US National space policies (1960 – 2010)

: a longitudinal study of civil, national security and space industry influences

Abstract

All great powers differ from each other in the time and place in which they exist and the circumstances that shape their actions. For the US, space has provided much of this context, playing a significant role in winning the Cold War and in America’s subsequent post-Cold War emergence as the world’s sole superpower. US Space capability has evolved rapidly throughout the first 50 years of the space age (from 1960 to 2010). The function of US space capability is expressed in space policy. The national space policies that span the period have ranged from being declaratory, clear, and direct, rallying the nation around a space programme, to others that have bounded a purpose born of competing demands, limited resources and political salience. By conducting a longitudinal analysis of the seven US national space policies issued between 1960 and 2010, this research will identify the enduring themes that characterise US national space policy. These themes are then be triangulated in a historical analysis using the empirical record to add context, salience and provide a richer understanding of the influences and outcomes of US national space policy, broken down into a Cold War period and a post-Cold War period. The themes that emerged were remarkably consistent and included national security priorities, technological leadership in civil space endeavours, direction provided to the US space industry and political guidance aimed at achieving leadership and encouraging domestic and international cooperation, often as a means to domestic and foreign policy ends. This thesis will argue that the most consistent influence across the period was establishing, sustaining and exploiting the US space industry and its global technological leadership in space capability as a means of reaching national security goals, space technological leadership and as a lever in domestic and foreign policy. The technological leadership and capacity of the US space industry to realize the policy ambition has most recently been expressed in the turn to the private space industry who are providing some of America’s most pressing space capability needs.

Date of Award	1 May 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	King's College London
Supervisor	Mark Hilborne (Supervisor) & Simon Rofe (Supervisor)