In his seminal television series Cosmos, the late Dr. Carl Sagan drew a comparison between the Atlantic Ocean that stood in the way of explorers such as Columbus centuries ago and the limits of outer space as we came to know them in the 20th century.
George W. Bush’s (“Bush Jr.’s”) two-term presidency and his national space policy were largely shaped by two tragic events: the terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, and the disintegration of the Columbia space shuttle in 2003.
To understand U.S. space policy, it is important to provide the context for modern challenges and future recommendations by reviewing the history of national space policy in the United States.
The United States National Space Policy is the product of the federal government’s effort to set the direction for the national space program. Throughout the history of the American space program, an evolution in space policy — and the process that creates it — has occurred.
On May 6, 1968, astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, then assigned as backup commander for the Apollo 9 mission, took off on a simulated lunar landing mission in LLRV-1 from Ellington Air Force Base in Houston on his 22nd flight of the test vehicle.
It could be called “A Tale of Two Logos”: From 1975 to 1992, NASA’s primary branding was the sleek and stylish “worm,” so named because of the connectedness of the lettering.
This week in 1970, the People’s Republic of China successfully launched its first space satellite called the Dong Fang Hong I (translated as “The East Is Red 1”).
This week in 2015, SpaceX CRS-6 (Commercial Resupply Service) launched SLC-40 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to fly supplies to the International Space Station.