Jack Kennedy Email & Phone Number

Certified to assist the public in understanding the history of the United States Space Force artifacts at the Sands Space History Center, the Space Force Museum, Hanger C missiles, Blockhouse at Launch Complex 26, and the gift shop(s). The work as a docent, guide, and educator is as a volunteer. It is my pleasure to assist STEM and other epistemic communities to better understand the history of the multiple military turned commercial launch complex facilities, and their potential future.

Space Access, Law, & Public Policy: Visionary attorney, entrepreneur, and subject matter knowledge of spaceports, space law, public policy, and space education, Jack brings extensive experience to the governing board of MaxIQ. He supports the ongoing business operations, seeks STEM clients, and access to launch providers to Low Earth Orbit and the surface of the Moon for student science and robotic experiments. A former member of the Virginia state legislature with a Masters of Science in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, Jack was appointed to Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority and helped guide enactment of first Spaceflight Liability & Immunity Act, and ZeroGravity, ZeroTax state law. Organizing multiple STEM studies in high-powered rocketry, drone flights, ISS student space science experiments, and satellite launch programs with local schools, Jack hosted an international NASA DEVELOP program site in Wise, VA for more than a decade. Jack started XploreThePlanet.com a space tourism travel agency in Cape Canaveral, Florida for short-term specialty contract work.

Alexandria, Va, Us

Jack remains active within the commercial space launch advocacy network. In 2009, he was acknowledged with the "In-Service to the Frontier Award" by the Space Frontier Foundation during a conference at NASA Ames in California for Space law advocacy leading to new state-level public policies.

Jack has subject matter knowledge of spaceports, space technology, domestic space law, and international space treaties, bilateral and multilateral agreements among spacefaring nations. Serving over a decade cumulatively on the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority and the Virginia Board of Aviation appointed by multiple governors, he holds multiple degrees in space studies, political science and jurisprudence. He has visited multiple American and Russian space installations, and attended International Astronautical Congresses, and numerous other domestic space conferences. He holds a certified Press Credential with the United States Space Force. He staffs multiple logistics needs at Cape Canaveral for Houston, Texas-based Celestis, Inc. currently. More recently, he has become a qualified travel advisor certified in multiple Caribbean, European and Middle East nations. Over years, he has been a globetrotting explorer in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, China, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Switzerland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Italy, the Vatican, Spain, Portugal, Monaco, Greece, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, Morocco, United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland, Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Bimini, Bermuda, Mexico, Canada, and others. In his youth, he studied international law at the University of London whilst interning for a member of the British Parliament. He was an envoy to Grenada in the 1984 military conflict, and a member of the 1990 North Atlantic Treaty Organization conference in Paris. He first entered Russia in the spring of 1992 after the December 25, 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union a part of a trade delegation. Today, Jack serves as a member of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board specializing in aerospace collaboration and trade in two-way interactions.

General practice in rural Virginia with focus in administrative, corporate, civil and criminal law from 1982 to 1996. Today, his primary focus is largely on local pro bono work and for non-profit corporations. He remains a member in ‘good standing’ with the Virginia State Bar, and Supreme Court of Virginia. Also, he is admitted to practice in the International Court of Trade, the US Tax Court, US Court of Claims, US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, and US Western District Court of Virginia. Jack has significant experience in real estate natural gas, coal and timber resource development in the Appalachian Mountains operating a private firm for several years. He also previously served for years on a bank board after being “market maker” in the unlisted Virginia bank stock.While becoming a Napoleon Hill Scholar in 1995, he has served as a consultant to the foundation so as to boost local and international knowledge of the motivational literature of the late Napoleon Hill.

As Clerk of the Court, Jack leads the operations of the Court’s Records Branch, administering all court files, wills and probates, and land records. With a staff of 10-to-16, the organization promotes an environment of innovation and change, often seeking ways to elevate service through the use of cutting-edge information technology. His current term expires 31 December 2023, to four voter-elected terms, following his initial public service in the Virginia legislature. He is the longest serving elected Clerk of Court in the Appalachian Mountain county’s history, opting to a new career soon. Upon his departure, Jack will engage in the space technology sector in the Cape Canaveral area. Major Achievements include:  Chair of the Virginia Land and Records Modernization Task force, spearheading a pilot project that ultimately modernized the administration of judicial records through the strategic use of IT tools, improving both remote and onsite access. Project was subsequently adopted by all 120 County and City Clerk of Court Offices.  Successfully utilized remote sensing satellites imaging and sensors to design a new, modern geographical map, with 100+different layers that allowed remote viewing down to the actual deed level. Designing an automated real estate title abstracting system was his most recent accomplishment in a workforce development effort teaching real estate law. Spearheaded the first wave of pilot STEM education projects utilizing ‘ThinSats’ with public middle schools in Central Appalachia. Working to expand the program across the nation. He worked with SpaceX to bring space-based broadband to thousands without such access in the rural Appalachian Mountains. Hosted NASA DEVELOP programs, welcoming over 200 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral university scholars and young career professionals from around the globe to learn and utilize satellite remote sensing as a solution analysis tool for community issues.

Virginia Region 1 representative for aviation interests and general aviation airports west of Blacksburg, Jack seized a niche interest in federal and state policies in law and regulation relating to the development of the National Airspace and the integration of unmanned aircraft systems for agriculture, infrastructure inspections, mapping and surveys, and commercial cargo delivery, along with associated workforce pilot training requirements, UAS aircraft and manufacturing certifications and ground-based and satellite navigation regimes. He has been an advocate for UAS, eVTOL and electrification of aviation.

Appointed by two Virginia Governors, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, to the board of directors of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, Jack advocated among the NewSpace community for launch opportunities at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, especially future orbital and suborbital human spaceflight. His last gubernatorial-appointment term expired 30 June 2017. During my tenure, Virginia Space became active in the development and launch of ThinSats aboard the OrbitalATK Antares Rocket booster seeking to advance student STEM education. I expend a lot of time encouraging programs to draw students into sensor development for small satellites used in Earth and Space remote sensing and to advance the global Internet of Things.Interest in space hardware development and system of systems, Jack spent time at Wallops Island to observe the Antares and Minotaur rocket configuration and launch campaigns, and at Cape Canaveral to observe innovative launch hardware and the launch campaigns of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, the Atlas-V, the Delta IV, and, the New Glenn, Starship and NASA Orion SLS Artemis program spacecraft.

Wise, Va, Us

Subject Matter Expert in the future of commercial space flight, providing course instruction in Asteroid Mining in the Moon Resources, Future Development and Settlement. The classroom focus was on the lunar topography, geology and minerals of the Moon and the landers, rivers and emerging tools needed. Because of his forefathers coal extraction legacy, and his personal passion for lunar exploration, Jack aspired to become a Moon Miner from his teenage years.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed members to the Virginia Unmanned Systems Commission, charged with bringing public- and private-sector experts together to make recommendations on how to make Virginia a national leader in unmanned systems. Jack served as Special Advisor to the Commission after having helped lead the first Federal Aviation Administration approved drone cargo flight. https://vus.virginia.gov/ums-commission/past-meetings-materials/

Weekly OpEd columnist on local, regional, state, national and international issues. Continuing free lance Op-Ed writer throughout Virginia. He remains a contract freelance journalist on space technology, credentialed by the United States Space Force.

While elected, Jack served on the Virginia House of Delegates Finance, Roads and Internal Navigation, and Mining & Mineral Resources Committees following election in 1987 and re-election in 1989. He was elected to the State Senate in 1991 serving an unexpired term to 1992. In more recent years, he has have worked with members of the southwestern Virginia delegation on successful legislation ranging from judicial information technology to commercial spaceflight to unmanned aircraft systems to space-based broadband.

M.S., Space Policy

M.A. (Equiv), Judicial Administration

B.A., Organizational Management

M.A., Political Science

J.D. (Equiv), Law

Certificate, International Law And Parliamentary Law

B.S., Business & Public Administration