REACHING THE BEYOND
NASA’s Quest for United states’ national interest
Master’s Thesis
North American Studies
University of Leiden
Written by Yuri Peeters
June 21, 2021
Supervisor: Prof Dr G Scott-Smith
Second Reader: Dr L Milevski
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters (S3019500) – MA Thesis
i
Acknowledgments
This thesis is written as a final research paper for the Master’s program of North American Studies at the Leiden University in Leiden, the Netherlands.
The reason for choosing this topic comes from my interest in space, especially after seeing several space movies (such as Interstellar and First Man) and visiting both NASA sites in Houston,
Texas, and Cape Canaveral, Florida. Furthermore, I did not have much knowledge on the importance of NASA as a U.S. agency and wanted to find out if NASA is of significant importance to U.S. national interest and U.S. politics.
Finally, I would like to thank Professor Dr. Giles Scott-Smith, who has supported, given advice, feedback and guidance, and supervised the research during the time it was written. I would also like to thank Dr. Lukas Milevski, who was chosen as the second reader for this thesis. Finally,
I would like to give a special thanks to my parents and sister, who supported and gave their feedback on the thesis, as well as friend and ally Isa ten Klei, who supported me during the writing process.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis ii
Abstract
Limited research has been conducted on the influence of NASA space programs on U.S. national interest. While some researchers have focused on the influence of space exploration on U.S. national interest in general, most research on this subject has also focused solely on American presidents. This thesis aims to analyze how U.S. Congress between 2000-2020 has argued how
NASA space exploration programs have been significant towards U.S. national interests. In the context of U.S. national interest, this research focuses on five different themes of U.S. national interest that have been previously analyzed to be important in space exploration: space competition, American leadership, American prestige, international collaboration, and new paradigm (progressiveness).
This thesis has analyzed U.S. Congress reports between 2000-2020 to find out which themes of national interest Congress find most important for NASA space programs. These reports were selected after searching for key terms from NASA space programs, including but not limited to: Apollo, Space Shuttle, Mars, NASA. The results showed that Congress between 2000-2020 consider NASA programs have been significantly important in enhancing American prestige and
U.S. progressiveness.
The results concluded that Congress considers NASA and its space programs to be important towards inspiring future generations to work in science, mathematics, and technology.
Furthermore, the results have concluded that NASA and their space programs unite the nation, which in turn increases the nation to accomplish and achieve larger goals. However, since 2015, space competition has significantly increased, which might cause future Congress to think differently on which theme of national interest should or is considered most important to the U.S.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis iii
Preface
As this thesis was written for the Master North American studies, the research can be used for future students following a similar study. The thesis can also be used for future studies concerning the United States and space exploration. In addition, the thesis will give further information on one of the most well-known independent agencies in the United States: NASA. Thirdly, the thesis will highlight several themes of U.S. national interests that can be used for research on U.S. space exploration, as well as on the U.S. national interest in a broader concept. Furthermore, the research will specifically focus on U.S. Congress between 2000 and 2020, which the reader can further use for future studies contributing to the U.S. government or Congress. Finally, the research can be used in a historical context on certain events of the United States, due to the analysis of past NASA programs. Therefore, the thesis will make a contribution to existing scholarship on U.S. space exploration, NASA, U.S national interests, and U.S. history.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis iv
Abbreviation List
NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
CSST – Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
ESA – European Space Agency
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis v
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ...... i
Abstract ...... ii
Preface ...... iii
Abbreviation List ...... iv
Table of Contents ...... v
Introduction ...... 1
Research Goal ...... 5
Historiography ...... 7
Methodology ...... 12
Thesis Structure ...... 16
Chapter 1 – U.S. National interest in Space Exploration ...... 17
1-1 Themes of US National Interest in Space Exploration ...... 17
1-1-1 Space Competition ...... 19
1-1-2 American Leadership ...... 21
1-1-3 American Prestige ...... 23
1-1-4 International Collaboration ...... 26
1-1-5 New Paradigm ...... 29
1-1-6 Conclusion ...... 32
1-2 Public Law 110-422 NASA Authorization Act of 2008 ...... 33
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis vi
Chapter 2 – U.S. Congress and Past NASA Missions ...... 36
2-1 Apollo Program (1961-1972) ...... 36
2-1-1- Space Competition ...... 39
2-1-2 American Leadership ...... 40
2-1-3 American Prestige ...... 41
2-1-4 International Collaboration ...... 45
2-1-5 New Paradigm ...... 46
2-1-6 Conclusion ...... 49
2-2 Space Shuttle Program (1981-2011) ...... 51
2-2-1 Space Competition ...... 55
2-2-2 American Leadership ...... 57
2-2-3 American Prestige ...... 57
2-2-4 International Collaboration ...... 60
2-2-5 New Paradigm ...... 61
2-2-6 Conclusion ...... 64
2-3 Conclusion ...... 66
Chapter 3 – U.S. Congress and the Future of NASA ...... 68
3-1 Mars Exploration Program (1993-Current) ...... 68
3-1-1 Space Competition ...... 71
3-1-2 American Leadership ...... 72
3-1-3 American Prestige ...... 73
3-1-4 International Collaboration ...... 76
3-1-5 New Paradigm ...... 77
3-1-6 Conclusion ...... 80
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis vii
3-2 The Future of NASA ...... 81
3-2-1 Conclusion ...... 84
3-3 Conclusion ...... 85
Chapter 4 – Conclusion ...... 87
Bibliography ...... 92
Appendix ...... 99
Appendix 1 – Congress Reports ...... 99
Apollo Program (1961-1972) ...... 99
Space Shuttle Program (1981-2011) ...... 101
Mars Exploration Program (1993-Current) ...... 103
Additional Sources ...... 105
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 1
Introduction
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”1 – Neil Armstrong
Tension filled the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Mission Control room as flight controllers and directors held their eyes on the monitors during the slow descend of Apollo
Lunar Module Eagle towards the lunar dust. At the same time, millions of television viewers and listeners on radios around the world held their breath. This moment, on Sunday 20th of July 1969, could define United States’ and NASA’s future in space exploration. The tension on earth and in space could be cut with a knife. Finally, the releasing words of Tranquility Base filled Mission
Control: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed”2. NASA and the United States have become the first to successfully have a man land on the Moon. The Moon landing of Apollo 11 became a historical triumph that showed both scientific and technological progress and highlighted the United States’ national interest as being one of the most powerful and leading nations in the world3. Furthermore, the Moon landing showed the success and importance of
NASA as a space agency.
1 Neil Armstrong, “Landing of the Moon” (20 July, 1969), in First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, edited by James
R. Hansen (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005): 482. E-Book.
2 Neil Armstrong, “Landing on the Moon”, 463.
3 Alan Shephard and Deke Slayton, Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America’s Apollo Moon Landings. (New York: Open
Road, 2011): 291.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 2
Since its establishment in 1958, NASA has been an important organization regarding space exploration. Over the years, NASA not only played an important role in technological and scientific development in the United States and internationally, but also played a critical role in important historical events, such as the Cold War. Through different space programs, such as the Apollo missions, Space Shuttle Program, and its Mars Exploration Program, NASA has been at the forefront of international media and has been a representation of certain national interests of the
United States.
The Moon landing of 1969, also known as the climax of the Apollo missions, became one of the most important events in Cold War history. This showed how important NASA’s establishment was on United States’ (national) interest. Not only did the success of the Moon landing show the technological and scientific advancement of the United States, but the mission also was important for the United States to take the lead in the ongoing power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. Furthermore, the Moon landing mission would focus on pushing humankind further than it has before. This was further highlighted in President John F.
Kennedy’s speech at the Space Center Houston:
“We choose to go to the Moon—we choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the
other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will
serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 3
one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we
intend to win.”4 (John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962).
The Moon landing became one of the more important turning points of the Cold War in favor of the United States, as the United States proved why they are one of the most influential and powerful nations of the world by landing the first man on the Moon. This shows how important
NASA has been since its first mission in establishing U.S. national interest.
After the Moon landing, NASA and the U.S. government kept establishing new programs to enhance the United States’ position in space exploration, scientific and technological development, and the United States’ power position. The United States used different NASA programs, such as the Space Shuttle Program and the Mars Exploration Program, to establish certain national interests that were deemed important to the U.S. in the period. These programs, leading up to the 21st Century, have therefore become a principal key to NASA’s function in U.S. national interest.
In the 21st Century, the U.S. Congress, consisting of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, has looked back at NASA’s programs as an evaluation for the future of space exploration. While there has already been some research on U.S. national interest in space exploration, the relationship between U.S. national interest and NASA itself has often been overlooked. Therefore, the goal of the research is to find out how the U.S. Congress between 2000-
4 Douglas Brinkley, American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race. (New York: Harper Collins, 2019):
478.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 4
2020 argues the relevance of past and future NASA programs concerning U.S. national interest in relation to justifying continued space exploration.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 5
Research Goal
While U.S. involvement in space exploration has been active since the Cold War, there is still no clear argument on how NASA’s programs were used and chosen by the U.S. government in favor of U.S. national interest. Furthermore, much of the previous research focuses solely on U.S.
Presidential speeches and the connection the speeches make between NASA, space exploration, and U.S. national interest. As the U.S. Congress also has a significant role to play in U.S. policies and NASA funding, it is important to find out how Congress evaluates NASA as a useful agency towards enhancing U.S. national interest. Finally, it is also important to analyze how U.S. Congress justifies continuing NASA’s funding for space exploration programs by looking at past NASA programs. Therefore, this thesis will focus on the following research question:
How have NASA space exploration programs been argued to enhance U.S. national interest by the U.S. Congress between 2000-2020?
To be able to answer the research question, it is important to understand three key factors related to this topic. First of all, it is important to understand the term ‘national interest’ in the context of NASA space exploration. This will be done by using the research conducted by Dora
Holland and Jack O. Burns as a cornerstone for explaining the most important themes that define
U.S. national interest. Secondly, it is worth knowing how U.S. Congress between 2000-2020 looks back at past NASA programs of the 20th Century concerning U.S. national interest. This will be done by analyzing two important space programs from NASA: the Apollo missions and the Space Shuttle program. These programs have been chosen based on their importance in representing U.S. leadership in space exploration and their influence on future programs regarding U.S. national interest. These two programs are based on a “first to achieve” goal, in which the United States
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 6 wanted to become the first nation to land on the Moon during the Apollo missions and provide safe access to space for human operations and explorations through the Space Shuttle Program.
Finally, the research will analyze whether the Apollo and the Space Shuttle missions have had a certain influence on the Mars Exploration Program and future NASA programs according to U.S.
Congress.
As the U.S. Congress is the main focus for this research, it is important to acknowledge that many sources and references in the analysis will therefore relate to only the U.S. Congress. While the links between U.S. Congress and other parties will certainly be discussed (think of U.S.
Presidents, certain U.S. policies, or the American people), the research will not go in-depth in these other perspectives to remain a clear focus on U.S. Congress.
To give a further clearer structure towards the research, the following sub-questions have been created:
- How does U.S. Congress between 2000-2020 asses past NASA programs for the
enhancement of U.S. national interest?
- How does Congress between 2000-2020 justify the continuing of space exploration based
on previous NASA missions?
- What does U.S. Congress consider important factors for the future of space exploration
regarding U.S. national interest?
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 7
Historiography
The launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 on the 4th of October in 1957 became the starting point for space exploration and space competition in the United States. Seen as a scientific and technological wonder, many nations applauded the Soviet Union for their achievement5.
However, many nations also feared that this achievement would have an effect on the ongoing
Cold War between Communist Soviet Union and the Democratic United States. According to Yanek
Mieczkowsi, this fear of Soviet progressiveness from other nations influenced the American people to push the U.S. government to invest in space exploration and eventually forced Eisenhower to invest in U.S. space exploration. Mark E. Byrnes agrees with Mieczkowski’s argument and further elaborates that Eisenhower wanted to create an organization to gain more presidential control over space exploration6. This led President Eisenhower to propose the establishment of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 19587. Not long after the proposal, U.S.
Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958.
When looking at U.S. national interest in space exploration, it is also important to understand how national interest is interpreted. In their research on Presidential speeches, scholars Dora Holland and Jack O. Burns analyzed which important features of U.S. national
5 Yanek Mieczkowski, Eisenhower’s Sputnik Moment: The Race for Space and World Prestige. (New York: Cornell
University, 2013): 60.
6 Mark E. Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA. (Westport: Praeger Publishers, 1994): 27.
7 Mieczkowski, Eisenhower’s Sputnik Moment: The Race for Space and World Prestige, 60.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 8 interest were mentioned by U.S. Presidents since the inception of NASA8. Holland and Burns argue that there are five important U.S. national interests mentioned by U.S Presidents regarding space exploration between the late 1950s and early 2010s: competition (with the Soviet Union),
American prestige, international collaboration, American leadership, and progressiveness (or a new paradigm). According to Holland and Burns, the main national interest in space exploration changed over the span of sixty years. Researcher Hall agrees, and further highlights how motivations for NASA’s missions have changed from a competition with the Soviet Union during the Cold War towards science knowledge and space development in the early 21st Century9.
Academic John Krige takes a closer look at NASA and argues how large and how much power NASA has on the future political climate of the United States. As a large civilian space agency organization, NASA has many different stakeholders involved. John Krige mentions in his chapter
‘NASA as an Instrument of U.S. Foreign Policy’, that NASA stakeholders range from “scientists; engineers; research, development and launch facilities; industry; administrators; and many government agencies, not to speak of Congress and the U.S. taxpayer”10. Academic Joseph
Lorenzo Hall agrees with Krige’s argument on the uniqueness of the organization in size11. Hall
8 Dora Holland and Jack O. Burns, “The American Space Exploration Narrative From the Cold War Through the Obama
Administration” in Space Policy 46, (2018): 11.
9 Joseph Lorenzo Hall, “Columbia and Challenger: organizational failure at NASA”, in Space Policy 19, (2003): 240.
10 John Krige, “NASA as an Instrument of U.S. Foreign Policy”, in Societal Impact of Spaceflight, ed. Steven J. Dick and
Roger D. Launius, (Washington: NASA History Division, 2007): 207.
11 Hall, “Columbia and Challenger: organizational failure at NASA”, 240.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 9 states that while NASA is one of the smaller governmental agencies, NASA nevertheless runs on a large governmental budget and is the global leading organization in spaceflight and space science.
Focusing more on NASA’s power in the United States and internationally, Todd Harrison and Nahmyo Thomas argue in ‘NASA in the Second Space Age: Exploration, Partnering, and
Security’ that NASA’s (inter)national network relations and foreign collaborations over the years have been important towards the expansion of U.S. national power12. Furthermore, Harrison and
Thomas state that due to NASA’s global leadership in space science and technology, many other nations want to collaborate with NASA to also gain the symbol of prestige and power.
In his book Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, Mark E. Byrnes writes about NASA center director Wernher von Braun’s testimony before the U.S. Congress in 1960, where Von
Braun highlighted the importance of NASA for America’s well-being13. Byrnes argues that Von
Braun’s testimony was meant to share the image of how space programs would benefit the United
States as a nation. According to Byrnes, NASA’s establishment can be used to support U.S national interest in “national prestige, military requirements, scientific knowledge, or other purposes”14.
Deborah D. Stine agrees and adds that: “the compelling need to explore and discover; national defense; prestige and confidence in the U.S. scientific, technological, industrial, and military
12 Todd Harrison and Nahmyo Thomas, “NASA in the Second Space Age: Exploration, Partnering, and Security” in
Strategic Studies Quarterly 4, vol. 10, (2016): 3.
13 Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, 7.
14 Ibid, 7.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 10 systems; and scientific observation and experimentation”15 are all still important policies and have an influence on NASA’s priorities. Furthermore, researchers Harrison and Thomas add that NASA’s space programs can advance U.S. interest in human knowledge, increase U.S. allies and partners, and expand U.S. leadership16.
Looking from a different perspective, academic W. Henry Lambright states that not only
NASA influences national policy, but that national policy also influences space policy17. When discussing the ongoing Mars mission, Byrnes mentions how White House officials, scientists,
Congress, and the U.S President are all involved in the policymaking of the NASA mission.
Space exploration and the role of NASA is seemingly more complex than just a simple answer to the question: what purpose does NASA have for the national interest of the United
States? W. D Kay argues that there has not yet been any clear reasoning on the purpose of NASA as an agency18. While Congress does spend billions of dollars on space exploration to promote public interest, W. D. Kay questions what the U.S. government thinks that NASA furthermore represents?
15 Deborah D. Stine, “U.S. Civilian Space Policy Priorities: Reflections 50 Years After Sputnik” in Exploring the Final
Frontier: Issues, Plans and Funding for NASA, edited by Dillon S. Maguire (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2010):
129.
16 Harrison and Thomas, “NASA in the Second Space Age: Exploration, Partnering, and Security”, 3
17 W. Henry Lambright, Why Mars? NASA and the Politics of Space Exploration. (Maryland: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 2014): 11.
18 W. D. Kay, Defining NASA: The Historical Debate of the Agency’s Mission. (New York: State University of New York
Press, 2005): 4
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 11
W. Henry Lambright agrees with the complexity of NASA’s role; however, Lambright further argues on how important NASA is for the United States in his book Why Mars? NASA and the Politics of Space Exploration:
The people, institutions, politics, and policy behind the technical exploits get
relatively little attention. NASA’s role, although mentioned, is seldom addressed in
depth. What is significant is that the missions form part of an ongoing government
effort that has lasted over half a century and promises to extend indefinitely into
the distant future19.
19 Lambright, Why Mars?, 11.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 12
Methodology
This research will focus on how the U.S. Congress argues the importance of NASA for enhancing
U.S. national interest. Since there has been, even though very limited, research on U.S. Presidential speeches and their connection to NASA and U.S. national interest, this thesis will examine the connection of the U.S. Congress to NASA and U.S. national interest, as U.S. Congress also has significant influence (such as the funding) on NASA. As can be seen in the historiography, there has so far also been limited attention on NASA’s role in politics and for U.S. national interest.
Therefore, the examination of this research will be carried out using a qualitative analysis through primary sources (see below).
The U.S. Congress consists of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The
House of Representatives is the lower house of the U.S. Congress, whereas the Senate is the higher house of U.S. Congress20. House members are elected every two years and represent a district in a state, whereas Senators are elected every six-year terms and represent the full state.
Furthermore, there are 435 voting members in the House of Representatives compared to 100 senators (two of each state). The House follows certain procedures and has a certain time limit to debate, whereas Senate has unlimited time to debate and all members can influence legislation.
Finally, the House elects a Speaker who exerts control, whereas the Senators work together to determine the schedule in the Senate.
20 U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, “The House of Representatives and Senate: What’s the Difference?”, U.S. Capitol, 2020, https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/resources-and- activities/CVC_EED_StudentEssay_HouseSenate.pdf
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 13
Primary sources that are used in this thesis consist of U.S Congress reports. These reports have been found through the website of Congressional Records21. As this thesis focuses on the
U.S. Congress in the 21st Century, the dates of the Congressional Records will be between 2000 and 2020. Furthermore, certain key terms have been used to collect certain Records, including:
“NASA”, “Space Exploration”, and “National Interest”. To find out how U.S. Congress revalues the past NASA programs, key terms, such as “Apollo”, “Space Shuttle”, and “Mars” were used to search through the different reports. These key terms were first used to search through the different
Congress Records. The Records that came up were further chosen based on the relevance of the title of the Record and the subject of this thesis. A list of Records that were used in the analysis (in order of subject and appearance) can be found in Appendix 1.
The reason for choosing the Congress Records is based on creating an analysis that gives first-hand arguments by the Congress rather than using sources which themselves would perhaps give a more subjective analysis about the Congress reports. During the research, it was noticeable that Congress would discuss space almost annually during certain anniversaries of space exploration or after important successes, such as the landing of different rovers on Mars. Most reports were found on the anniversaries of the landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon or the anniversary of the tragedies of the shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Other anniversaries included successful landings of different Rovers or Shuttles, such as the Mars rover Spirit. Furthermore, the anniversaries show a significant sign of how Congress deems space exploration important to the
21 Website: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/crecb/_crecb/Volume%20115%20(1969)/GPO-CRECB-1969- pt6.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 14
United States, as the anniversaries can be seen as a celebratory moment in U.S. history. Finally, these anniversaries and successes were then used to both look back at NASA and space exploration and what the meaning of these anniversaries and successes are for the future of
NASA’s programs.
Most Congress reports looking back at past programs and the ongoing Mars missions are reports from the House of Representatives. In contrast, many reports on the future of NASA come from the Senate. While there is no factual evidence on why this is, it could be speculated that it is because the House only has limited debate time, whereas the Senate has unlimited debate time to discuss the future of NASA programs. Another speculation can be that the Senate decides over funding, whereas the House of Representatives does not. Therefore, the Senate would more focus on where the money should go, compared to looking back at past projects.
While the reports include many different Congressmen and -women discussing the importance of NASA regarding U.S. national interest, it is important to acknowledge that several of these Congressmen and -women have connections with certain Committees that focus on space exploration. Most frequent, most Congressmen and -women are or have been a member of the
Committee on Science, Space and Technology (CSST). The CSST focuses on astronautical research and development and has jurisdiction over NASA and scientific research22. In addition, about half of the Congressmen and -women used in the analysis represent the Republican Party, whereas the other half represents the Democratic Party. This shows that the discussion on NASA programs
22 “Jurisdiction”. Committee on Science, Space and Technology. May 27, 2021. https://republicans- science.house.gov/about/jurisdiction.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 15 regarding U.S. national interest is deemed equally important for both Parties. Furthermore, about half the Congressmen and -women referenced in the analysis are representatives of Texas or
Florida, two states where the two NASA bases were established.
After analyzing the different reports, it can be concluded that both the Republican and
Democratic party almost equally argue the importance of NASA programs to U.S. national interest.
While there were more Republican Congressmen and -women who argued on behalf of NASA in
U.S. Congress between 2000-2020
Finally, previous research conducted by Holland and Burns will be used as a framework to analyze the Congress reports between 2000-2020 and their view on NASA and U.S. national interest. Holland and Burns have analyzed five different themes of national interest that were considered important to U.S. Presidents regarding space exploration: space competition,
American leadership, American prestige, international collaboration, and new paradigm
(progressiveness). The five themes will be further explained through examples from secondary scholars as well as important documents found through the NASA website23. These themes will be explained in chapter 1 and will be used as a framework to analyze the Congress reports used in chapter 2 and chapter 3. The reason for using these themes is that Holland and Burns’ study considers important themes that are recurring in the Public Law 110-422: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008. As Congress passed the Act in 2008, Holland and Burns’ analysis on similar themes is ideal to further examine the different arguments made by
Congress regarding NASA between 2000-2020. This Act will be further explained in Chapter 1.
23 https://history.nasa.gov/spdocs.html
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 16
Thesis Structure
After the ‘Introduction’ chapter, a brief chapter on the definition of U.S. national interest in relation to space exploration will be given in: ‘Chapter 1 – U.S. National Interest in Space
Exploration’. This first chapter will focus on research conducted by Holland and Burns, who have analyzed U.S. Presidential speeches from the Eisenhower Administration up until the Obama administration. The research by Holland and Burns starts at the same period as the establishment of NASA. Holland and Burns’ research will also be used as a further framework in chapter 2 and chapter 3. In addition, chapter 1 will briefly highlight the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration Authorization Act of 2008, an Act established by Congress that explains NASA’s importance towards U.S. national interest as an organization.
After chapter 1, an analysis of how U.S. Congress between 2000 and 2020 looks back on two past NASA programs in relation to U.S national interest will be given. This chapter, ‘Chapter 2
– U.S. Congress and Past NASA Programs’, will be divided into two sub-chapters and programs: ‘2-
1 Apollo Missions’ and ‘2-2 Space Shuttle Program’. These subchapters will focus on the different missions and the importance of these missions regarding national interest mentioned by the U.S.
Congress using the framework of Holland and Burns’ research analyzed in chapter 1.
Following a historical analysis of past NASA programs, ‘Chapter 3 – U.S. Congress and the
Future of NASA’ will give an analysis on how U.S. Congress between 2000 and 2020 argue how past NASA programs have influenced future and current NASA missions to further enhance U.S national interest. The ongoing NASA program of Mars will be used as the main subject in this chapter. Therefore, this chapter has been divided into two subchapters: ‘3-1 Mars Exploration
Program’ and ‘3-2 The Future of NASA’.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 17
Chapter 1 – U.S. National interest in Space Exploration
This chapter will give the reader a clearer insight into U.S. national interest in space exploration according to researchers Holland and Burns. Holland and Burns’ research has been chosen as a framework for this thesis, due to its recent and relevant research on U.S. national interest in space exploration on a governmental level. In their research, Holland and Burns have analyzed important terms of U.S. national interest that were mentioned in U.S. Presidential speeches on space exploration. In addition, the results in Holland and Burns’ cover a time frame between the
Eisenhower Administration and the Obama Administration. This co-exists with the time frame of the programs and missions used in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. To confirm Holland and Burns’ arguments, secondary sources by different academics were used to support Holland and Burns’ analysis, as well as several primary sources, including important documents found on the NASA website.
Finally, the chapter will include a brief explanation of the Public Law 110-422: National
Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008. This Act highlights how U.S.
Congress in 2008 deemed NASA important as an organization towards enhancing U.S. national interest.
1-1 Themes of US National Interest in Space Exploration
Space and its hidden treasures have always remained unknown throughout history until the start of the Cold War. In only a time of almost fifty years, space exploration has seen much technological and scientific development. Over time, Holland and Burns have researched that U.S national interest in relation to space exploration has changed. From a more competitive strategy during
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 18 the Cold War to a shift in scientific and technological development post-Cold War, Burns and
Holland have noticed 5 recurring themes in U.S. national interest in space exploration: competition
(with the Soviet Union), American prestige, international collaboration, American leadership, and a new paradigm (see figure 1 and figure 2).
Administration Theme 1: Theme 2: Theme 3: Theme 4: Theme 5: Competition with American International American New Paradigm the Soviet Union Prestige Collaboration Leadership
Eisenhower 21 11 12 1 0 Kennedy 10 4 4 10 0 Johnson 5 3 6 4 0 Nixon 10 7 12 6 0 Ford 1 3 5 2 1 Carter 5 4 6 4 2 Reagan 3 6 26 23 6 George H. W. Bush 0 11 18 16 17 Clinton 0 3 15 5 3 George W. Bush 0 4 14 2 5 Obama 0 4 12 16 11
Figure 1: Counts of thematic references in analyzed documents for each administration24.
Percentage of Counts of Thematic Reference per Administration
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Eisenhower… George W. Bush… George H.W. Bush… Ford Administration Nixon Administration Carter AdministrationReagan Administration Clinton Administration Obama Administration Kennedy AdministrationJohnson Administration Competition with the Soviet Union American Prestige International Collaboration American Leadership New Paradigm
Figure 2: Percentage of Counts of thematic references in analyzed documents for each administration
24 Holland and Burns, “The American Space Exploration”, 11.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 19
In his research on the politics of NASA, Mark E. Byrnes refers to four similar themes of nationalism that NASA stood for between 1958 and 1990: National pride (American prestige), national prestige
(American prestige and space competition), national strength (American leadership), and international peace and cooperation (equal to international collaboration)25. These four themes further support Holland and Burns’ argument.
It is important to further acknowledge that much research on U.S. national interest in space exploration focuses on the Cold War era, specifically the Apollo missions. Therefore, many of the supporting arguments will focus on the Cold War.
1-1-1 Space Competition
During the Cold War, the U.S. government’s policies on space exploration remained quite consistent. According to the research of Dora Holland and Jack O. Burns, the presidential administrations until Ford mostly found space competition with the Soviet Union an important theme for U.S. national interest26. This was in combination with United States leadership and
American prestige. However, it is important to acknowledge that Holland and Burns focus on space competition with the Soviet Union, which does not mean that global space competition after the
Cold War was deemed less important to U.S. national interest.
Space became a “non-violent warzone” during the Cold War. Byrnes claims that the Soviet
Union dedicated a large part of government resources towards space exploration27. According to
25 Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, 8.
26 Holland and Burns, “The American Space Exploration”, 11-13.
27 Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, 10.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 20
Byrnes, the United States had to commit equally as much towards the space program as the Soviet
Union. Byrnes states that space competition co-exists with American prestige and that if one should disappear, so would the other. While the Moon landing became a huge triumph for both
NASA and the United States in the Space Race, NASA officials were still cautious on their momentarily lead in space programs. Most NASA officials felt that the United States was losing against the Soviet Union during the lead up until the Moon landing, even going as far as mentioning to the Congress that they expect to find the Russians during the U.S. Moon landing28.
However, space competition was not only important for American leadership in space competition during the Cold War. Byrnes argues that NASA programs not only ensured technological and scientific advancement but also improved United States’ economic productivity29. Especially in the 1970s and 1980s, global competition depended on economic productivity and prosperity. As a nation with economic strength would become a greater threat to other nations, NASA and the U.S. government invested in different space programs to gain economic, scientific, and technological advancement. This would become a reoccurring theme for
NASA over the years. The Aerospace Commission confirms this in the 2002 report of the
Commission on the future of the United States Aerospace. The Commission argues that the national economy itself would further protect homeland security30.
28 Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, 10.
29 Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, 14.
30 Aerospace Commission. Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry. By Robert S. Walker et al. Virginia: Aerospace Commission: 2002, https://history.nasa.gov/AeroCommissionFinalReport.pdf: ix.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 21
Still, according to Mark E. Byrnes, space competition did not necessarily become a less important theme for U.S. national interest31. In recent years, Russian, Japanese and, Chinese space programs have also become more active as these nations evaluate the space frontier as an important usage for national strength, world prominence, and commercial interest.
Finally, in a 2010 report on the National Space Policy of the United States of America, the
President of the United States (Barack Obama) argues that a competitive commercial space sector is needed to continue progress in space exploration and innovation. The report states that global commercial competition is needed to further advance U.S. leadership’s position, which will at the same time benefit U.S. progressiveness through an increase in technological development32.
1-1-2 American Leadership
While U.S. leadership seemed to become less important during the aftermath of the Cold War, it is interesting to note Holland’s and Burn’s research, which shows that U.S. leadership became an important national interest during the Reagan and Obama administration33. During the Cold War,
U.S. leadership was seen as an important national interest in space exploration, as Presidents relate to the importance of technological and scientific firsts against the Soviet Union. Especially the Reagan and Bush administration found it important to maintain the dominance against the
Soviet Union during space exploration.
31 Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, 10.
32 Office of Space Commerce. National Space Policy of the United States of America. Approved by Barack Obama.
Washington DC, 2010, https://history.nasa.gov/national_space_policy_6-28-10.pdf: 3.
33 Holland and Burns, “The American Space Exploration”, 13.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 22
According to Douglas Brinkley, U.S. leadership was most important during the Kennedy administration, as can be seen in Kennedy’s campaign to have the United States become the first nation to successfully land on the Moon34. Brinkley argues that Kennedy’s invested much time, energy, and money in space missions to ensure that the United States would become the leader in space exploration as well as scientific and technological development.
Holland and Burn further argue that Obama’s themes of national interest have to do with the privatization of the space exploration industry, which adds different competitors in the field as well as different industrial interests. Academic Marcia S. Smith agrees that Obama highlights the paramount importance of U.S. leadership in space exploration35. However, Smith further states that Obama wants to further emphasize international cooperation and cooperation with private sectors, which some critics argued seemed to triumph U.S leadership. This most likely changes after Smith’s research in 2010, as Smith argues that Obama’s national interests in space exploration shifts from international collaboration towards U.S. leadership. This can also be confirmed in Holland’s and Burn’s research in figures 1 and 2, which show that both American leadership and international collaboration are the two most mentioned themes by their research on the Obama administration.
As mentioned before, Mark E. Byrnes believes that American leadership and space competition go hand in hand and that the one is supported by the other36. According to Byrnes,
34 Douglas Brinkley, American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race, 246.
35 Marcia S. Smith, “President Obama’s National Space Policy: A change in tone and a focus on space sustainability” in
Space Policy 27, (2011): 20-23.
36 Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, 11.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 23 space competition mainly focuses on a leadership competition. For the United States, the competition during the Cold War focused on a leadership position. Not only did leadership in space exploration give the United States an advantage in scientific and technological development, but it would at the same time give the United States a leadership position in a global economic and welfare position. The Aerospace Commission agrees and argues that U.S. freedom and quality of life depends on America’s leadership position in space, which according to NASA relies on planetary security, economic benefit, and scientific discovery37.
Finally, in a 2020 report on the National Space Policy of the United States of America, the
President of the United States (Donald J. Trump) argues a similar notion to Barack Obama’s
National Space Policy in 2010. While both reports argue similar reasons why space exploration is important towards U.S. national interest, the report of 2020 uses U.S. leadership as the main language, whereas the 2010 report more frequently used competition. Furthermore, the 2020 report argues more specifically on the upcoming years of space travel (mostly for the U.S. returning to the Moon), whereas the 2010 report focused on space exploration in general38.
1-1-3 American Prestige
American prestige was also considered important for U.S. national interest during the Cold War and afterward. Over the years, American prestige remained a recurring theme regarding space
37 Aerospace Commission. Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, viii.
38 Office of Space Commerce. National Space Policy of the United States of America. Approved by
Donald J. Trump. Washington DC, 2020, https://history.nasa.gov/NationalSpacePolicy12-9-20.pdf: 3.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 24 exploration. According to Dora Holland and Jack O. Burns, this references the symbolism of “the strength of American ideals and values”39. Furthermore, Holland and Burns argue that American prestige would remain an important role in deciding future space programs and goals that these space programs needed to achieve.
Byrnes states that NASA argues that American prestige can be reached through the success of space exploration.40 Just as with the Moon landing, the whole world is watching a critical event in history that can make or break the United States image. For NASA, it is important to keep the
American or national prestige high, so that NASA can keep promoting new missions and programs.
Furthermore, NASA’s open space programs ensure that the United States gets further admiration and respect from other nations around the world. According to Byrnes, there is a thin line between national prestige and leadership, as U.S. leadership causes other nations to admire American strength.
Furthermore, Byrnes argues that NASA focuses its activities on national pride. This was done through different programs and symbols, such as using the American flag in space programs.
The picture of the American flag on the Moon (see figure 3) represented the full influence of the symbols used by NASA to represent American prestige and national pride41. Other ways NASA highlighted American prestige was through the naming of different capsules, such as Freedom 7, a Mercury capsule, or through the naming of space crafts, such as Columbia and Eagle. Through symbolism, NASA linked national pride with the space program.
39 Holland and Burns, “The American Space Exploration”, 12.
40 Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, 9.
41 Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, 8.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 25
Figure 3: Famous picture of the American flag on the Moon. Credited by NASA. Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48774080
Mieczkowski argues that American prestige could mostly be redeemed through scientific and technological development42. Especially during the early Cold War, when the Russians successfully launched Sputnik into the outer orbit of earth, U.S. felt an indent in their American prestige. For President Eisenhower, the way to improve this would be through scientific and technological advancement.
Roger D. Launius argues that American prestige was so important, even the astronauts chosen on missions needed to represent the nation’s political and economic system. In his research Reaching for the Moon, Launius states that the astronauts chosen on the Apollo missions
42 Mieczkowski, Eisenhower’s Sputnik Moment, 129.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 26 needed to represent the purity and saviors of the United States43. For Launius, the idea behind the astronauts needed to be that they would spread the American ideology of Manifest Destiny beyond Earth.
The Aerospace Commission considers the future of space exploration to be of great importance towards U.S. national interest, as the space industry so far has already shown a reflection of the U.S. spirit through the different programs. Therefore, the Commission argues that the U.S. should be proud of its space heritage, as it shows signs of a strong and prosperous nation44.
1-1-4 International Collaboration
Another reoccurring theme throughout space exploration history is international collaboration.
International collaboration was mostly with allied countries of the United States. However, on its rare occasion, the United States would collaborate with nations such as the Soviet Union45. Dora
Holland and Jack O. Burns state that international collaboration increased more after the Cold War due to a shift in the emphasis that the United States no longer needed to achieve scientific and technological development on its own, as it did during the Cold War. However, when looking at the Reagan administration, it is important to acknowledge that Reagan was both for American leadership and international collaboration. Holland and Burns point out this paradox and argue
43 Roger D. Launius, Reaching for the Moon: A Short History of the Space Race. (New Haven: Yale University Press,
2019), 63.
44 Aerospace Commission. Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, xviii.
45 Holland and Burns, “The American Space Exploration”, 13.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 27 that the term ‘international collaboration’ should not be taken too seriously during the Cold War46.
According to Holland and Burns, most international collaborations included superficial data sharing with other nations. In addition, Holland and Burns argue that NASA themselves would still control the situation, even in an international setting. This once again shows the dominance of the
United States towards other nations during the collaboration.
Agreeing with Holland and Burns, John Krige argues that international collaboration is the fundamental cornerstone for NASA since its inception47. Still, international collaboration would only work with Western allies of the United States. Furthermore, both Krige and Holland and Burns argue that while international collaboration might have been one of the important factors in NASA space programs, it is important to acknowledge that these researchers further argue that the collaboration would only work under American leadership. In addition, when looking towards
Reagan’s administration, Krige contradicts Holland and Burns’ research by arguing that Reagan eventually enforced budget cuts towards NASA’s Space Shuttle Program and made NASA step out of their collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency), due to a fear of an increase of economic competition from Western-Europe. While Reagan might have mentioned international collaboration as an important factor according to Holland and Burns, Krige argues that Reagan sacrificed international collaboration in favor of American leadership.
Byrnes argues that international collaboration by NASA would represent the symbol of global peace48. According to Byrnes, international cooperation between competing nations would
46 Holland and Burns, “The American Space Exploration”, 14.
47 Krige, “NASA as an Instrument of U.S. Foreign Policy”, 208.
48 Byrnes, Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA, 16.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 28 promote peace on earth and give more confidence to the people that peace can be achieved during troubled times. This has also been represented in later NASA missions in the 1980s, where these missions included human activity in space from different nations. Krige agrees, and further highlights how NASA’s collaboration with Western-European nations was important to keep U.S. foreign relations intact as well as to remain a certain dominance over European nations49. Brinkley agrees and states that while Kennedy started using a more military approach in space, the
President eventually took a more peaceful approach to space exploration and hoped that space could be seen as a peaceful frontier between all nations50. The language of international peace has also been referenced in numerous governmental and NASA documents, such as the National
Space Policy of the United States of America (both 2010 and 2020), and the Aerospace Commission report on the future of the United States aerospace industry51.
Furthermore, the Aerospace Commission argues how global partners in space exploration are important towards U.S. national security and the U.S. economy. Therefore, the Presidential
Commission states that an open global market is crucial for the U.S. economy to stay healthy52.
The Presidential Commission also argues that international participation is of significant value or
49 Krige, “NASA as an Instrument of U.S. Foreign Policy”, 208.
50 Brinkley, American Moonshot, 446.
51 Aerospace Commission. Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry; Office of Space
Commerce. National Space Policy of the United States of America 2010; Office of Space Commerce. National Space
Policy of the United States of America 2020.
52 Aerospace Commission. Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, xii.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 29
U.S. space exploration and that international collaboration is important for the U.S. to reach its goal in expanding the final frontier53.
1-1-5 New Paradigm
Finally, a fifth theme that started to increase after the Cold War was ‘new paradigm’. This theme showed how there was a national interest of the United States to keep evolving and planning their new programs, in other words, progressiveness in space exploration54. After the success of the
Moon landing, new paradigms were thought to enhance United States national interest through different programs, such as the Space Shuttle Program and the Mars mission. Daniel Sage writes in his book How Outers Space Made America, that both American transcendentalism and exceptionalism were important factors in the nation’s interest to keep investing in the space program after the Cold War55. Especially Reagan invested in a transcendental approach, in which
Regan supported American mythology of the glorification of space. While Sage argues that historians have criticized the government’s investment in space exploration in favor of American
53 President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration. A Journey to Inspire, Innovate, and
Discover. By Edward C. Aldridge, Jr. et al. Washington D.C.: Presidential Commission, 2004, https://history.nasa.gov/aldridge_commission_report_june2004.pdf: 34.
54 Holland and Burns, “The American Space Exploration”, 13.
55 Daniel Sage, How Outer Space Made America: Geography, Organization and the Cosmic Sublime. (Burlington:
Ashgate, 2014): 95.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 30 exceptionalism (Dickens and Ormrod, 2007; Redfield, 2002)56, the concept of breaking the ‘final frontier’ was very popular with recent presidential administrations.
Furthermore, progressiveness can also be found in technological and scientific advancement. In their research, Brinkley, Mieczkowski, and Hall57 all mention how important scientific and technological development is for space exploration. According to Mieczkowski, a nation that can achieve certain scientific and technological advancements can create a certain prestige or leadership position. Therefore, the United States needs to keep investing in scientific and technological advancements to enhance the leadership position of the United States.
The Commission of Aerospace also argues how the development of space exploration is an important U.S. vision for innovation and imagination around the world. Therefore, the Commission of Aerospace came up with the following tagline on aerospace: “Anyone, Anything, Anywhere,
Anytime”58. The Commission further argues that the government needs to create a certain environment wherein U.S. aerospace portrays innovation towards a developing future59.
This has also been confirmed by Charles Bolden (Administrator, NASA) and John P. Holdren
(Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy). In a letter to NASA and the U.S. government,
Bolden and Holdren argue that investing in American space exploration can continue the U.S.
56 Peter Dickens and James Omrod, Cosmic Society: Towards Sociology of the Universe. (London: Routledge, 2007);
Peter Redfield, “The Half-life of Empires in Outer Space”, in Social Studies of Science 32, vol 5/6 (2002): 791-825.
57 Brinkley, American Moonshot, 246; Mieczkowski, Eisenhower’s Sputnik Moment 146; Hall, “Columbia and
Challenger: organizational failure at NASA”, 244.
58 Aerospace Commission. Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry vi.
59 Aerospace Commission. Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, xi.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 31 journey to innovation and discovery60. This in turn would benefit the nation, as innovation and discovery would bring future prospects and technological advancements to the United States.
Even though Holland and Burns do not reference any acknowledgment that the theme of a new paradigm happened before the Ford Administration, Douglas Brinkley highlights how
President Kennedy found it important to show the progressiveness and American exceptionalism through NASA by focusing on space as and advancement of military science61. While President
Kennedy was not necessarily busy with planning different NASA programs, Kennedy still wanted to evolve space science and technology rapidly. Through an extensive budget, Kennedy wanted the United States to use American exceptionalism to be able to reach the unreachable: landing a man on the Moon.
Finally, the Presidential Commission states, in a report from 2004, that: “space exploration captures the imaginations of America’s children and adults”. According to the Presidential
Commission, space exploration inspires the current and future generation to study mathematics, science, and engineering, which in turn will help the United States continue its journey in shaping and understanding human destiny62.
60 Charles Bolden and John P. Holdren, Launching a New Era in Space Exploration. NASA, 2010, https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/421063main_Joint_Statement-2-1.pdf: 1.
61 Brinkley, American Moonshot, 246.
62 President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration. A Journey to Inspire, Innovate, and
Discover, 41.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 32
1-1-6 Conclusion
It has been clear that academics consider U.S. national interest as an important factor in the start and development of space exploration. Breaking new boundaries and reaching new heights, U.S. space exploration has shown a rapid evolution in scientific and technological advancement. The importance of the relationship between the U.S. government and NASA has become clear throughout history. Research has also shown that the U.S. Congress plays a significant role for
NASA. However, just like researcher W. D. Kay also argues, there is still no answer to the following question: how does U.S. Congress argue what NASA programs represents in terms of national interest for the United States63? This will be explored in the following chapters, by applying the framework provided by Holland and Burns.
63 Kay, Defining NASA: The Historical Debate of the Agency’s Mission, 4.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 33
1-2 Public Law 110-422 NASA Authorization Act of 2008
Before discussing past NASA programs, it is also important to keep in mind the Public Law 110-
422: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008. The Act itself authorizes the NASA programs and was also passed by Congress. While the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008 will not be referenced throughout the programs themselves, it is still important to acknowledge how Congress evaluates the importance of NASA as an organization to U.S. National Interest. Figure 4 shows the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008, which was passed on October 15, 2008. The Act already highlights key national interests that Congress considers NASA is responsible for and will deliver in the future64. When looking at the different laws mentioned, Congress finds American prestige and progressiveness of key importance, as these interests are referenced the most throughout the Act.
Several laws use important terms describing key themes of American prestige: “promoting the security of the nation”, “the strength of both the United States space Program and the national economy, and the development of a healthy and robust United States commercial space sector”, and “an investment in our future”65 These key terms show that Congress is focusing on the nation’s future and finds NASA an important contribution towards U.S. economy.
When looking at progressiveness, key terms used in the Public Law include: “stimulus to the next generation”, “commitment to a robust long-term technology development”, “significant
64 Space Program, HR, 111th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 156, no. 41 (March 19, 2010): S1774-S1775.
65 Ibid, S1774-S1775.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 34 long-term undertaking of humanity in the 21st century and beyond”, and “investment in our future”66.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008 also references the importance of NASA towards space competition, international collaboration, and
American leadership. These themes are often intertwined as “improve the competitiveness of the
United States” and “compete effectively in the global market place” show how space competition is healthy for the United States to maintain its “leadership in peaceful cooperation with other nations”67.
Furthermore, the Act itself was established and passed through U.S. Congress. This is already a sign that shows that U.S. Congress does consider NASA and space exploration to be important tools in enhancing U.S national interest.
Finally, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008 received a follow-up Act, in which the laws were further elaborated. This became known as the
Public Law 111-314 of 2010: Enactment of Title 51 – National and Commercial Space Programs.
This Act was used to further codify the existing laws under Public Law 110-44268.
66 Space Program, S1774-S1775.
67 Ibid, S1774-S1775.
68 Public Law 111-3114: Enactment of Title 51-National and Commercial Space Programs, HR, 111th Congress,
(December 18, 2010).
In Recognition of 49th Anniversary of the First Apollo Moon Landing, a Small Step for Man but a Giant Leap for Mankind,
HR, 115th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 164, no. 123, (July 23, 2018): E1046.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 35
Public Law 110–422, passed October 15, 2008
- NASA is and should remain a multi mission agency with a balanced and robust set of core missions in science, aeronautics, and human space flight and exploration.
- Investment in NASA’s programs will promote innovation through research and development, and will improve the competitiveness of the United States. - Investment in NASA’s programs, like investments in other Federal science and technology activities, is an investment in our future. - Properly structured, NASA’s activities can contribute to an improved quality of life, economic vitality, United States leadership in peaceful cooperation with other nations on challenging undertakings in science and technology, national security, and the advancement of knowledge. - NASA should assume a leadership role in a cooperative international Earth observations and research effort to address key research issues associated with climate change and its impacts on the Earth system. - NASA should undertake a program of aeronautical research, development, and where appropriate demonstration activities with the overarching goals of o ensuring that the Nation’s future air transportation system can handle up to 3 times the current travel demand and incorporate new vehicle types with no degradation in safety or adverse environmental impact on local communities; o protecting the environment; promoting the security of the Nation; o o retaining the leadership of the United States in global aviation. - Human and robotic exploration of the solar system will be a significant long-term undertaking of humanity in the 21st century and beyond, and it is in the national interest that the United States should assume a leadership role in a cooperative international exploration initiative. - Developing United States human space flight capabilities to allow independent American access to the International Space Station, and to explore beyond low Earth orbit, is a strategically important national imperative, and all prudent steps should thus be taken to bring the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle to full operational capability as soon as possible and to ensure the effective development of a United States heavy lift launch capability for missions beyond low Earth orbit. - NASA’s scientific research activities have contributed much to the advancement of knowledge, provided societal benefits, and helped train the next generation of scientists and engineers, and those activities should continue to be an important priority. - NASA should make a sustained commitment to a robust long-term technology development activity. Such investments represent the critically important ‘‘seed corn’’ on which NASA’s ability to carry out challenging and productive missions in the future will depend. - NASA, through its pursuit of challenging and relevant activities, can provide an important stimulus to the next generation to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. - Commercial activities have substantially contributed to the strength of both the United States space program and the national
economy, and the development of a healthy and robust United States commercial space sector should continue to be encouraged. - It is in the national interest for the United States to have an export control policy that protects the national security while also enabling the United States aerospace industry to compete effectively in the global market place and the United States to undertake cooperative programs in science and human space flight in an effective and efficient manner.
Figure 4: Public Law 110-422, passed October 15, 2008. Source: Space Program, HR, 111th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 156, no. 41 (March 19, 2010): S1774-S1775.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 36
Chapter 2 – U.S. Congress and Past NASA Missions
This chapter will analyze how the U.S. Congress between 2000-2020 has looked back to previous
NASA missions and the benefit NASA and these programs had on the U.S. national interest. This will be done through two past NASA programs that were deemed important in the 20th Century for U.S. progress: the Apollo Program and the Space Shuttle Program. A list of reports used in this chapter can be found in order of appearance in Appendix 1.
2-1 Apollo Program (1961-1972)
After the birth of NASA in 1958, the United States government slowly started funding money and energy in space exploration. Space exploration and NASA remained on a low burner during the
Eisenhower Administration, until John F. Kennedy took over the presidency in 1961 (see figure 5 and figure 6). Since then, NASA’s budget has increased rapidly, and Kennedy talked about U.S.’ goal to land a man on the Moon. This goal would eventually further Project Mercury’s mission for
NASA, named Project Apollo. Project Apollo was the third human spaceflight program, followed by Project Mercury and Project Gemini69.
69 Roger D. Launius, Apollo’s Legacy: Perspectives on the Moon Landings. (Washington DC: Smithsonian Books, 2019):
40.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 37
Figure 5: NASA Budget History in Billions. Source: https://aerospace.csis.org/data/history-nasa-budget/
NASA Budget as % of Federal Budget
% of Federal Budget Federal of %
Fiscal Year
Figure 6: NASA Budget as Percentage of Federal Budget. Source: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/exploration/multimedia/NASABudgetHistory.pdf
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 38
Between 1961 and 1969, Project Apollo had numerous failures and successes, in which the public of the United States questioned the NASA missions and the high amount of funding it received from the U.S. government70. Eventually, on July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first man to step onto the Moon. To this day, the event of the Moon landing has been seen as
NASA’s greatest triumph71. Looking back at Project Apollo, the U.S Congress still uses the Apollo missions as a key event in U.S. advancement in space exploration and contributing to U.S. national interest.
The U.S. Congress has looked back at the Apollo missions with dignity and pride. In reports found in the Congressional Records between 2000-2020, most discussions on the historical event take place during the anniversary of the Moon landing, especially the 40th, 45th, and 50th anniversary. While the frequency of discussion of the Apollo missions does vary between House of Representatives, Senate, or during Committee hearings (most references were made during
Committee hearings and within the House of Representative), Congress still references Project
Apollo as an important event towards the future of space exploration and NASA’s funding and should therefore be remembered once a year.
70 Launius, Reaching for the Moon, 104.
71 Launius, Apollo’s Legacy: Perspectives on the Moon Landings, 281.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 39
2-1-1- Space Competition
In The Legacy of Apollo hearing of 2019, Mr. Lucas72 relates how the Apollo missions are critical for the current space competition with China. In his speech, Mr. Lucas informs the House and the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (CSST) that China has expressed its interest in planting a human base on the Moon73. According to Mr. Lucas, this increases the threat of the U.S. leadership position in space exploration. Mr. Lucas references how important it is to now have the
United States plant a human base on the Moon before China does, and that it is important to use the Apollo missions as a starting point and from there further develop the technological capacities that are needed to successfully return to the Moon and land a human base space station. Mr.
Lucas ends his speech by informing both House and CSST that NASA is currently developing the needed vehicles and technology needed to successfully have the United States send someone to the Moon by 2024.
Mr. Weber74, a spokesman of the House of Representatives, also argued in 2019 that the
Apollo mission challenged global space competition then and that today the day the competition
72 Ranking member Frank Lucas (Republican) represents Oklahoma’s Third Congressional District and specializes in agricultural issues and the rights of private property owners (https://republicans-science.house.gov/about/ranking- member-lucas).
73 The Legacy of Apollo: Hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, HR, 116th Congress, 1st
Session, Congressional Record 116, no 37 (July 16, 2019): 10.
74 Congressman Randy Weber (Republican) represents the 14th District of Texas and has a key leadership role in
Science, Space, and Technology (https://weber.house.gov/)
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 40 in space has further increased75. Mr. Weber also informs the House on the plans of resending an
American to the Moon by 2024 and having an American stay on the Moon for some period of time.
In his conclusion, Mr. Weber further argues that NASA brings both U.S. public and private sectors together so that national cooperation can ensure a win in the space competition.
2-1-2 American Leadership
During The Legacy of Apollo hearing before the CSST and House of Representatives of July
16, 2019, Mr. Lucas mentions the importance of United States leadership in space regarding international competition76. For Mr. Lucas, Project Apollo needs to be remembered as a time where the United States took a leadership position in space and the importance this leadership position had for the national interest of the United States. During an increasing time of international competition in space, Mr. Lucas expresses how: “we can no longer take American leadership in space for granted”77, as nations such as China are currently becoming extremely competitive in becoming new leaders of space.
Mr. Lucas’s speech on American leadership is something Holland and Burns have already established as an important national interest in space exploration during the Obama
Administration78. In their analysis, American leadership was the most important national interest
75 America Must Remain the Leader in Space, HR, 116th Congress, 1st session, Congressional Record 165, no. 120, (July
17, 2019): H5921.
76 The Legacy of Apollo: Hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 4.
77 Ibid, 4.
78 Holland and Burns, “The American Space Exploration”, 11.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 41 mentioned during several speeches by President Obama on space exploration. This shows how the increase of international competition in space has caused the United States to rethink its position on the national interests of space exploration.
Finally, during a House of Representative hearing on July 17, 2019, Mr. Weber spoke to the house on how important it is for America to stay the leader in space. Highlighting President
Kenney’s speech, Mr. Weber reminded the house that even President Kennedy understood how important it was for American leadership in space exploration79. After referencing Kennedy, Mr.
Weber argues that current military officials have informed him that the nation that occupies the highest ground will always receive the upper hand in both battle and global power positions. Mr.
Weber concludes his argument by stating that: “there is no higher ground than space”80. This argument refers to why it is important for the United States to remain the leader in space to protect their global power position.
2-1-3 American Prestige
In the Congressional Report of August 4, 1969, Mr. Frey81 spoke to the House of Representatives on the recently successful mission of Apollo 11 and its aftermath. In his speech, Mr. Frey
79 America Must Remain the Leader in Space, H5921.
80 Ibid, H5921.
81 Louis Frey Jr. (Republican) was a former member of the House of Representatives for Florida’s 5th Congressional district. Mr. Frey served on the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, the Science and Technology Committee, and the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control (http://loufreyinstitute.org/about-us/congressman-lou- frey-jr/).
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 42 highlighted the importance of pride and the purpose of space exploration for the United States82.
This co-exists with Holland and Burns’ research that the Apollo missions were important for
American Prestige. Mr. Frey further focused on the unity of the United States, mentioning that all
Americans participated somehow in the Moon landing and that a unified nation can achieve greater results for U.S. interest. Through his argument, Mr. Frey focuses on how a unified nation can cause an increase in American pride, patriotism, and American Prestige. For Mr. Frey, Apollo’s main goal would be to create a unified nation. A unified nation would then benefit U.S. national interest, as it would showcase the people’s strength and further improve the economic and technological interests in the United States through this united strength.
This idea of a unified nation was still very present in Congress between 2000-2020. In The
Legacy of Apollo hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (CSST) and
House of Representatives of July 16, 2019, both parties expressed the importance of the Apollo missions to United States national interest83. In the introduction, the geopolitical impacts of the
Apollo missions were analyzed. According to the CSST, the success of the Moon landing symbolized both power and prestige for the United States. At the same time, the Apollo 11 mission also united the world together as “an achievement of all mankind”84.
82 The Pride of Apollo 11, HR, 91st Congress, 1st session, Congressional Record 115, Pt 16:6:2, (August 4, 1969): 22056.
83 The Legacy of Apollo: Hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 5.
84 Ibid, 5.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 43
In 2013, the importance of the Apollo missions on U.S. culture was defined through the introduction of “the Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act”85. House of Representative Donna F.
Edwards86 firmly states to the House that the history of the lunar landing needs to be preserved.
According to Ms. Edwards, the remembrance of the Apollo missions of NASA is in danger due to the competitive technological and scientific advancement of space exploration from other nations, such as China. For Ms. Edwards, NASA’s legacy of the Apollo Program needs to be remembered as part of American unique heritage. In other words, it is important to remember Project Apollo’s results that enhanced U.S. prestige.
In 2018, during the 49th Anniversary of the Apollo Moon landing, House of Representative
Sheila Jackson Lee87 also wanted to shed the light on the importance of the historical event on the
U.S culture and prestige88. Instead of focusing on how the Apollo Program was important for scientific and technological advancement, Ms. Jackson Lee used her time to celebrate all the different minority groups and genders that made the Moon landing possible. In her speech, Ms.
85 The Introduction of “The Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act”, HR, 113th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record
159, no. 97, (July 9, 2013): E1033.
86 Former member of House of Representatives, who represented the 4th Congressional district of Maryland. Donna
F. Edwards (Democrat) commits to the space program and NASA, partly due to her previous employment as a project engineer at NASA (https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/12961).
87 Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee (Democrat) represents the 18th Congressional District of Texas. Ms. Jackson Lee introduced an amendment that provides for outreach to minority- and women-owned businesses with respect to business opportunities in the commercial space industry (https://jacksonlee.house.gov/about).
88 In Recognition of 49th Anniversary of the First Apollo Moon Landing, a Small Step for Man but a Giant Leap for
Mankind, HR, 115th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 164, no. 123, (July 23, 2018): E1046.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 44
Jackson Lee applauds NASA’s hiring of women and people of color in “science, engineering, and mathematics careers”89. Ms. Jackson Lee closes her speech by asking Congress to use the remembrance of the Apollo missions to support NASA’s space development and cultural innovation.
As for cultural impacts, the CSST is a bit more critical. According to CSST, the Apollo missions also gained critique from the American people on the high amount of funding NASA received from the government90. According to the American people, funding should have been invested in other cultural programs, such as improving poverty or the lives of minorities. CSST also criticizes the lack of reference to women and people of color who were part of the program.
According to CSST, both women and black people their contributions to Project Apollo were hidden until quite recently (early 21st Century). This part of Apollo’s legacy shows a more negative effect on the national interest of the United States.
While U.S. Congress remembers the Apollo Program largely for its American prestige,
Roger D. Launius gives a further explanation on why this is. Launius argues in his book Apollo’s
Legacy that American prestige was caused by both national pride and through an international stage91. National pride brought people and different perspectives together and created a description for national identity; this description showed that working together as a nation caused
American exceptionalism and would result in the ideology of progressiveness.
89 In Recognition of 49th Anniversary of the First Apollo Moon Landing), E1046-E1047.
90 The Legacy of Apollo: Hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 4.
91 Launius, Roger D. Apollo’s Legacy, 282.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 45
2-1-4 International Collaboration
Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, a member of the House Science Committee mentioned in 2009 the importance of celebrating Apollo 11’s 40th anniversary. Ms. Jackson-Lee argues how the Apollo missions have become of great value to the economy and scientific advancement of the United
States92. Looking back at the NASA missions, Ms. Jackson-Lee wants to highlight to the House that
NASA’s programs such as Apollo 11 contribute to international collaboration and peace. Ms.
Jackson-Lee ends her speech, asking Madam Speaker of the house to salute the Apollo 11 astronauts for bringing peace to all mankind. Through her speech, Ms. Jackson-Lee has argued how international collaboration has since the 1960s been important towards U.S. national interest to create more peaceful cooperation with other nations that in turn can benefit the United States on different levels, such as economically and scientifically.
Interestingly, besides Ms. Jackson-Lee’s speech, one of the themes that has been mostly avoided in the reports found in Congressional Records is international collaboration. Holland and
Burns’ research also shows that there has been a decrease of the theme international collaboration during the Obama Administration. While international collaboration is still one of the more popular themes of national interest in space exploration during the 21st Century, it is interesting to see how little this theme reoccurs during discussions on the Apollo missions in
Congress. However, this can also be explained.
Project Apollo was first and foremost a program that needed to show American leadership and international competition by being the first nation to land on the Moon. The Apollo missions
92 Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, HR, 11th Congress, 1st session, Congressional Record
155, no. 109, (July 20, 2009): H8393.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 46 were mainly used as a pawn in the Cold War against the Soviet Union and put international collaboration on a backburner. This is also how the Apollo missions are remembered.
Furthermore, while the Apollo missions did have certain international collaboration, it was mainly the aftermath of the Apollo missions that sparked the discussion on international cooperation.
2-1-5 New Paradigm
During the 45th anniversary of the Lunar Landing, Mr. Nelson93 spoke during a senate hearing on July 21st, 2014, about the importance of Project Apollo for current-day America. In his speech, Mr. Nelson argues how NASA and U.S. space exploration has developed from the Apollo era until this day94. The scientific and technological improvements that have been made since the
Apollo era have shown the United States how important progressiveness can be to further improve the nation. Mr. Nelson states that through NASA’s vast technological and scientific advancement, the United States can gain more knowledge on the cosmos and the universe. This newfound knowledge would only be reached by further funding NASA programs. When looking back at the
Apollo missions, Mr. Nelson wants to remind the Senate that by sending a man on the Moon, the
United States took its first step towards space progressiveness. Therefore, the legacy of Project
Apollo should be an inspiration not only for current day America but for the future of the nation.
93 Bill Nelson (Democrat), former astronaut and former Senator of Florida
(https://ballotpedia.org/Bill_Nelson_(Florida).
94 45-Year Anniversary of the Lunar Landing, 113th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 160, no. 114, (July 21,
2014): S4640.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 47
In a 2015 House of Representative hearing, spokesman Mr. Hultgren95 also addressed to the House how important NASA’s mission to the Moon was on knowledge and inspiration. Mr.
Hultgren argues that the remembrance of Project Apollo will: “encourage our children to think seriously about careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics - careers that could lead them to become actual rocket scientists or astronauts”96. Mr. Hultgren sees NASA and the
Apollo mission not only as an inspiration towards scientific and technological developments but also as an inspiration to the future generation of the United States.
In 2019, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson97 opens The Legacy of Apollo hearing similarly to Ms.
Jackson-Lee’s speech ten years prior, focusing on the legacy and the importance Apollo had on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics98. Just like Ms. Jackson-Lee, Chairwoman
Johnson focuses on the successes NASA had made through the Apollo missions and how a common goal and work from the people of the United States can achieve greater accomplishments for the nation. Ms. Johnson relates the success of the Apollo missions to the national interest of progressiveness, or a new paradigm. Like Holland and Burns argue, Ms. Johnson wants to highlight
95 Former House of Representative Randy Hultgren (Republican), representing the 14th Congressional district of Illinois, was on the Committee of Science, Space, and Technology between 2013-2018
(https://ballotpedia.org/Randy_Hultgren).
96 Apollo 11 Mission, 46 Years Later, HR, 114th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record 161, no. 115, (July 22, 2015):
H5340.
97 Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (Democrat) represents the 30th district of Texas in the U.S. House of
Representatives and is the first female Chair of the house Committee on Science, Space and Technology
(https://ebjohnson.house.gov/).
98 The Legacy of Apollo: Hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 8.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 48 how the Apollo missions gave the United States the power to keep evolving and planning for the future. Furthermore, Holland and Burns’ analysis shows how a new paradigm became more important during the 2000s, which is also confirmed by Chairwoman Johnson’s remarks.
After giving the word to Mr. Lucas, the tone of the successful Moon landing changes. Mr.
Lucas starts as well by mentioning the critical effect the Apollo missions had on science and technology and further highlights the importance of how the Apollo Program gave the United
States and other nations further information on the universe, planet Earth, and the Solar System99.
In this part, Mr. Lucas focuses on how environmentalism became an important interest point for the United States after Project Apollo and should therefore also not be forgotten.
Following the geopolitical impacts, CSST analyzed both the research and development impacts and the cultural impacts. The CSST argues that Project Apollo became a groundbreaking event for science that still shows its impact on technological and scientific development today100.
Furthermore, the Apollo mission gave scientists a clearer understanding of the origin of Earth.
Finally, spokeswoman Ms. Horn101 of the Member of CSST concludes her speech in The
Legacy of Apollo hearing by shifting the focus on Apollo to NASA. In her speech, Ms. Horn highlights how NASA is until this day an agency that lives based on progressiveness: “NASA’s relentless
99 The Legacy of Apollo: Hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 10.
100 The Legacy of Apollo: Hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 4.
101 Kendra S. Horn is a member of the CSST and Democratic representative of the 5th Congressional district of
Oklahoma in the House of Representatives (https://www.congress.gov/member/kendra- horn/H001083?q={%22sponsorship%22:%22sponsored%22,%22house- committee%22:%22Science,+Space,+and+Technology%22}&searchResultViewType=expanded)
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 49 pursuit to mitigate risks, work through test anomalies and failures to understand what went wrong and why, and to take corrective actions in response, became the discipline and culture that defines
NASA today”102. Ms. Horn highlights that NASA defines American progressiveness as a national interest.
2-1-6 Conclusion
While The Legacy of Apollo hearing does highlight different themes of national interest that the
NASA program has caused, many spokespersons focused on the national interest of progressiveness and American prestige. Furthermore, as Launius already argued, progressiveness can also be seen as the result of American prestige, highlighting why Congress uses both themes in their reports. Looking back at Project Apollo, the hearing concludes that the most important step Apollo has made for the future of U.S. national interest is the advancement in science and technology, and knowledge of both space and Earth. Furthermore, except for Mr. Lucas’ brief statement on space competition with China, hardly anything is mentioned on space competition, something that according to Holland and Burns’ research was the most important theme during the Apollo missions. This most likely has to do with the fact that the Congress between 2000-2020 did not necessarily view space as a pawn in international competition, whereas the Apollo missions during the 1960s themselves were used as pawns in the Cold War battle against the Soviet Union.
Therefore, the results show that the Congress in the 21st Century finds competition to be less important than other themes of national interest, such as a new paradigm or American prestige.
102 The Legacy of Apollo: Hearing before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 12.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 50
Also, while hardly mentioned in Congress reports on the Apollo missions, the U.S. is planning on returning to the Moon in 2024. This will be further explained in the following chapter and will furthermore show the relation between the Apollo missions and the current mission in terms of competition.
In addition to limited discussion on space competition, there has also been less discussion in Congress on American leadership as a result of the Apollo missions. While American leadership was of extreme importance during the Cold War, it seems that the U.S. Congress between 2000-
2020 focus more on progressiveness and American prestige as important themes towards U.S. national interest.
Finally, the Congress reports show hardly any relation to international collaboration. Even though Project Apollo is not necessarily remembered for international collaboration, it is interesting to notice that international collaboration is a theme that does not come back at all, even though international cooperation has become an important theme in space travel and NASA.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 51
2-2 Space Shuttle Program (1981-2011)
During the end of the Apollo missions in 1972, Congress approved significant funding towards
NASA for the development of the Space Shuttle starting in 1973103. After the Moon landing, U.S.
Government and NASA discussed new programs that could develop space exploration. While the idea of traveling beyond the the Moon was for some at NASA a top priority, the U.S. Congress preferred a program that would develop U.S. technology. This could be achieved through the
Space Shuttle, one of “the most complex pieces of machinery built by humankind”104. However, it took just less than a decade for NASA to successfully build its first successful vehicle, Columbia, which was launched on 12 April 1981105.
The Space Shuttle Program eventually became well known for the Challenger (January 26,
1986) and Columbia (February 1, 2003) losses. Both failures cost the lives of fourteen astronauts and highlighted the structural failures of the program. The debate on the Challenger failure caused enormous problems for NASA. After investigation, Rick Houston argues that there are several causes to the explosion of Challenger: organizational failure, the complexity of the machine, and the launch in inclement conditions106. Just before the catastrophic event, NASA told Congress expressively that the odds of an accident with Challenger would be 1 in 100,000. Eventually,
103 Davis Hitt, and Heather R. Smith, Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years, 1972-1986. (Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 2014): 20.
104 Ibid, 20.
105 Hitt and Smith, Bold They Rise, 94.
106 Rick Houston, Wheels Stop: The Tragedies and Triumphs of the Space Shuttle Program, 1986-2011, (Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 2013): 9
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 52
Houston argues that micromanagement became the cause of failure, stating that the headquarters of NASA should not have been involved in the decision-making process.
Furthermore, Houston criticizes U.S. funding for the Space Shuttle Program. Figure 5, the NASA
Budget History (see page 30), shows that after the Apollo missions, NASA received an extreme decrease in funding up until 1987. The huge increase of budget to NASA between 1986-1987 shows that Houston’s argument of a lack of funding has a fundamental argument.
A couple of years later, in 2003, NASA saw its second disaster concerning the Space Shuttle
Program: the crashing of Columbia. When Columbia entered the atmosphere, the Space Shuttle disintegrated and killed all of the seven crew members107. Just like with the Challenger, the disaster of Columbia caused much criticism on NASA and it suspended any flight operations for over two years. This can also be seen in figure 7, which shows the number of Shuttle launches that happened between 1981 and 2011.
107 Houston, Wheels Stop: The Tragedies and Triumphs of the Space Shuttle Program, 193.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 53
Figure 7: Number of NASA’s U.S. Space Shuttle missions from 1981-2011. Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264606/nasas-us-space-shuttle-missions-since-1981/
Luckily, the Shuttle Program also had some triumphs up to Atlantis’ final voyage on July 8,
2011. Davide Sivolella, author of The Space Shuttle Program: Technologies and Accomplishments, argues that the Space Shuttle Program will mostly be remembered for its mistakes, which Sivolella says is caused by the lack of funding and political backing108. Still, it is also important to remember the achievements the Space Shuttle Program made as the program evolved. The Shuttle Program
108 Davide Sivolella, The Space Shuttle Program: Technologies and Accomplishments, (Chichester, UK: Springer Praxis
Publishing, 2017): 347.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 54 not only resulted in achieving its goal of the assembling of a large orbiting infrastructure, but also achieved the following: “reusability; the ability to perform a broad variety of mission objectives; the opening of international collaborations; flights for women, minorities, and foreigners; and assembling the International Space Station”109. Furthermore, the Space Shuttle Program also helped build the International Space Station, which has been an important factor for U.S. international relationships.
U.S. Congress looks back towards the Space Shuttle Program with mixed feelings. Because the Space Shuttle Program did not end until 2011, many Congress reports between 2000-2011 discussed the ongoing missions. In addition, the amount of Congress reports on the Space Shuttle
Program significantly increased in 2003 due to the Columbia tragedy. These reports mainly focus on giving condolences towards the family of the fallen astronauts, as well as remembering the astronauts of their bravery. Many of the reports used in this analysis are from the last couple of years of the Space Shuttle Program, as during this time U.S. Congress reflected on the program.
There have only been limited reports on the Space Shuttle missions after 2011, mainly once again focusing on the tragedies of Challenger and Columbia. Finally, while most of the Congress reports focus on the tragedy of Challenger and Columbia, there are still some reports that highlight the importance of the NASA program in relation to U.S. progressiveness.
109 Sivolella, The Space Shuttle Program: Technologies and Accomplishments, 348.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 55
2-2-1 Space Competition
While there has been much praise on the development of technology through the Space Shuttle
Program (despite the tragedies of Challenger and Columbia), some Congress remembers worried about President Obama’s decision to reduce funding for NASA. While Senator Mr. Lemieux110 argues that the President should reconsider shrinking the funding for nationalistic reasons (see 2-
2-3 American Prestige)111, Representative Mr. Poe112 of Texas argues before the House of
Representatives on April 18, 2012, that the United States government cannot abandon the space program113. While briefly discussing American leadership in space exploration as one of the reasons why the U.S. should keep investing in NASA and space exploration, Mr. Poe’s main argument is the fear of international competition. In his speech, Mr. Poe relates the Space Shuttle
Program to the Apollo missions, and how both NASA programs have decreased space competition.
However, Mr. Poe finds the reduction of the NASA budget a form of U.S. surrender on space travel towards the Russians. Not only does this relate to the Cold War battle of the Moon landing, but also shows how the space competition with the Russians is never finished: “Ironically, American
110 Former Senator George S. Lemieux (Republican) from Florida, Fort Lauderdale, briefly served for the Science and
Transportation Committee (https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=l000572).
111 Space Program, S1774.
112 Ted Poe (Republican), former U.S Representative from the 2nd Congressional district of Texas, focused on U.S. foreign affairs during his time in the House of Representatives (https://ballotpedia.org/Ted_Poe).
113 Space Travel in America is History, HR, 112th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 158, no. 56 (April 18,
2012): H1963.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 56 astronauts will have to rely on an expensive ride from the Russians just to get to the Space
Station”114.
On July 8, 2011, Representative Allen B. West115 spoke to the House on the impact of the
Space Shuttle Program on the nation. While thanking the numerous Americans who worked on the different missions and U.S. progressiveness in U.S. science and technology, Mr. West was not afraid to mention his concerns in the context of space competition116. According to Mr. West, the
Space Shuttle Program brought the U.S. towards the brink of innovation. However, Mr. West voices concern that the tragedies of Columbia and Challenger have caused a slowing down in U.S. space exploration, something that is dangerous regarding keeping Americans in its leadership position in space exploration. While Russia asks approximately 63 million dollars per seat for a ride towards the International Space Station (as the U.S. stopped human space flights after the Shuttle
Program), China is slowly increasing its leadership position as space explorers. This is according to
Mr. West: “unacceptable and the antithesis of American exceptionalism”117.
114 Space Travel in America is History, H1963.
115 Allen B. West (Republican) is a former Representative for the 22nd and 18th Congressional district of Florida, who emphasizes on national security (https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/24194).
116 The Final Flight of the Space Shuttle Program on July 8, 2011, HR, 112th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record
157, no. 101 (July 8, 2011): E1274-E1275.
117 The Final Flight of the Space Shuttle Program on July 8, 2011, E1274-E1275.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 57
2-2-2 American Leadership
Just like with Project Apollo, there is a thin line between space competition and American leadership. Continuing his speech on July 8, 2011, Allen B. West ended his speech to the House of
Representatives by arguing that while the Shuttle Program was a success, it did cause the U.S. to lose certain leadership in space travel118. Mr. West argues that the United States should and does not accept a second-place position and that he is “committed to ensuring that one day we [the
United States] again will be the leaders in manned space exploration”119.
In recognizing the 30th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle flight, Representative Ms.
Johnson looks back at the achievements of the Space Shuttle Program. In her speech to the House,
Ms. Johnson argues differently than Mr. West and says that the Space Shuttle Program has benefited U.S. leadership in both science and technology120. While Ms. Johnson does acknowledge the fact that the leadership position is being contested by other nations, Johnson still argues that
NASA’s commitment should be further supported, as NASA is the foundation of positioning U.S. leadership in space exploration.
2-2-3 American Prestige
In Mr. Lemieux’s speech in the Senate on March 19, 2010, the end of the Space Shuttle Program as well as NASA’s impacts are broadly discussed. Focusing partly on American Leadership, Mr.
118 The Final Flight of the Space Shuttle Program on July 8, 2011, E1274-E1275.
119 Ibid, E1274-E1275.
120 Recognizing the 30th Anniversary of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle, HR, 112th Congress, 1st Session,
Congressional Record 157, no. 56 (April 15, 2011): E751-E752.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 58
Lemieux also discusses the importance of the Space Shuttle as “a symbol for American innovation and ingenuity and the pioneering spirit that has made our Nation the most technologically advanced country in the world”121. During his speech, Mr. Lemieux discusses how the switch between the Shuttle Program and a new program will cause a lack of vision and ambition for the
United States. Mr. Lemieux praises NASA’s operations and how the investment of NASA’s programs caused the United States to develop national interest through national security and the creation of many domestic jobs. Therefore, Mr. Lemieux hopes that the President of the United
States will continue to support NASA after the end of the Space Shuttle Program.
Speaker Mr. Olson122 from Texas argued during the House of Congress on May 5, 2010, that the remaining Space Shuttle vehicles should be put in Houston on display after the Space
Shuttle would conclude in 2011. According to Mr. Olson, the flights from the different missions represented some of the United States’ greatest achievements as well as showed the nation how imagination can cause a nation to grow and develop into one of the strongest nations in the world123.
During a House of Representative meeting on March 5, 2007, Representative Sheila
Jackson-Lee of Texas spoke to the House about memorizing the fallen heroes of Columbia. For Ms.
121 Space Program, S1774.
122 Pete Olson (Republican) was a former Representative of the House, representing the 22nd Congressional district of
Texas. One of Olson’s interests was in Science, Technology, and Communications
(https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/pete_olson/412302).
123 Retire Shuttle to Houston, HR, 111th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 156, no. 66 (May 5, 2010): H3181-
H3182.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 59
Jackson-Lee, the astronauts who perished in the tragic event were seen as heroes to American citizens and were also known in Texas as friends, neighbors, and family. The astronauts themselves represented excellence and a certain ideology of U.S. individuals. Furthermore, the crew also represented the diversity of the nation: immigrants, men and women, white and black people, native-born, and many more.
In his speech on the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program, Mr. West spoke to the House of Representatives about how not only the astronauts but also all the other workers behind the scenes should be remembered for their hard work for pushing the United States beyond the final frontier124. In addition, Mr. West praises the idea of shipping Space Shuttle fleets towards museums, so that children of the United States can see: “America’s past glories in space”125.
However, Mr. West is also critical of the end of the Space Shuttle Program, as he argues that the
United States does not have any further plans to send humans into space.
Just like Mr. West, Ms. Johnson praised the hard work of all the individuals who were able to work on the Space Shuttle Program and how their contribution ensured the United States to
“pursue its goals, vision, and leadership in human spaceflight and exploration”126. According to
Johnson, the Space Shuttle Program became a source of pride and inspiration, benefiting the U.S. economy, engineering and science.
124 The Final Flight of the Space Shuttle Program on July 8, E1274-E1275.
125 Ibid, E1274-E1275.
126 Recognizing the 30th Anniversary of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle, E751-E752.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 60
2-2-4 International Collaboration
While only mentioning it briefly, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas spoke to the House of Representatives on March 5, 2007, about the importance of the Space Shuttle Program and its international collaboration. While mostly spending her speech focusing on the astronauts who died during the
Columbia incident as well as how these astronauts represented American prestige, Jackson-Lee also acknowledges how the Space Shuttle crew had workers from different countries, such as
Israel, which showed NASA’s dedication to international cooperation and gaining peace in the world127.
Mr. Nelson also applauds the Shuttle Program for tightening relationships with different nations. In his speech on the conclusion of Atlantis and the 116th shuttle mission to the
International Space Station, Nelson wants to point out why the U.S. needs to keep flying the space shuttle to complete the construction of the International Space Station and working together with different nations to increase a further understanding of space128.
Even though the International Space Station seems quite an important establishment towards increasing international collaboration during the Space Shuttle Program, hardly any
Congress reports mention international collaboration as an important national interest during the
Shuttle missions. This is interesting, seeming that Holland and Burns argued that George W. Bush
127 Columbia Space Shuttle Memorial Study Act, HR, 110th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record 153, no. 38
(March 6, 2007): E476-E477.
128 Space Shuttle “Atlantis” STS-115 Mission, 109th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 152, no. 119
(September 21, 2006): S9893.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 61
Jr. used international collaboration most frequently in his speeches129. Still, when Obama became president in 2008, mentioning international collaboration as a national interest towards space exploration decreased during his Presidential speeches.
2-2-5 New Paradigm
Mr. Thompson130 of Pennsylvania commemorates the Challenger anniversary in 2020 during three different speeches. He earlier spoke to the House on January 30, 2018, and January 28, 2019, about the loss of the astronauts during the Challenger mission. In his January 29, 2020, speech,
Thompson highlights why it is important to use the tragedy as a tool to help grow and develop space exploration in the future131. Therefore, Thompson wants to not focus too much on the losses of the astronauts as an American tragedy, but as a reminder of why the United States needs to keep progressing.
Mr. Thompson also spoke to the House of Representatives before on January 30, 2018, concerning remembering the Challenger disaster. While the spokesman mostly dedicates his time to the remembrance of the Challenger’s crew, Mr. Thompson ended his speech by showcasing the
129 Holland and Burns, “The American Space Exploration”, 11.
130 Glenn Thompson is a Republican in the House of Representatives, representing the 15th Congressional district of
Pennsylvania, who focuses on education and labor in the United States (https://thompson.house.gov/about-gt).
131 Remembering the Space Shuttle Challenger and Crew, HR, 116th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record 165, no. 17 (January 28, 2019): H1234.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 62 inspiration these fallen astronauts had given to children around the world132. According to
Thompson, the astronauts had a great passion for exploration, which inspired many people around the world to travel to space. Instead of fully focusing on the failure of the Challenger, Thompson focuses on how the legacy of the fallen astronauts can encourage the new generation to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Besides focusing his speech on American prestige, Mr. Olson also argued during a House of Representative meeting on May 5, 2010, that the retirement of the last shuttle of the Space
Shuttle Program should be displayed in Houston to inspire future generations133. According to Mr.
Olson, such a display would show children what great achievements the United States already has made and inspire the children to perhaps themselves become engineers, scientists, or even astronauts one day to further develop the United States.
Mr. Olson was not the only one who focused on the retirement of the Space Shuttles as an inspiration for future generations. Senator Mr. Schumer134 asked the Senate on March 25, 2010, if the almost retired Space Shuttles could take a place in the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in
Manhattan135. According to Mr. Schumer, by showcasing the shuttles in New York, millions of
132 Remembering the “Challenger” Anniversary 32 Years Later, HR, 115th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record
164, no. 20 (January 30, 2018): H690.
133 Retire Shuttle to Houston, H3181-H3182.
134 Senator Chuck Schumer (Democrat) from New York focused to improve the economy of New York
(https://www.schumer.senate.gov/about-chuck)
135 NASA Space Shuttle Retirement, 111th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 156, no. 28 (March 25, 2010):
S2096-S2097.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 63 people from all over the world can understand the history of NASA as well as be inspired by the dedication of the NASA program that lasted almost 30 years.
During an extensive speech from Representative Lampson136 and Ms. Jackson-Lee on July
9, 2008, both Mr. Lampson and Ms. Jackson-Lee both celebrated the 25th anniversary of the first
American women in space: Dr. Sally K. Ride. In their speech, both Representatives argue how the
Space Shuttle Program and NASA have taken progressive actions after the Apollo missions by including women astronauts137. While numerous women worked during Project Apollo (such as
Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan, also known as the ‘Hidden Figures‘), much media focus went towards the male astronauts and other men working during the different missions. This changed during the Space Shuttle Program, as women were more and more recognized and put forward in the media. This in turn sparked an increase for young women to be inspired to work in space exploration.
Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee had already spoken earlier to the House of
Representatives as a Congress report of September 21, 2005, states that Jackson-Lee spoke to the
House about the success of women working for NASA and the opportunities it gave the United
States to further develop as a nation. In her speech, Ms. Jackson-Lee named numerous women
136 Nick Lampson (Democrat), former House of Representative for the 22nd and 9th district of Texas, focused much on
Education and used to be a high school science teacher (https://ballotpedia.org/Nick_Lampson).
137 Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the First American Women in Space, Dr. Sally K. Ride, and Honoring her
Contributions to the Space Program and to Science Education, HR, 110th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record
154, no. 12 (July 9, 2008): H6254-H6255.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 64 who all were involved in the Space Shuttle Program and how their role in NASA has become a true inspiration for future generations of women138.
Finally, in 2016, Senator Nelson looked back at the influence of the Space Shuttle Program on the Mars Program. In his speech towards the Senate, Mr. Nelson looks back 30 years prior and states that the Space Shuttle Program transformed the U.S. and that the Shuttle Program has caused the U.S. to think beyond the ‘final frontier’ by going to Mars139.
2-2-6 Conclusion
The Space Shuttle Program itself was a controversial, yet impressive NASA program. While it is clear that many reports of the Congress focus on the tragedies of Challenger and Columbia, there was still enough praise for NASA on their development in space exploration. Just like with the
Apollo Program, Congress between 2000-2020 found American prestige and progressiveness to be the most important themes for U.S. national interest. Many reports on NASA’s program focused on how NASA should become an inspiration for future generations to come, especially when looking at the scientific and technological advancements NASA made between Project Apollo and the end of the Space Shuttle Program. Besides being seen as an inspiration for future projects,
138 Recognizing Space Shuttle Commander Eileen Collins, Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence, and the Contributions of all other Women who have Worked with NASA, HR, 109th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record 151, no. 19
(September 21, 2005): E1920.
139 Mission to Mars and Space Shuttle Flight 30th Anniversary, 114th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 162, no. 7 (January 12, 2016): S45-S46.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 65
Congressmen and women have praised NASA’s employment by having numerous immigrants, individuals from minority groups, and women.
Combining both U.S. progressiveness and American prestige, many Congress members also highlighted NASA’s work in the Space Shuttle Program as a great influence for U.S. pride. Just like with progressiveness, Congress also argues that the Space Shuttle program has shown many people how important space exploration and NASA are towards the United States (culturally and economically) and how the Shuttle Program inspires future Americans to study and work in the field of space exploration.
Just like with Project Apollo, Congress does not necessarily look back at the Space Shuttle
Program as important towards U.S. leadership position or in space competition. However, some members do criticize that the end of the Space Shuttle Program caused more trouble for U.S. leadership in space exploration and that budget cuts during the Obama Administration were not the correct way to continue NASA programs, as space competition (especially with new strong comer China) was rapidly increasing.
Finally, perhaps most surprising of all is the lack of highlighting the theme of international collaboration. While the Space Shuttle Program is mostly known for the Challenger and Columbia disaster, it is also known for its involvement in building the International Space Station. Therefore, it would seem likely that the U.S. Congress would applaud NASA’s international cooperation on the International Space Station. However, this research has found that limited time has been given to international collaboration as a national interest, both by the House of Representatives as the
Senate.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 66
2-3 Conclusion
This chapter has researched how U.S. Congress between 2000-2020 has looked back on both the
Apollo and Space Shuttle Program of NASA. While Project Apollo was already completed before
2000, the Space Shuttle Program was finalized in 2011. This means that certain reports used by the U.S. Congress were about a then-ongoing program. Nevertheless, both programs have shown a certain similarity regarding certain themes of national interest within space exploration and
NASA by the U.S. Congress. Both programs were mainly praised by U.S. Congress for developing
American prestige and U.S. progressiveness. While the Project Apollo was mainly praised by the scientific and technological development, the Space Shuttle Program was more praised for the diversity of workers and employees at NASA. Furthermore, both programs were honored for bringing U.S. pride and being an inspiration for future generations.
Other themes of national interest, including international collaboration, U.S. leadership, and space competition, were referenced only on several occasions in Congress reports between
2000-2020. On the first hand, this can seem strange as U.S. leadership and space competition were extremely important during the Apollo Program. Furthermore, the Space Shuttle Program introduced the International Space Station, an important international project that would require international collaboration. In addition, while these themes were mentioned less in Congress reports between 2000-2020, some Congress members who did speak about these themes criticized how the U.S. government was lacking attention towards mainly U.S leadership and space competition. Most criticisms focused on the lack of funding by the U.S. government for new and current NASA programs, as well as a lack of new ideas for future missions. According to some
Congress members, the U.S. government was slowly reducing its development of space
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 67 exploration at a time when it was necessary to speed up, due to increasing competition by China.
This would also eventually be the reason why NASA and the U.S. government are wanting to return to the Moon by 2024. This will be further explained in the next chapter.
Nevertheless, the themes of international collaboration, American leadership, and space competition were deemed less important compared to American prestige and U.S. progressiveness by Congress between 2000-2020. To see if this is still the case, the following chapter will focus on the ongoing Mars Program and discuss future plans NASA has in space travel.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 68
Chapter 3 – U.S. Congress and the Future of NASA
This chapter will analyze how the U.S. Congress between 2000-2020 has looked at ongoing and future NASA programs regarding U.S. national interest. The previous chapter showed that
Congress between 2000-2020 mostly saw past NASA programs as important towards U.S prestige and progressiveness. This chapter will find out if the Mars Exploration Program and future programs have been considered to further enhance U.S. prestige and progressiveness, or if these programs have been chosen to enhance other U.S. national interests. First, the Mars Program will be analyzed, as this is a current ongoing mission for NASA. Secondly, future NASA plans will be briefly analyzed. A list of reports used in this chapter can be found in order of appearance in
Appendix 1.
3-1 Mars Exploration Program (1993-Current)
The idea of reaching Mars is not necessarily new for NASA. Since its establishment, NASA has looked at Mars as a ‘first prize’ trophy that lays further beyond the Moon140. While never really thinking of any programs to Mars during NASA’s early years in the mid-1990s, Mars eventually became a reachable goal after the success of the Moon landing. In fact, NASA was able to land its first lander Viking 1 on Mars in 1976 (not yet participating in the Mars Exploration Program). The idea of being able to explore Mars was further enhanced after orbiters and landers provided the first images of the Red Planet. In the 1990s, NASA was able to build vehicles that were capable of
140 Lambright, Why Mars? NASA and the Politics of Space Exploration, 3.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 69 both landing and exploring Mars. President Clinton also encouraged the U.S. government and
NASA to further develop NASA’s machinery so that the U.S. can explore Mars as soon as possible.
While still busy with the Space Shuttle Program, NASA started working on building new infrastructure to land on Mars during the early 21st Century. While NASA already had certain failures that were considered tragic during the Space Shuttle Program (Challenger and Columbia),
Mars missions also faced several challenges, due to the difficulty of building the right infrastructure to land on Mars141. The Mars Exploration Program would not be a fast program as the likes of the
Apollo or Space Shuttle Program but would need to take more time, have increased funding, further scientific and technological development, and face higher risks in failures. Still, the Mars
Exploration Program has had several successes until now, as NASA was able to successfully send three orbiters to Mars: Mars Odyssey (2001), Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2005), MAVEN (2013), and multiple rovers; most recently Perseverance (2021)142.
Recently, NASA is considering taking a more different approach towards Mars exploration.
Due to an increase in international and commercial competition (see figure 8), such as the Chinese space program, NASA needs to search for different possibilities for its Mars Program143. According to NASA official and head of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program in Washington D.C. Jim Watzin,
NASA might need to expand its international collaboration in the upcoming years regarding the
Mars Program to change their current policy of individual teams of scientists working on
141 Lambright, Why Mars? NASA and the Politics of Space Exploration, 4.
142 Alexandra Witze, “NASA Rethinks Mars Exploration”, in Nature (London) vol. 538, no. 7624 (2016): 149-150.
143 Witze, “NASA Rethinks Mars Exploration”, 149-150.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 70 machinery for Mars. Watzin further argues that international collaboration is something that will be important in the future of space exploration.
Figure 8: Competition in Spacecraft Exploring for Mars. Source: Alexandra Witze, “NASA Rethinks Mars Exploration”, in Nature (London) vol. 538, no. 7624 (2016): 149-150.
Finally, while the Mars Exploration Program is still ongoing, some critics, including
President Donald Trump, worry that increasing competition and a new program towards the Moon will take momentum and funding away from the Mars Program144. As space competition increases, mainly from China, the U.S. wants to start funding a ‘new’ program, by once again focusing on sending people to the Moon, including the first woman, and being able to stay longer on the
Moon’s surface. However, congressional appropriators have rejected the extra funding towards
NASA’s fiscal year 2020 budget which means NASA will have to divide its funding to both the Mars
Program and the new Moon Program.
144 David Kramer, “Quo Vadis, NASA: The Moon, Mars, or both?”, In Physics Today 72, no. 7 (2019): 22-26.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 71
Even though the Mars Exploration Program has not yet come to an end, Congress has spoken multiple times on the effect of the Mars Program on U.S. national interest. Still, relatively fewer Congressional reports focused specifically on the Mars Program compared to Project Apollo and the Space Shuttle Program. Furthermore, the dates of the Congressional reports on Mars do not seem to be repetitive, something that was more the case during the Apollo and Space Shuttle
Program. This also has to do with the fact that there are fewer anniversaries (except for several
Rover missions and the Viking mission in the 1900s) compared to Project Apollo and the Space
Shuttle Program. Nevertheless, Congress did speak about the importance of the Mars Program for
U.S. national interest on several occasions.
3-1-1 Space Competition
During an extensive hearing on the Mars Program on January 21, 2004, several Representatives spoke to the house on the importance of the NASA Mars Program. Mr. Rohrabacher145, who introduced several key speakers, concluded the hearing on Mars by referencing the importance of NASA’s program in global competition. While also speaking of American leadership as an important factor for the U.S. to remain investing in space exploration, Mr. Rohrabacher also
145 Dana Rohrabacher (Republican) represented the 48th Congressional district of California. Rohrabacher worked on science, space related and economic issues during Regan’s presidency. Furthermore, Rohrabacher was Vice-Chairman of the House of Science Committee, and Chairman of the Space Subcommittee
(https://www.rohrabacher.com/bio.html).
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 72 acknowledges the increased competition by anti-democratic nations, such as China146. Mr.
Rohrabacher thinks it is important for the United States to recognize space competition as the increased competition from other nations can be a threat to the peace and security of the
American people. This is one of the reasons why Mr. Rohrabacher thinks it is important to spend time acknowledging and praising the Mars Program so that people do not forget why NASA is so important to U.S. national interest.
3-1-2 American Leadership
Representative Rush D. Holt147 spoke towards the House on January 21, 2004, on NASA’s successful Mars mission of landing Spirit on Mars, which once again shows U.S. leadership position in space exploration148. According to Holt, Spirit’s build by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (one of the laboratories from NASA) shows leadership in: “engineering, science, and planetary exploration”149.
During a Senate hearing on July 14, 2016, Senator Nelson spoke to Congress on how the
Mars Exploration Program was important towards U.S. leadership position in space exploration.
Starting his speech by going back to the 1976 landing of Viking 1 on Mars, Senator Nelson mentions
146 Recognizing and Commending Achievements of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, and Cornell University in Conducting the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, HR, 108th Congress, 2nd Session,
Congressional Record 150, no. 2 (January 21, 2004): H48-H52.
147 Rush D. Holt (Democrat) was a Representative for the 12th Congressional district of New Jersey. During his time at the House, Holt focused on science and arms control issues (https://ballotpedia.org/Rush_D._Holt,_Jr.).
148 Commending NASA on “Spirit” Mission to Mars, HR, 108th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 150, no. 2
(January 21, 2004): E18.
149 Ibid, E18.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 73 that the United States was the first nation that has landed a spacecraft on the Red Planet150.
Furthermore, the U.S. has until 2016 been the only nation to successfully land a spacecraft on
Mars. Senator Nelson concludes his speech by asking the Senate to acknowledge the importance of NASA’s Mars Program to further encourage U.S. leadership in the exploration of Mars and becoming the first nation to successfully send astronauts to Mars.
3-1-3 American Prestige
During the House of Representative meeting on January 21, 2004, Representative Rush D. Holt spoke to Congress about the successful landing of NASA’s vehicle Spirit on Mars. According to Mr.
Holt, the landing of Spirit on the Red Planet proves once again United States’ scientific and technological power151. In his speech, Mr. Holt applauds all employees who worked hard at NASA’s laboratory for creating excellence and determination and showing why NASA’s Mars Program is a symbol of national pride. Furthermore, Holt explains that the Spirit’s twin rover is expected to land on Mars not too shortly after and that having two rovers explore Mars shows once again the nation’s: “scientific and technical vitality”152.
150 Senate Resolution: 548-Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s
Viking Mission Landing on the Surface of Mars, 114th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 162, no. 114 (July
14, 2016): S5176-S5177.
151 Commending NASA on “Spirit” Mission to Mars, E18.
152 Ibid, E18.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 74
On March 13, 2002, Representative John Cooksey153 spoke to the House on how the Mars
Program was benefiting the U.S. economy and society. In his speech, Mr. Cooksey thanks space exploration for helping to generate America’s wealth and mentions that the Mars Program already shows U.S. willingness to go beyond and further than any other nation has done before154.
Mars’ influence on American prestige was most clearly defined in Mr. Dreier’s155 speech on October 24, 2001, at the House of Representatives. In his speech, Mr. Dreier wanted the House to take a minute to acknowledge the success of the Mars Program and how different successes of the ongoing Mars Program show the world why the United States is the greatest nation156. Ending his speech, Mr. Dreier praises the different people working on the Mars Program for showing why it is important to consider space exploration as a national pride: “the sign of success is a further demonstration of the greatness of the United States of America and the people who are working on the very important space program”157.
153 Representative John Cooksey (Republican) represented the 5th Congressional district of Louisiana until 2002.
Cooksey focused on issues concerning government operations and politics
(https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/john_cooksey/400522).
154 Planet Mars, HR, 107th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 148, no. 28 (March 13, 2002): E338.
155 David Dreier (Republican), former Representative of the 26th, 28th, 33rd, and 35th district of California, sponsored several bills in science, technology, and communication
(https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/david_dreier/400115).
156 Good News Regarding Mars Space Program, HR, 107th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record 147, no. 143
(October 24, 2001): H7222.
157 Ibid, H7222.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 75
Mr. Dreier spoke about the importance of the Mars Program once again in the House of
Representatives on March 11, 2009. Now, during the aftermath of the economic crisis of 2008,
Dreier speaks against the critique of a large amount of funding for NASA by the U.S. government158.
In his speech, Dreier acknowledges that it might seem to many people that the U.S. government could better spend more funding towards the U.S. economy instead of space exploration, however, Dreier argues that investing in NASA itself can help stimulate the U.S. economy and will also enhance U.S. pride. In his argument, Dreier refers to several successes of the Mars Program which increased national pride for the United States.
Mr. Davis159 agrees with Dreier during the same hearing and argues that economic investment towards the Mars Program only will enhance U.S. scientific and technological knowledge, which in turn can help boost American prestige and the U.S. economy160.
Furthermore, Davis praises all the workers of the Mars Program who have helped push the nation to reach places some could have only imagined almost 50 years prior, and that these workers represent national pride to the fullest.
Finally, during a meeting on January 21, 2004, several Representatives spoke about the importance of space exploration and acknowledging the successes of the Mars Program for
158 Recognizing Success of Mars Exploration Rovers, HR, 111th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record 155, no. 43
(March 11, 2009): H3292-H3295.
159 David Davis (Republican) represented the 1st Congressional district of Tennessee and focused on foreign trade and economics (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/david_davis/412235).
160 Recognizing Success of Mars Exploration Rovers, H3292-H3295.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 76
American pride. Mr. Ehlers161 spoke to the house on how science has become one of the most important subjects to improving the prosperity and knowledge of the Nation, something that can also be partially thanked by the tremendous development of the Mars Program162. Also, Mr. Dreier spoke to the House again on why acknowledging the success of the Mars Program and previous programs is so important to American prestige. This time, Mr. Dreier argues that all the workers, who come from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions, all work together on developing the Mars Program. According to Mr. Dreier, this highlights how space exploration programs show how the United States can achieve great things by working together as one coherent nation.
3-1-4 International Collaboration
During Mr. Davis’ and Mr. Dreier’s speech in front of the House of Representatives on March 11,
2009, Mr. Davis argues surprisingly how international collaboration was not of importance during the Mars Program. In his speech, Mr. Davis talks about other nations in the world being able to achieve higher academic standards than the U.S., however, Davis points out that the Mars missions of rovers Spirit and Opportunity were solely an American project where no other nation has been involved in163. This seems quite surprising, as instead of praising international collaboration as an important national interest to NASA’s space programs, Davis considers international collaboration to be an obstacle to the national interest of the United States.
161 Former Congressman Vernon Ehlers (Republican) represented the 3rd district of Michigan and specialized in science, technology and communication (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/vernon_ehlers/400119).
162 Recognizing and Commending Achievements of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, H48-H52.
163 Recognizing Success of Mars Exploration Rovers, H3292-H3295.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 77
3-1-5 New Paradigm
Representative Lamar S. Smith164 shares to the House on February 11, 2004, an article of the San
Jose Mercury, written by Seth Shostak165, that explains the reason why the Mars Program needs to continue and should be supported by the U.S. government166. In the article, Shostak explains that the Mars Program itself is a reason to enhance U.S. development in technology and science.
According to Shostak, people’s curiosity about the unknown can push someone or a group of people to work hard to gain certain answers. And according to Mr. Smith, this is the reason why the Mars mission has been of great value towards U.S. progressiveness.
On March 17, 2009, Representative Ken Clavert167 spoke to the House on the success of
NASA’s Mars Program so far. In his speech, Clavert pointed out that the success of several exploration rovers on Mars allowed NASA the opportunity to perhaps find signs of water and
164 Congressman Lamar S. Smith (Republican) represented the 21st Congressional district of Texas and was assigned to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (https://ballotpedia.org/Lamar_Smith).
165 Seth Shostak is a Senior Astronomer who has written multiple books on astrobiology and the SETI institute, which is a not-for-profit organization that explores the life of the universe (https://www.seti.org/our-scientists/seth- shostak).
166 NASA’s Mars Rover and Space Exploration, HR, 108th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 150, no. 18
(February 12, 2004): E168.
167 Congressman Ken Clavert (Republican) represents the 42nd Congressional district of southern California and is co- chair caucuses of the California Aerospace Caucus as well as member of the NASA Caucus
(https://calvert.house.gov/about-ken).
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 78 future life168. This caused more than a billion visitors to NASA’s website. To Clavert, this shows that
NASA is an important agency for scientific, engineering, and technological development.
Senator Nelson’s also asked the Senate on July 14, 2016, to, besides American leadership, also acknowledge NASA’s Mars Program as an important program to develop U.S. scientific discovery and to help NASA send the U.S. even beyond the ‘final frontier’169. Senator Nelson argues that the NASA Mars Program has caused both a lead in American space exploration, as well as a lead towards U.S. scientific and technological development, which can be used for future NASA space programs.
During another speech by Senator Nelson towards the Congress, Nelson argues how the
Space Shuttle Program can further enhance NASA’s current Mars Program. Referencing the technological advancements made for human spaceflights during the Space Shuttle Program,
Senator Nelson believes that it will not take too long before NASA will send astronauts to Mars with the ongoing Mars mission of exploring the Red Planet170. This shows that past programs can be considered important to enhance future and current programs and U.S. national interest in space exploration.
168 Recognizing and Commending the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL), and Cornell University for the Success of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirt and Opportunity, on the
5th Anniversary of the Rovers’ Successful Landing, HR, 111th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record 155, no. 46
(March 17, 2009): E689-E690.
169 Senate Resolution: 548, S5176-S5177.
170 Mission to Mars and Space Shuttle Flight 30th Anniversary, S45-S46.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 79
On January 21, 2004, several Representatives spoke to the House on recognizing NASA’s achievements in the Mars Exploration Program. First of all, Representative Mr. Rohrabacher speaks to the house about the progress NASA has made through the years up until the Mars missions171. Supporting his thoughts, Mr. Ehlers confirms that there has been an increase in students studying engineering and science. According to Mr. Ehlers, the success of Mars rovers and NASA’s prestige image are contributing factors to this.
Furthermore, during the same hearing on January 21, 2004, Mr. Gordon172 highlights the immersive developments NASA has made since the Moon landing173. While Mr. Gordon admits that he was worried for the future of space exploration after the Shuttle tragedy of Columbia,
Gordon argues that NASA has proven through its Mars Program why the United States should not give up and further push its boundaries in exploring space.
Finally, during the March 11, 2009, hearing at the House of Representatives, Mr. Dreier spoke to Congress on how the Mars missions have further inspired future generations to dream even bigger and work hard to achieve these dreams174. While the Apollo and Space Shuttle
Program had already inspired future generations to work in engineering, mathematics, or science,
Dreier argues that the Mars Program took it even one step further by showing the new generation that anything is possible if people just believe and work for it.
171 Recognizing and Commending Achievements of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, H48-H52.
172 Bart Gordon (Democrat) was a Representative for the 6th Congressional district of Tennessee and specialized in the
U.S. army (https://ballotpedia.org/Bart_Gordon).
173 Recognizing and Commending Achievements of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, H48-H52.
174 Recognizing Success of Mars Exploration Rovers, H3292-H3295.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 80
3-1-6 Conclusion
Similar to the Apollo and Space Shuttle Program, Congress maintains that the Mars Program is important towards American prestige and American progressiveness. Throughout the different
Congress reports between 2000-2020, many spokesmen focused on future generations and the economy of the United States in relation to the Mars Program. What has been more different compared to Project Apollo or the Space Shuttle Program is that many reports on the Mars
Exploration Program referred to the Apollo and Space Shuttle missions. This is also shown in the analysis, as both space competition, American leadership, and international collaboration has been hardly mentioned in several reports.
Furthermore, while the analysis focused on the Mars Program, some reports on the Mars
Program themselves seemed to focus more on NASA as a whole instead of the different missions.
This could be because the Mars Program is still ongoing, so the actual results of the program are still not known at this moment.
Finally, it is also important to acknowledge that there have been significant progress and changes happening during 2020 and 2021, which have not been analyzed. As mentioned in the introduction on Mars, NASA was able to successfully land the rover Perseverance in 2021, which had been a global news story. Furthermore, the return to the Moon Project that has been mentioned before has received more attention in the recent two years. This project, which will be further briefly discussed in the next chapter, has also influenced the Mars Program, as the Moon
Project shifted certain attention and funding away from the Mars Program.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 81
3-2 The Future of NASA
NASA has gained much publicity since its establishment in 1958 and seems to be growing each year. While it is not certain what NASA’s future will hold, there has still been certain discussion in
Congress on the future of NASA. Therefore, this sub-chapter will analyze how Congress between
2000-2020 considers NASA to be important for U.S. national interest in the future.
Senator Nelson mentions during a Senate hearing on June 14, 2015, how important the future of NASA is for the United States in terms of national security175. According to Senator
Nelson, NASA should gain more funding from the government, as this would minimize any postponement of future programs which in turn can cause other nations to become a greater threat to the U.S. in space exploration. In his example, Senator Nelson uses the Russian space program that has currently received further funding from Vladimir Putin. Senator Nelson also argues that the American citizens value successful space exploration as a contribution to increasing American pride.
On April 14, 2010, Senator Hutchison176 spoke to Congress on the future vision of NASA. In her speech, Hutchison criticized how President Obama wanted to increase commercial space exploration at the cost of NASA177. While Senator Hutchison did not necessarily agree with an
175 America’s Space Program, 116th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 166, no. 104 (June 15, 2015): S4122-
S4123.
176 Senator Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison (Republican) of Texas tended to both aviation and space as her main two industries during Commerce as well as Appropriations (https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/H/HUTCHISON,-
Kathryn-Ann-Bailey-(Kay)-(H001016)/).
177 A Vision for NASA, 111th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 156, no. 53 (April 15, 2010): S2335-S2340.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 82 increase of funding for NASA, Hutchison did argue that NASA has been important for the United
States in several points: leadership, international image, American pride, and progressiveness.
While Obama used the Columbia incident during the Space Shuttle Program as a critique of NASA’s policy, Senator Hutchison thinks it is important for NASA to adapt their policy so they can keep growing, rather than taking certain power away from NASA.
On June 4, 2020, Senator Menendez178 argues how NASA’s domestic cooperation with public and private sectors is important for the future of NASA to maintain American leadership in space exploration179. Senator Menendez realizes that the increased competition of commercial and national competition in space exploration can form a threat to the national security of the
United States. Concluding his speech, Senator Menendez describes that “that America’s space program’s best days are ahead”180
With the still ongoing Mars Program, NASA has already started working on their next goal in space: returning to the Moon. Named the Artemis Project, the program will continue where
NASA started over 60 years ago181. Artemis, known as the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology will focus on America once again returning and landing on the Moon, also including the first
178 Senator Bob Menendez (Democrat), representing New Jersey, specializes in U.S. economy
(https://www.menendez.senate.gov/about).
179 America’s Space Program, 116th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record 166, no. 104 (June 4, 2020): S2707-
S2708.
180 Ibid, S2708.
181 One Small Step to Protect Human Heritage in Space Act, 116th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record 165, no.
121 (July 18, 2019): S4933-S4936.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 83 woman who will ever set foot on the Moon. According to Senator Cruz182, the upcoming Artemis
Project is a reason to celebrate American leadership and will even further push the frontier of space exploration.
Representative Thompson spoke on July 17, 2019, about the future of the Artemis Project.
In his speech, Thompson predicts that the U.S. will once again establish a presence on the Moon by 2028183. Thompson already argues that this project will once again bring many Americans together and that this cooperation will further enhance American prestige.
In NASA’s public plan on the Artemis Project, NASA mentions that the Artemis Program will further bring humanity closer to the Moon and the exploration of Mars184. While the current goal is to land on the Moon and find a way for astronauts to stay longer on the surface to the Moon, the ultimate achievement of the Artemis Program is to be able to send people to Mars. NASA explains perfectly well in one sentence what their long-term goal is: “The sooner we get to the
Moon, the sooner we get American astronauts to Mars”185.
Until 2020, Congress has been mostly cautious of mentioning the Artemis Project in the
Congressional Records. While research on this might be currently limited, it is still important to briefly mention the Artemis Project, as it builds further on both the Apollo Program as well as the
182 Senator Ted Cruz (Republican), representing the state of Texas, pursues U.S. freedom and opportunity programs for the U.S. (https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=about_senator).
183 Recognizing the 50th Anniversary of “Apollo 11”, HR, 116th Congress, 1st Session, Congressional Record 165, no. 120
(July 17, 2019): H5917.
184 Artemis Plan: NASA’s Lunar Exploration Program Overview, NASA (September 2020), 9.
185 Ibid, 9.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 84
Mars Exploration Program. What the future of the Artemis Program will unfold is yet to be determined.
3-2-1 Conclusion
Congress has determined that NASA still remains important in the future to enhance U.S. national interest. While the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008, described in subchapter 1-2, already highlighted the importance of NASA as an organization to
U.S. national interest, this chapter has shown how Congress further argues the importance of
NASA programs in the future. Compared to the previous analysis of the Apollo, Space Shuttle, and
Mars Exploration Program, U.S. Congress further argues that international collaboration and U.S. competitiveness, as well as U.S. leadership, are just as important as U.S progressiveness and U.S. prestige to the future of U.S. space exploration.
Finally, future programs of NASA seem to want to bring back certain pride of NASA from the early years. The Artemis Program, which itself can be seen as a sequel to the Apollo Program, builds upon the pride of the Apollo missions and hopes to further break different frontiers in space exploration. How, and if this will work, is yet to be established.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 85
3-3 Conclusion
This chapter has analyzed how the ongoing Mars Exploration Program has been seen by Congress from 2000-2020 as important towards U.S. national interest and how Congress argues why NASA and its future programs are important to maintain U.S. national interest.
Even though the Mars Exploration Program is an ongoing project, this analysis has shown that the Mars Exploration Program does seem to have been influenced by both the successes as well as the failures of the past NASA programs. Congress related the Mars Exploration Program on several occasions with Project Apollo and the Space Shuttle Program, highlighting how the Mars
Exploration Program would reach new highs in scientific and technological developments such as during both previous programs, as well as relating some of Mars’ program failures to the tragedies of Challenger and Columbia. Nevertheless, while Congress was fairly optimistic about NASA’s progress during the Mars Program, it still looked as if Congress was becoming more critical of
NASA’s programs. This became further apparent when the U.S. government wanted to push
NASA’s project Artemis forward, which in turn would slow down the Mars Exploration Program.
Still, the Mars Exploration Program once again showed how Congress between 2000-2020 deemed American prestige and progressiveness as the most important themes for U.S. national interest. Perhaps most interesting is how space competition was hardly mentioned by U.S.
Congress in relation to the Mars Exploration Program, specifically since there has been an increase in space competition from commercial sectors and other nations, such as China. Still, as the analysis only focuses on Congress until 2020, it could be that Congress focused more on space competition as an important theme in space exploration from 2020 onwards.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 86
Finally, the chapter concluded by analyzing that Congress determines NASA to be important to the future of U.S. national interest. According to Congress, the five themes of national interest analyzed throughout this thesis will become even more important, as Congress predicts that NASA’s space exploration missions will only get bigger in the future. This can already be seen with the Artemis Program, which will focus on landing the first woman on the Moon and hopefully in the long-term send humans to Mars.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 87
Chapter 4 – Conclusion
With NASA once again returning to the Moon in the upcoming years, it seems that the end of this research reflects the start of NASA in 1958. This research has analyzed how U.S. Congress between
2000-2020 has argued why NASA space exploration programs are important for U.S. national interest. To do this, this research explored three important NASA programs: Project Apollo, the
Space Shuttle Program, and the Mars Exploration Program. Furthermore, this research has analyzed NASA’s influence as an agency towards U.S. national interest and what this means for the future of NASA. Finally, the research briefly discussed the upcoming Artemis Program, which will once again return American astronauts towards the Moon and hopefully eventually land a man or woman on Mars.
Project Apollo has been considered by the U.S. Congress (between 2000-2020) as one of the greatest achievements in space exploration. Congress still looks back with much pride on the
Apollo missions and the influence it has had on the nation. While the Apollo missions themselves were important to enhance American leadership and space competition during the 1960s,
Congress in the 21st Century looks back at how Project Apollo has mainly contributed to American prestige and progressiveness. Congress has argued that the Apollo Program resulted in an increase of American pride and that many Americans still look back at Apollo as one of the greatest achievements made in life. Furthermore, Congress argued that scientific and technological development increased rapidly during the Apollo Program, which in turn increased a significant interest of U.S. citizens applying for studies in engineering, mathematics, and science.
Just like Project Apollo, Congress looks back at the Space Shuttle Program with much pride.
Nevertheless, the amount of pride for the Space Shuttle Program seemed less than compared to
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 88
Project Apollo, mainly due to the tragedies of Challenger and Columbia. While there has been some criticism on NASA and the Space Shuttle Program as a result of both tragedies, Congress still praises the NASA program for its scientific and technological progress as well as the multicultural employment of hard workers. In addition, Congress finds the Space Shuttle Program to be a significant inspiration for future generations to come, mainly due to the technological developments it has made between the end of the Apollo Program and the end of the Space
Shuttle Program.
The Mars Exploration Program, which started during the Space Shuttle Program, became even more known for its scientific and technological development. While the Space Shuttle
Program was already praised for U.S. progress in technology, the Mars Exploration Program took it several steps further. The actual end results of the Exploration Program on the Red Planet are still yet to be determined; however, Congress seems to already acknowledge the significance of the Mars Exploration Program towards U.S prestige and progressiveness. While the Mars
Exploration Program seems to be deemed as just as successful as Project Apollo and the Space
Shuttle Program towards U.S. pride and progressiveness, U.S Congress from 2015 onwards seems to become less patient with the duration of the Mars Exploration Program as a new program,
Project Artemis, has received a significant amount of positive attention from U.S. President Donald
Trump and the American people.
Finally, while American prestige and progressiveness seem to have been the most important themes of national interest in space exploration according to Congress, it is also important not to forget three other important key themes: space competition, international collaboration, and American leadership. While these three themes of national interest are
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 89 mentioned less compared to American prestige and U.S. progressiveness, Congress still acknowledges that these three themes also are relevant considering NASA’s influence on U.S. national interest. Especially now with Project Artemis’ race to the Moon, it will be interesting to see if American leadership and space competition might become more important themes of U.S. national interest in the future for NASA.
So, how have NASA space exploration programs been argued to enhance U.S. national interest by the U.S. Congress between 2000-2020? When looking at the research, the most important conclusion that can be made is that according to U.S. Congress between 2000-2020,
NASA space exploration programs have mainly enhanced U.S. progressiveness and U.S prestige.
This research has shown that there has been hardly a change between 2000-2020 on how
Congress considers NASA space programs to be important to U.S. national interest. Furthermore, according to the research, Congress finds that NASA and their space programs mostly are important towards inspiring future generations to study science, engineering, and mathematics and that NASA’s programs can unite the nation, which in turn can cause the U.S. to grow economically, socially, and can push the U.S. towards further greatness.
While the analysis has repeatably shown that these two themes of U.S. national interest seem to be most important for U.S. Congress between 2000-2020, it is important to still acknowledge that American leadership, space competition, and international collaboration are themes that themselves were important in the creation of NASA programs. This was most relevant when looking back at the Apollo Program, which was mainly created based on space competition and American leadership. In addition, the upcoming Artemis Project seems to shift the focus of
U.S. national interest from U.S. progressiveness and American prestige back to American
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 90 leadership and space competition. This was also the case in several Congressional Records by the
Senate when discussing the future of NASA. Nevertheless, while there may be a discussion on which theme of U.S. national interest is most relevant towards space exploration or NASA, it can be concluded that NASA and its space programs are deemed important to enhance U.S. national interest.
This thesis has given readers insight into a relatively less researched subject in American politics and space exploration. While much of the research conducted on NASA was mainly focused on technological and scientific advancement, this research took the perspective of the influence of NASA programs on U.S. national interest. Furthermore, most research based on space exploration and U.S. politics focused on the relation between the space agency and the Presidents.
Therefore, this research focused on how U.S. Congress in the early 21st Century considered NASA to be important in U.S. politics and towards U.S. national interest.
While the research has used numerous U.S. Congressional reports to answer the main research question, one limitation that should be acknowledged is that there may be more reports regarding space exploration and NASA in relation to U.S. national interest. Nevertheless, while this can be the case, it can be concluded that these reports might not have been relevant for this research, as these reports did not show up during the research after using specific terms.
Finally, since around 2020, space exploration has become more relevant in media and has seen an increase in global competition. The upcoming years will be an exciting moment for the future of space exploration. NASA is currently thinking of a long-term goal to land a man or woman on Mars. But for now, NASA will focus on once again returning a human being, both man and woman, on the Moon through the Artemis Program. Where NASA’s greatness started by landing
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 91 the first man on the Moon during the Apollo Program, this research concludes with the future prospect of NASA’s goal of landing the first woman on the Moon.
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 92
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Appendix
Appendix 1 – Congress Reports
The following reports were used during the analysis of this thesis. The reports have been divided into the different programs and in order of appearance. The tables below show the following information: title of the report; date of publication; referencing a specific anniversary if mentioned in the report; whether the report is from the House of Representatives or Senate; and which Congress members spoke during the Congressional hearing.
Apollo Program (1961-1972)
Title Report Date | Anniversary Congress Congress Member The Legacy of Apollo: July 16, 2019 | Moon House of Frank Lucas Hearing before the Landing Representatives – Committee on Hearing before the Eddie Bernice Science, Space, and Committee on Johnson Technology Science, Space, and Technology Kendra S. Horn America Must July 17, 2019 | Moon House of Randy Weber Remain the Leader in Landing Representatives Space The Pride of Apollo August 4, 1969 | - House of Mr. Frey 11 Representatives The Introduction of July 9, 2013 | Moon House of Donna F. Edwards “The Apollo Lunar Landing Representatives Landing Legacy Act” In Recognition of 49th July 23, 2018 | Moon House of Sheila Jackson Lee Anniversary of the Landing Representatives First Apollo Moon Landing, a Small Step for Man but a Giant Leap for Mankind Celebrating the 40th July 20, 2009 | Moon House of Sheila Jackson Lee Anniversary of the Landing Representatives Apollo 11 Moon Landing
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 100
45-Year Anniversary July 21, 2014 | Moon Senate Bill Nelson of the Lunar Landing Landing Apollo 11 Mission, 46 July 22, 2015 |Moon House of Randy Hultgren Years Later Landing Representatives
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 101
Space Shuttle Program (1981-2011)
Title Report Date | Anniversary Congress Congress Member Space Program March 19, 2010 | - Senate George S. Lemieux Space Travel in April 18, 2012 | - House of Ted Poe America is History Representatives The Final Flight of the July 8, 2011 | - House of Allen B. West Space Shuttle Representatives Program on July 8, 2011 Recognizing the 30th April 15, 2011 | 1st House of Eddie Bernice Anniversary of the Space Shuttle Flight Representatives Johnson First Flight of the Space Shuttle Retire Shuttle to May 5, 2010 | - House of Pete Olson Houston Representatives Columbia Space March 6, 2007 | - House of Sheila Jackson Lee Shuttle Memorial Representatives Study Act Space Shuttle September 21, 2006 | - Senate Bill Nelson “Atlantis” STS-115 Mission Remembering the January 28, 2019 | House of Glenn Thompson Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster Representatives Challenger and Crew Remembering the January 30, 2018 | House of Glenn Thompson “Challenger” Challenger Disaster Representatives Anniversary 32 Years Later NASA Space Shuttle March 25, 2010 | - Senate Chuck Schumer Retirement Celebrating the 25th July 9, 2008 | First House of Nick Lampson Anniversary of the Women in Space Representatives First American Sheila Jackson Lee Women in Space, Dr. Sally K. Ride, and Honoring her Contributions to the Space Program and to Science Education Recognizing Space September 21, 2005 | - House of Sheila Jackson Lee Shuttle Commander Representatives Eileen Collins, Mission Specialist
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 102
Wendy Lawrence, and the Contributions of all other Women who have Worked with NASA Mission to Mars and January 12, 2016 | - Senate Bill Nelson Space Shuttle Flight 30th Anniversary
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 103
Mars Exploration Program (1993-Current)
Title Report Date | Anniversary Congress Congress Member Recognizing and January 21, 2004 | - House of Dana Rohrabacher Commending Representatives Achievements of Vernon Ehlers National Aeronautics and Space David Dreier Administration, The Jet Propulsion Bart Gordon Laboratory, and Cornell University in Conducting the Mars Exploration Rover Mission Commending NASA January 21, 2004 | House of Rush D. Holt on “Spirit” Mission to Landing Spirit Rover Representatives Mars Senate Resolution: July 14, 2016 | Viking Senate Bill Nelson 548-Celebrating the Mission 40th Anniversary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Viking Mission Landing on the Surface of Mars Planet Mars March 13, 2002 | - House of John Cooksey Representatives Good News October 24, 2001 | - House of David Dreier Regarding Mars Representatives Space Program Recognizing Success March 11, 2009 | House of David Dreier of Mars Exploration Rover’s Landing Representatives Rovers David Davis NASA’s Mars Rover February 12, 2004 | - House of Lamar S. Smith and Space Representatives Exploration Recognizing and March 17, 2009 | House of Ken Clavert Commending the Spirit and Opportunity Representatives National Aeronautics Mars Landing and Space Administration
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 104
(NASA), The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and Cornell University for the Success of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirt and Opportunity, on the 5th Anniversary of the Rovers’ Successful Landing
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 105
Additional Sources
Title Report Date | Anniversary Congress Congress Member Public Law 111-3114: December 18, 2010 | - House of - Enactment of Title Representatives 51-National and Commercial Space Programs A Vision for NASA April 15, 2010 | - Senate Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison America’s Space June 4, 2020 | - Senate Bob Menendez Program One Small Step to July 18, 2019 | Moon Senate Kendra S. Horn Protect Human Landing Heritage in Space Act Recognizing the 50th July 17, 2019 | Moon House of Glenn Thompson Anniversary of Landing Representatives “Apollo 11”
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis 106
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19 June 2021
“Reaching the Beyond: NASA’s Quest for U.S National Interest” Yuri Peeters – MA Thesis