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2025 NASA Space Race 2025 NASA Space Race Background Guide Written by: Hunter Lantzman and Adam Smith, Case Western Reserve University ​ History of Space Governance In 1966, the members of the United Nations passed the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and other Celestial Bodies, or the Outer Space Treaty for short. The resolution was primarily considered by the three nations with some spacecraft technologies at the time: the United States, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom. This treaty built on the Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, passed in 1963, but provided some key new provisions to the treaty, namely that: ● “the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind; ● outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States; ● outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means; ● States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner; ● the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes; ● astronauts shall be regarded as the envoys of mankind; ● States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities; ● States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects; and ● States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.”1 1http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html Overall, this treaty established a basis for there being no territorial claims in outer space and for the peaceful exploration of space that was set to occur in the late 1960s/early 1970s. While these guiding ideals for space treaties have held over the years, the United States moon landing in 1969 made it necessary for a slightly revised document to address the the Moon. The Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies was passed in 1979, then put into effect in 1984. This agreement “reaffirms and elaborates on many of the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty as applied to the Moon and other celestial bodies, providing that those bodies should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes, that their environments should not be disrupted, that the United Nations should be informed of the location and purpose of any station established on those bodies. In addition, the Agreement provides that the Moon and its natural resources are the common heritage of mankind and that an international regime should be established to govern the exploitation of such resources when such exploitation is about to become feasible.”2 Strong precedents have been set in the past for the peaceful uses of outer space and the diplomatic relations in space by nations with outer space capabilities. The committee should strongly consider these UN regulations when taking into account actions in the international sphere, especially negotiating with foreign entities. History of NASA Before the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the agency known as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was established in 1915 to promote aeronautical research in the United States. Through the 1930s and 1940s, NACA provided the US Army Air Corps and Air Force with vital aeronautic breakthroughs and designs for famous planes like the B-17 Flying Fortress and the P-51 Mustang3. With the advent of advanced rocketry and ballistics, the US saw a strategic interest in expanding its capabilities into space with the National Aeronautics and Space Act in 1958. Prior to this, the Soviet Union had launched its first satellite, Sputnik4. With the Cold War mounting, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958 for the purpose of peaceful 2http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/intromoon-agreement.html 3 https://history.nasa.gov/naca/overview.html 4https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/explorer/sputnik-20071002.html civilian space applications. NASA began its mandate with 8,000 employees, $100 million in annual budget, and 5 research laboratories5. One of NASA’s earliest missions, Project Mercury, was to get a person into ​ ​ Earth orbit as a scientific show of force against the USSR. Adapted from the US Air Force’s Man in Space Soonest program, NASA began training test pilots for this important space milestone. While history was made for the first space orbit by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in April 1961, former Navy pilot Alan Shepard became the first American in space in May 1961, and John Glenn,the first American to orbit the Earth in February 19626. Project Mercury ended in 1963. Not only had it ​ ​ paved the way for scientific excellence seen in later NASA programs, but it also served as a national source of pride, compared to the previous decade which saw serious doubts if NASA could produce results. As a response to the growing dominance of the Soviet space program, NASA launched Project Gemini and the Apollo Program in 1961. President John F. ​ ​ Kennedy was perhaps the US’s biggest proponent of space exploration, realizing its potential for both cooperation and competition between the world’s two superpowers. On May 25th, 1961, Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress to send a man to the moon7. Between 1961 and 1967, the operating budget of NASA grew over 400%, reaching 4.4% of the US’ national budget in 19668. While Project Gemini had the objectives of extending the duration of manned Earth orbit ​ and space rendezvous, the Apollo program had the lofty goal of setting a man on the moon. Project Gemini resulted in the first American to do an extravehicular walk ​ ​ outside a spacecraft in 1965, paving the way for a manned lunar landing. Despite Project Gemini’s great successes, the Apollo 1 mission became the ​ ​ first setback for the program. In February 1967, a cabin fire in the Apollo 1 resulted in the death of the three crew members and launched a massive Congressional investigation into NASA’s safety procedures. As a result of the investigation, Congress formed the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) to prevent additional accidents in future NASA missions9. The Apollo 8 mission in 1968 saw the first manned mission in orbit around the Moon along with two more successful missions for flight maneuvers. By July 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins became the three member team to first set foot upon the moon. In the six subsequent Apollo space flights, twelve more men would walk on the moon, collecting lunar samples and taking other lunar data. In 1972, the Apollo 17 became the final mission to land on the lunar surface. 5 "T. KEITH GLENNAN". NASA. August 4, 2006. ​ ​ 6https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mercury/missions/program-toc.html 7https://www.nasa.gov/feature/john-f-kennedy-and-nasa 8https://www.nasa.gov/feature/john-f-kennedy-and-nasa 9 https://www.space.com/17338-apollo-1.html The Apollo program is regarded as one of humanity’s greatest technological achievements at the time. It was also one of the costliest American programs, accounting for $213 billion dollars, adjusted for inflation10. The following years saw the development of permanent space laboratories, like Skylab in 1973 and the joint Apollo-Soyuz test project in 1975. These projects would serve as a prelude towards the development of the International Space Station (ISS) in 1993 as a joint project between the European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Canadian Space Agency as well as the joint Soviet/Russian - American modules. The project launched in 1993, and the first sections of the station were set up in November 1998. The ISS serves as the premier international laboratory for space experimentation, with additional sections slated for addition in 2019. Topics for Concern Space Force On July 18, 2018, President Donald J. Trump announced the creation of what he calls the “Space Force” in front of the National Space Council, set to be a sixth military force of the United States. While the United States military does work in space currently, using satellites and other tracking technologies to assist troops on the ground and in the air, the Space Force, while vaguely defined, would have a more specific purpose. The Space Force “would be much more focused on imposing ​ military influence on current space traffic, which is mostly unmanned spacecraft (satellites, by and large), and also consolidating the way items in space are used to guide and assist military operations on the surface of the planet.”11 Having a devoted branch of the military to assist with space defense would still technically fall under the purview of NASA due to its interstellar capacity. So why the Space Force? Reports from the US government state that space is a “war-fighting domain”12, and that other nations such as Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China are already treating it as such. While no country is able to stock weapons in space, per UN treaties, some nations have been able to circumvent this to do light military testing on their own satellites. In 2007, for example, China was able to shoot down their own satellite, as part of a military exercise.13 Nations have the ability to conduct warfare in space, an important consideration to take into account when pursuing international action. 10https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_18-16_Apollo_Program_Budget_Appropriations.htm 11https://www.cnet.com/news/trump-space-force-is-moving-forward-heres-what-you-need-to-know 12 Ibid.
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