Editing Rusty Schweickart (section)

== Post-NASA career ==
[[File:Astronaut panel (28012960590).jpg|thumb|Schweickart and [[Alexei Leonov]] at the 2016 [[Starmus Festival]]]]

Schweickart then served for two years as [[California Governor]] [[Jerry Brown]]'s assistant for science and technology before being appointed by Brown to the [[California Energy Commission]] for five and a half years.<ref name="NASA-bio Rusty Schweickart"/><ref name="Pacific Sun-2004.07.07" />

Inspired by his friendship with [[Michael Murphy (author)|Michael Murphy]] and involvement in the [[Esalen Institute]]'s Soviet-American Exchange Program, Schweickart established the [[Association of Space Explorers]] (ASE) in 1984–85 along with [[cosmonaut]]s [[Alexei Leonov]], [[Vitaly Sevastyanov]], and [[Georgi Grechko]]; the organization is open to all people who have flown in orbit around the Earth.<ref name="NASA-bio Rusty Schweickart"/> He also chaired the ASE's [[near-Earth object]] committee, which produced a benchmark report and submitted it to the [[United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space]] (UN COPUOS) on ''Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.space.com/3855-astronaut-nasa-asteroid-report-flawed.html|last1=David|first1=Leonard|publisher=Space.com|access-date=December 2, 2017|date=May 27, 2007|title=Ex-Astronaut Says NASA Asteroid Report Flawed|archive-date=December 4, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204114535/https://www.space.com/3855-astronaut-nasa-asteroid-report-flawed.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Schweickart retired from ALOHA Networks, Inc. in 1998 where he served as [[President (corporate title)|President]] and [[Chief Executive Officer]] from 1996 through 1998. ALOHA was a data communications company specializing in high performance, wireless internet access equipment.<ref name="NASA-bio Rusty Schweickart"/>

Schweickart was formerly the Executive [[Vice President]] of CTA Commercial Systems, Inc. and Director of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Systems. Schweickart led CTA's efforts in developing the GEMnet system, a second generation LEO communication satellite constellation designed to provide regular commercial electronic messaging services on a global basis. Prior to his CTA work, Schweickart founded and was President of Courier Satellite Services, Inc., a global satellite communications company that developed LEO satellites to provide worldwide affordable data services.<ref name="NASA-bio Rusty Schweickart"/>

Schweickart's satellite and telecommunications work involved him in the development of international communications regulations and policies, including participation in the 1992 and 1995 [[World Radiocommunication Conference]]s (WRC) of the [[International Telecommunication Union]] (ITU). He served at the 1995 WRC as a U.S. delegate. He also worked extensively in Russia and the former [[Soviet Union]] on scientific and telecommunications matters.<ref name="NASA-bio Rusty Schweickart" />

In 2002 he co-founded the [[B612 Foundation]] along with fellow former-astronaut [[Ed Lu]] and two planetary scientists, also serving as its Chair.<ref name="spacekillergiant">{{cite web |last1=Wall |first1=Mike |title=How Humanity Could Deflect a Giant Killer Asteroid |url=https://www.space.com/23530-killer-asteroid-deflection-saving-humanity.html |website=[[Space.com]] |publisher=[[Future plc]] |access-date=April 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428070130/https://www.space.com/23530-killer-asteroid-deflection-saving-humanity.html |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |date=November 22, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="B612-bio Rusty Schweickart">[http://sentinelmission.org/portfolio/rusty-schweickart/?id=263 Our Team | Rusty Schweickart, Chair Emeritus] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714173442/http://sentinelmission.org/portfolio/rusty-schweickart/?id=263 |date=July 14, 2014 }}, B612 Foundation, SentinelMission.org website. Retrieved June 29, 2014.</ref> The [[B612 Foundation]] is a non-profit dedicated to defending Earth from [[Earth impact|asteroid impacts]].<ref name="spacekillergiant" />

In May 2005 Schweickart testified before the [[U.S. Congress]] on the dangers of an asteroid impact related to [[99942 Apophis]]. and in 2010 served as the co-chairman, along with astronaut [[Thomas David Jones|Tom Jones]], NASA Advisory Council's ''ad hoc'' Task Force on Planetary Defense.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/about/planetarydefense_taskforce.html|title=NASA Advisory Council Ad-Hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense|access-date=October 26, 2010|archive-date=July 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712045637/http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/about/planetarydefense_taskforce.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> He has been an advocate of increasing NASA's annual budget by $250M–$300M over a 10-year period to more fully catalog the NEOs that can pose a threat to Earth and also provide a deflection capability.<ref name="New York Times-2010.10.25">Schweickart, Russell; Johnson, Erik T. (illustrator) [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/opinion/26schweickart.html Humans to Asteroids: Watch Out!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125011725/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/opinion/26schweickart.html |date=January 25, 2021 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'' website, October 25, 2010, and in print on October 26, 2010, p. A29 of the New York edition. Retrieved July 4, 2014.</ref>

Schweickart has also spoken and taught at the [[Esalen Institute]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Esalen's Half Century of Pioneering Cultural Initiatives 1962 to 2012|author1=Michael Murphy|author2=Jay Ogilvy|author3=Keith Thompson|author4=Stanislav Grof|author5=Don H. Johnson|author6=Joseph Montville|author7=Jeff Kirpal|author8=Gordon Wheeler|author9=Frank Poletti|author10=Jane Hartford|url=https://www.esalen.org/sites/default/files/resource_attachments/Esalen-CTR-Pioneering-Cultural-Initiatives.pdf|website=esalen.org|access-date=July 13, 2017|archive-date=August 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807192403/https://www.esalen.org/sites/default/files/resource_attachments/Esalen-CTR-Pioneering-Cultural-Initiatives.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and currently serves as the B612 Foundation's [[Chair Emeritus]].<ref name="B612-bio Rusty Schweickart" />