Space Policy

Isaih Rivas

The US Space Policy is a public policy that deals with space exploration. It includes civilian,
military and commercial programs. The biggest conflict for supporters of the space program are with
the with funding. The supporters believe there is not enough money spent on the programs and those
against it believe we should not be wasting our resources on space. The space program was at its height
in the 1960's during the Apollo program sending humans to the moon. Since then the US space identity
has been lowered in the eyes of many scientist and citizens. The rest of the world is starting to catch up.
We are still a world leader in space but our early accomplishments have let down many people in
because we have not accomplished as much as expected. We have not been back to the moon the
government has cut the NASA budget many times and the shuttle programs have been canceled. Today
the only way to get Americans in space is to rely on other nations. Many people see the space program
has been a waste of money, I disagree space programs have brought a plethora of benefits and
advancements in many areas of science and I believe we should invest more funds and have more
public support for the space programs.
During the cold war with Russia, the US space policy had the challenge of landing us on the
Moon which inspired generations of human beings and created a culture of people looking and
dreaming toward the future. This era helped craft the identity of the United States. The people of that
time had expectations of pushing further into the frontier with possibilities of creating cities on the
Moon or colonizing Mars. The World Fair in New York which was all about the future of tomorrow.
But these dreams would not be carried out because Russia the enemy was not ready to land on the
Moon and US had no interest to go further into the cosmos. We did not go to the Moon for science but
because of the cold war. We needed to be the best and could not let Russia over take our spot as a world
power. Just like after WWII when the US became a world power, the cold war was driver that led the
US into a leader of Space exploration. Russia was unable to achieve the feat of landing on the Moon so
we have stopped going to the Moon and the dreams of tomorrow have been lost. Today the

underfunded space program has still made contributions to science, society and culture but it feels like
a missed opportunity for advancement of technology, science and culture.
After the Apollo program the identity changed from being the nation that did the impossible to
the nation that is still the best but is not reaching for the stars. We did not make huge leaps but we
maintained. One of the identities the US took post Apollo Era was of the space shuttles. The shuttle
programs took the US back to space. It helped create cheaper human space travel which would be in
the interest of the us government. As they look for ways to cheapen the cost of space. The space policy
of the Space Shuttles also had conflict over the risk and danger involved. We see this from the
Challenger and Columbia Disasters. The space shuttle Columbia exploded shortly after take off killing
all members of the shuttle. Similarly the Columbia shuttle was destroyed during reentry of the earths
atmosphere, space shuttle flight was delayed for two years after this. Both events had political
repercussions. Funding was tightened down but the program recovered and continued until it was
retired in 2010. Many were upset over the retirement of the Shuttle Program.
Today under the space policy of Obama many have mixed responses George W Bush had a
plan to return to the Moon and continue the Space Shuttle programs until the ISS was finished he called
it the Constellation program as written on NASA.gov. Bush planned to expand human and robotic
space exploration. Barrack Obama canceled the Constellation program ending the hopes of a return to
the Moon. This decision upset many people. Among those upset were Neil Armstrong Commander of
the Apollo 11 missions. In a written letter with two other Apollo commanders they state.
it appears that we will have wasted our current ten plus billion dollar investment in
Constellation and, equally importantly, we will have lost the many years required to recreate the
equivalent of what we have discarded
Obama says we have already been to the Moon and decided it would be better if we sent man to Mars
his space policy hopes to send humans in orbit of mars by 2030. With his space policy of canceling the
shuttle programs canceling a return mission to the Moon some believe Obama has weakened the US a

leader of space and other countries will catch up or become the new leaders of space and technology.
I do wish for a return mission to the Moon. People don't stop climbing Mt Everest because another has
already made it to the top before them. I think it would be good to keep pushing ourselves and our
technology to create innovation. I don't think the US see's the Moon as an interest so I would be
difficult to get their for the sake of discovery and science. We would need another Cold War or space
race to propel a mission like this. One positive and important goal under Obama's space policy is a call
for international cooperation to clean up the space junk or debris that orbits the earth as written by
Rebbeca Boyle on popsci.com she mentions that we have been sending our junk to space for many
decades and it has created a mess up in space. It is a safety hazard to satellites, space stations and
future missions into low earth orbit. This debris can also interrupt performance of the of these satellites.
These satellites our so important to us because we rely so heavily on them for communication, gps,
military and civilian purposes. Other goals under the Obama policy listed on the whitehouse.gov are
Energize competitive domestic industries, Expand international cooperation, strengthen stability in
space, Increase assurance and resilience of mission-essential functions, Pursue human and robotic
initiatives, Improve space-based Earth and solar observations..
Today the identity and state of the US has moved into the technology age. It appears the Obama
space policy has moved that direction as well because there are no plans for the US to have a ferry
system sending humans into low earth orbit until 2030. We have robots doing science for us. We have
space probes orbiting planets, dwarf planets, asteroids and comets. And rovers on Mars with another
rover mission to be sent in 2020. I can understand how they would cancel the shuttle programs because
robots have an easier time surviving the vacuum of space. And there is not much benefit human has
over a robot. One place where a human would be better than a robot is Mars. The amount of work a
Rover could do in a week is equivalent to the amount of work a human could do in a minute. In 2013
the Obama Space Policy has cut funds of planetary science by 20%. I believe this is the wrong thing to
do. Our probes and rovers have done great things for us. This may reduce the lifespan of some of our

robots and even prevent future robotic missions from every happening. I don't like this fund cut
because planetary science is important for space and earth science. It can help us understand our planet
better which would help us make decision on important issues such as climate change
One of the biggest concerns against he space programs and their policy is money. Many believe
we should not use resources for space exploration and they believe it to be a waste, when we could use
those resources to help solve our problems on earth today. Some of these problems could be global
warming, global deforestation, war, new clean energy investment or even medical issues. The truth is
our space program is underfunded. Compared with other budgets and spending we can see this is true.
Phd student Steven Haroz created an infographic that shows the defense budget of 2011 which
approached $900 billion was greater than the combined $800 billion 50 year history of NASA budgets.
During a 2011 Las Vegas Panel astrophysicist Neil Tyson had an outburst about a claim that we can't
afford human space travel.
When you look at the NASA budget I'm tired of saying this but I have to say it again. The
NASA budget is 4/10 of one penny on a tax dollar. If I help up the tax dollar and cut into horizontally
4/10 of 1 percent of its width it doesn't even get you into the ink. So I will not accept a statement that
says WE CAN'T AFFORD IT! Tyson argues its not about us being able to afford it but its the policy of
the government not having interest in the space program. A NASA infographic shown on a
dailytech.com article written by Jason Mick shows During the Apollo era the NASA budget was around
5% of the federal budget the sharp decline after the cold war that leads it to where it is today at .5% of
the federal budget. I don't understand how something so important with benefits to science, technology
culture and society, every day life and the economy could be so underfunded and under appreciated.
We first went to the Moon because of the Cold war. Now we have the top military in the world I can't
see another country pushing us like the Russians did. This means we might be stagnant with our space
program not advancing rapidly because of a threat. It will be up to the public to push for support of the
space program.

The space program has also proved beneficial to the economy. Congress created the spin off
program where the space technology could be used for secondary applications throughout the world
such as, better laser eye surgery, memory foam for mattresses safety helmet gear. Fire protection gear
that firefighters can use and more. It also employees workers which will that money back to the
economy. NASA estimated the Apollo program that sent humans to the Moon employed 400,000
scientist and engineers. Shortly after the Curiosity Rover landed on mars Charles Bolden NASA
administrator wrote a blog post about the mission to mars and recalled the 7,000 employed across 31
states were needed for this job. This shows that the funds are not wasted but returned to the economy.
In the new future Space Policy will possibly include asteroid mining because of the interest there. One
asteroid named Amun 3554 has been an estimated worth of $20 trillion in platinum and gold as written
on Space.com by Mike Wall I believe these kind of interest would give support back to the space
program and its policies. We invest in space and will be paid back through economic value, knowledge,
technology, industry growth and society and cultural gains.
In conclusion The Space Policy goes as the country goes. Each president can affect the space
program meaning goals can change often and unfairly. There is not a concrete mission that can be
passed down the presidency because our knowledge of space is changing constantly. We may discover
and asteroid or comet set to impact the earth. that calls for immediate attention. Some presidents might
see this as not being a threat so have no policy for it. Some times the Space Policy changes how we
work with other nations like the Space Policy of Obama and his call for international cooperation. The
space policy is dynamic and constantly changing. A lot of this change has to do with funding, some
presidents support the space programs with greater funding which led to greater accomplishments for
all of humanity. Without support the Space Policy is weakened and unable to accomplish the greatest
task ahead of us. Today we are sustaining but need the public support.

Works Cited
1) Boyle R. 2010, June,29 Obama announced Space Policy:Down with space debris up
with international cooperation. .retrieved from
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-06/obama-space-policy-short-explorationdetails-long-international-cooperation
2. Nasa.gov 2004,January,14 President Bush Offers New Vision For Nasa
retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/bush_vision.html
3. Haroz S. 2012, Nov 5 Science and war visualizing us budget priorities. Retrieved from
http://steveharoz.com/blog/2012/science-and-war-visualizing-u-s-budget-priorities/
4. Wall. M.2013, Jan 23. Asteroid mining could pave way for interstellar flight. Retrieved from
http://www.space.com/19388-asteroid-mining-interstellar-flight.html
5. Whitehouse.gov 2010 June 28. National Space Policy of the United States of America.
Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/national_space_policy_6-2810.pdf