It's important that as we start to move off-world that retain what was important and special about our home communities. Long Beach has a soul and I want to make sure that soul can survive the vacuum of space. Long Beach has much to offer and it should be properly represented.

I am an Engineer, I have been since 2000. I started off as an Avionics Technician in the US Navy, then went on to become an Instrumentation Calibration technician in the biomedical industry. I now work for an Aerospace Firm in the Los Angeles, CA area near LAX airport. I'm a Systems Engineer. I make sure my systems works with the other systems in the Aircraft, the same ones you fly in when traveling on Vacation.

I work on complex systems, that tell the ground crews to replace the landing gear, or another avionics box is broken and to replace it. It monitors the health of the engines and aircraft as a whole.

Am I an expert on all things Aerospace? No, I have a lot to learn, but I am learning day by day and take a bunch of courses to further my education.

Is Asgardia, going to be up and running in my lifetime, I really don't think so. It will take a large firm to get the basics down, like the station structure , life support, radiation shielding, water, heating and cooling, waste, and that is just to start.

Is there a plan of action on the founders Part? If there is, we have no idea. I hope there is. I hope he is already planning on creating this station with a Firm of his choosing or creation. I would love to be a part of it, but I do not think he will open the design phase to just any one single engineer.

We shall see. Don't give up the ship just yet my friends.

For me, Asgardia means, new life, hope, change, exploration and challenge.

I think for many people it means different things, but we have all signed up to become citizens. We have all joined in some of the discussions (see forums and blogs), we have also begun the voting process for our Constitution, Flag, National Song, and our leadership (I'm running, I hope you will vote for me!) We have begun the first step to a new era in space and a new era of humanity.

So, tell me what does Asgardia mean to you?

With the likes of Elon Musk at SpaceX and Tesla, it takes a certain type of person to make positive change in our world. The creation of a great All Electric car (Tesla), and an inexpensive mode of space flight (reusable rockets) at SpaceX has ushered in a new era of space exploration and the way we use Electricity.

Asgardias founder has come up with what I believe to be a great idea, a New Nation. The First Space Nation - ASGARDIA. The beginning of which was just a thought and a website where millions of people could join for free to become citizens of this New Nation. I signed up almost right away. Like many of you, I want the chance at a new and interesting future for all of our families. With global climate change and wars and who knows what lay beyond our Earth Orbit ready to destroy the Earth. The likes of S. Hawkin saying we need to be a two or more species, Elon Musk saying he will build a colony on Mars, it makes it all the more reason to get off world and living in space.

So, how are we going to go about this? I believe we have already taken the first step and signed up to become citizens of Asgardia. We are also voting for the Constitution, Flag, National Song and our Leaders (one of which is me).

I have many questions about Funding, Research and Development of new technologies that will go into the Space Station and our Constitution.

Recently, Asgardia began offering its citizens the opportunity to be heard through a petition process that promised a government review of every petition that accumulated at least 1000 votes. "What an excellent idea," I thought to myself. A suggestion box for Asgardia! At that time, there were only a dozen or so petitions submitted - visible under the SpaceNation\Petitions at the top menu of the homepage.  In my excitement, I decided to petition for an improvement to the idea. My first petition was titled something similar to this (I wasn't able to recover after I submitted it):

Petition 1.

EVERY PETITION WILL BE REVIEWED & APPROVED/REJECTED BY THE ASGARDIAN CITIZENS WITHOUT THE NEED OF MINIMUM SUPPORT - WITH GOVERNMENT RETAINING VETO POWER (IF EXERCISED WITHIN 90 DAYS).

The idea was to have every suggestion reviewed and approved/rejected by the active citizenry of Asgardia without the need of fabricating any amount support. This would allow any citizen to have a voice, a connection of ideas to the masses. A few minutes after the petition was submitted I received the following e-mail:

SUBJECT: Your petition has been approved by the moderating team

"Asgardia.Space"Asgardia.Spaceno-reply@asgardia.space> "Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 1:37 PM" 1:37 PM (19 hours ago)

Your petition did not get approved by the moderating team , and will not be posted.If you would like to dispute the decision, please contact the moderating team.

It was accepted on the subject and rejected on the body!!!  (NOTE: 24 hours later, the petition had not been posted)

Nothing else followed - no contact information or resolution process was provided. There was no link to contact the moderating team, not even an email address. A knew a phone number would be out of the question.

After leisurely perusing the site looking for the contact information and finding none (after 15 minutes or the equality of infinity in web browsing terms), I grew concerned about the level of difficulty in the search for this valuable information. So I decided to look for my petition - somehow I had 'assumed' wrongly that it would be saved to my profile. I did not find it, and I grew concerned. Where did my petition go? "I should have made a copy," I reprimanded myself. So I wrote a new petition (This time I saved it in the event that it became unretrievable again). It went exactly like this:

Petition 2.

PETITIONS REJECTED BY THE MODERATOR SHOULD INCLUDE THE BASIS FOR REJECTION ON THE REJECTION EMAIL AND AN EMAIL TO ADDRESS CONCERNS - ALSO ALL REJECTED PETITIONS SHOULD ACCESSIBLE FOR POSTERITY PURPOSES.

When a petition is rejected by the petition-moderator, citizens get an email simply stating that the petition was rejected and to contact the moderator for explanations. No email, link or reference number is given. Above all, no hint about the reason for rejection.

For all purposes, the petition is lost. There is no link in the citizen's profile to return to it or to make edits prior to resubmission (if necessary).

The response on Sat, Jun 24, 2017, at 4:42 PM (16 hours ago) was equally perplexing. The petition was accepted on the subject line and rejected on the body of the email message.

I looked at the other petitions to see if mine had been too extremist in comparison. I found a range of constitutional amendment suggestions, taking over unclaimed land territory in Earth, and deep space exploration-habitable planet search -- ALL of these had been accepted and posted to the petition forum and open to voting. Why then were my petitions rejected, censored? Why the conflicting approval/rejection email message? Was it a TEAM or was it an individual rejecting the petitions? Why wasn't the moderator team contact information provided? But equally important, where is Petition 1, shouldn't I have access to it for revisions?

In conclusion, in my attempt to expand the fantastic idea of having every citizenry's voice openly heard at the critical stage of a nation's birth, I discovered that an individual or small team is deciding the fate of every citizen's petition - the birth of censorship.

Shouldn't leadership take notice and begin upholding & solidifying the Asgardian core principles?

"Article 13. Financial Resources" - Constitution of asgardia

As it states in the Constitution of Asgardia in Article 13. Financial Resources #2 Asgardia's currency shall be a monetary unit named SOLAR. Under #4 SOLAR shall be issued by the National Bank of Asgardia in the amount tied to the parameters of the Moon, the Sun, the other celestial bodies set by a special law of Asgardia. The National Bank of Asgardia shall be a lender of last resort.

What does "in the amount tied to the parameters of the Moon, the Sun, the other celestial bodies set by a special law of Asgardia" actually mean?

How is the space station actually going to be funded? Are the citizens of Asgardia going to be taxed on the "SOLAR" currency in order to conduct R&D, Construction and upkeep/maintenance of the space station?

Are we tying "SOLAR" to the gold standard, crypto currency, number of Dogs and Cats people have?

If we created the "SOLAR" currency as a Crypto Currency and issued say $1,000,000,000 coins, possibly giving each citizen $250 to 2000 SOLAR coins to start out with, and after that we can purchase them on the open market or mine them as people do with Bitcoin, maybe we could gain the confidence of the People of Earth and be able to get started on creating the Space Station where Asgardian's will be living on.

By the way, how is the Satellite, Asgardia-1 funded and who built it?  What company built it and how many more are we planning on building?

In the future wh fund these projects - Space Station, launches to and from Station, cargo, food, water and air, medicine etc. Who will fund the R&D, construction and operation/maintence of said equipment?

Once Asgardia becomes a recognized Nation and all of us who have become citizens or at least signed up to become citizens, will we be paying taxes? have to renounce our citizenship of the country of origin?

I have many questions, I hope someone can answet these?

As the Asgardia nation at space looks forward into the fullness of infinity, the flag stands frozen while its new anthem, wordless and soundless, speaks of unreachable aspirations.

It is no secret that the foundations of Asgardia are based on much of the most peaceful policies and attitudes in home Earth. The spectrum of governmental doctrines that have and are being practiced on Earth all have been shown to have fatal faults, of one kind or another, when it comes to representing the general citizenry. Asgardia is no different as it begins its hopeful journey of expansion. Don't misunderstand, this is not pessimism; it is hope. The search on Earth for better stability and security in life had to lead to the Asgardian movement. Asgardian's proposed constitution speaks of protecting this hope, dream, but simultaneously, by adopting so many of Earth's governmental patterns of social control, it concurrently plants the seed of its own discontent.

Humanity is not perfect and Asgardians don't preach from a higher moral or intellect platform, but its foundation does need unity, peace, and protection at space. The issue arises when Asgardians are asked to expect a more humane society when humans, given time, tend to instill its prejudices, greed, and attitudes in most (if not all) social infrastructures. Why can't Asgardians strive for a new type of social representation, control, and distribution than what has been catastrophically attempted and practiced at home-Earth? Have political systems achieved utopian levels at home-Earth that nothing else could be created? Does meritocratic leadership elected by a measure of society give the best results? Hasn't social wisdom been controlled too? The questions are, what to do and how to do it better? How do Asgardians achieve it without invoking the worst in humanity?

Should the proposition be silenced? Is this why the citizens younger than forty-years-old won't be allowed to participate in representation? Should the brave new world begin in a silent-pretence of what's ideally unachievable through currently instituted social constructs and structures?

Asgardian leadership professes not being the best (if that could be determined), but Asgardia should begin to dream of a better place, not a near duplicate of Earth transplanted in a vastly superior medium - space. Asgardia should find a niche of true inspiration in the idea that evolutionary change is achievable through a social-technological transmutation of what has failed humanity/society on Earth. Only in this footing does Asgardia has hope.

Any suggestions?

David Mitchell is a NASA award-winning author who has published numerous articles and textbook chapters on the Internet, space, virtual reality and telepresence.

David is a past member of the Citizens Advisory Council on National Space Policy with a lifetime of experience in private space development, emergency preparedness, advanced wireless communications systems and video surveillance technology.

In Laguna Beach, David has been a past chairman of the City's Technology & Communications Committee and a past tech-talk show host on Laguna's FM radio station.

In Hollywood, David consults as part of The Science & Entertainment Exchange of the National Academy of Sciences. His work includes advisory roles in NBC's “Shades of Blue” TV series, the upcoming remake of “The Magic School Bus” (Episode on the Internet)  and assistance to screenwriters and directors.

He is also known for having the world's worst puns... :-)

Personal Statement:

"Asgardia may well be the first true space colony. I have spent my entire life promoting the expansion (or Diaspora) of civilization into outer space. I would welcome the opportunity to support and assist all Asgardians who think up, out and beyond!"

In the cockpit of the XCOR EZ-Rocket

Rocket Engine Powered Airplane

(taken in Mojave while Space Ship One ascended on maiden flight)

DC-X Flight tests at White Sands in 1993

with NASA center director Yoji Kondo

Lecturing in Pisa, Italy on the future of Space Colonization

THE AGE OF ASGARDIA !

If I am elected to become one of Asgardia's debutants I will listen to the wants and needs of all when voting for higher elected officials and policies. I will not be swayed by those who want to gain power for their own selfish agendas.

I will do my best to make the Asgardian nation the best It can be.

I believe Asgardia needs to leave behind all the B. S. that the current nations deal with today. Our new nation needs to be a nation devoted to the safety, advancement, evolution, and prosperity of the one race that matters; the human race.

This will be just one of the many steps it will take for our species to become an interplanetary one.

I would like to be elected to hold office in Asgardia, I've lead teams of 2-25 men and women while in the Military and teams of 2-20 Engineers (Hardware, Software and Systems Engineers) and Technicians in the Aerospace industry. I get things done and I am always learning new things to improve myself and those that I lead.

I am educated and constantly back in school taking courses in Engineering, software and cyber security and other fun and informative courses. I have a B.S. Degree in IT, Certifications in Electronics and Avionics as well as Cyber Security and management/leadership certifications. I'm currently working on my Masters Degree in Engineering Management.

I would like the chance to get this Great New Nation off the ground and running. I will work to improve our Constitution, Work to get funding for the Space Station, Work with other Earth Nations to improve space flight safety and make it more accessable to everyone. I can see adding Term Limits to the Constitution for both MPs and the Head of State. Call for Free and Fare elections, Proper Educational system for the masses (to include Primary School and Secondary School - University. A limit on donations to MP's.

I believe humanity is on the cusp of a new dawn of exploration, technology and understanding. We must work together for the betterment of humanity. We must reach a deeper level of love, peace and understanding between all peoples.

Please vote for me for strong leadership and a new future.

I will get to the holding office in a foreign country, part later. But I will continue to run for office

I will fight for you and your rights!

Thank you for your consideration!

My name is David Shahal. I am 43 years old. I ama father of one 6 year old  son, and stepfather to a 12 year old girl and 11 year old boy. I am not married but engaged to the mother of all three children.

I am a full time Engineer, Systems Engineer to be exact. I work in Aerospace for the commercial airline industry. I also love to tinker with electronics and mechanical equipment as well as software coding/programming.

I have always been interested in Space and love Astronomy, physics and all things science related.

Asgardia is an important project for humanity that needs strong leaders and vision to become real. I'm an experienced media professional who writes and makes films about science and our future. I know how to get more people to join us in Asgardia and hope you vote for me. Check out some of my writing at http://paulratnerimagines.com and films at http://micromikefilm.com and http://filmsbygiants.com

Asgardia offers us all the chance to start anew in beautiful space. Though, we can only hope for the best in our ventures. There's also the chance of encountering problems, new species, new diseases, new enemies etc. Though, this may sound like science fiction to some, and many will be physically taken back by the sight of an another intelligent species. But, It will become a reality in the near future. I believe I can tackle these problems head on. With my skill set I can help Asgardia in being organized, strategic and ready for the unknown at all times. All matters will always be handled with compassion and empathy, as we want to develop friendships with other species and continue on our voyage. Many call me a foreshadower as I'm always planning and organizing for the future, both personal and professional. My interests and skills include business, finance, politics, psychology, US & world history, learning new languages, drawing/photoshop, hiking, public speaking, writing, meditating, reiki, film & photography editing. I'm a fast learner and I promise to always serve the people.

VOTE FOR ME!
Thanks, Asgardians.