from using their public office for private gain,” he wrote. “But I guess this is the world we live in now. “

Michael Lopez-Alegria, also a former NASA astronaut, said that by endorsing products, NASA could end up competing against a growing commercial sector that is trying to open up space for the masses.

“It’s going to be really hard for NASA or any government agency to put itself in a position where it can become a de-facto endorser of this product or that product,” he said. “To me, it’s like nails on a chalkboard. It’s just not right. “

He said he was also concerned that if Congress sees NASA is getting funding from the private sector it might say, “we’re not going to pay anymore. “

Scott Amey, the general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group, said that the government “should be focused entirely on what is most important for the public interest, not private gain. In fact, if a project is commercially viable it shouldn’t have to depend on taxpayer funds or U.S. astronauts, who might be divided in their job responsibilities. “

The idea comes as a pivotal time for the agency, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and soaking up renewed attention, as it is poised to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing next year. It’s also preparing to fly astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle was retired in 2011, and Bridenstine said he wants the newly formed committee to explore flying tourists to the International Space Station alongside government astronauts.

“First Man,” the film starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, is going to hit theaters soon, as interest in the agency is surging.

Last year, NASA collaborated on 143 documentary projects, 41 television programs and 25 feature films with various levels of participation, from providing footage to granting access to NASA facilities. Requests to use the NASA logo are “really going gangbusters,” said Bert Ulrich, NASA’s multimedia liaison.

Queries to use the logo on T-shirts and other commercial items used to come in once or twice week, he said. Now, on average it’s multiple times a day - and there are NASA-themed apparel made for Target, Old Navy, Lands’ End, Coach and H&M.

The designer Heron Preston even sells a NASA T-shirt for $270.

NASA has usage guidelines for its so-called “meatball” logo, a blue sphere, stars and a chevron, such as: it “can only appear against a solid, black, white, gray or silver background.” But the space agency makes nothing on the sales.

That, too, would get another look, according to Gold, who said it would look at how the logo is being used “and any changes that might need to be made to further leverage the symbol to encourage space exploration” and promote children to study engineering, science and math.