Presidential Space Policy script

PART 1 -

Introduction

I chose to do a presentation on our presidents and their decisions relating to space. Ever since Dwight Eisenhower created NASA in 1958, each president has made decisions that relate to and effect US space policy in one way or another.

Transition: I will begin with President Eisenhower.

In 1957, Russia launched the first artificial satellite into space causing the start of the space race. To respond to that, Eisenhower asked Congress to write a bill to create a civilian National Aeronautics and Space Agency. The bill was helped being drafted by Senator Johnson and Congressman Ford that later became a joint bill from both houses that was signed in 1958 creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Eisenhower wanted NASA to be a civilian agency because if it was a military agency then it would focus on military operations. In 1958, the US launched its first satellite into space called Explorer 1, and then, authorized by Eisenhower, Project Vanguard sent our second satellite into space that was also the first solar-powered satellite in space.

Transition: Next up is John F. Kennedy.

“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” was Kennedy’s famous quote from the speech we have all heard. He was the first president to create a Space Council that advised him on space matters. Many presidents after that followed through by appointing their vice-president as the chairman like Kennedy did. It was April 12, 1961, when the Soviet Yuri Gagarin went into space as the first person to which Kennedy wanted to get to the moon ASAP after that. 8 days after that he asked for a “space program which promises dramatic results in which we could win.” Each year, Kennedy increased the NASA budget by 90 and 100%. He wanted beating the Soviets to the moon to be one of the 2 top priorities of his administration with defense being the other. He actually met with Khrushchev 2 months after they launched the first man into space and asked him “Why don’t we do it together?” to which the next day Kennedy was met with a “no.”

Transition: Now, to Lyndon Johnson.

This is the same Johnson that helped draft the senate bill to create NASA so he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to it. He called the Apollo program “one of the great wonders of the world.” In 1965, the Department of Defense was given approval by Johnson to start developing a $1.5 billion Manned Orbiting Laboratory which was multiple small space stations to orbit Earth. In 1967, he signed the United Nations’ Space Treaty that prevented nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction from being placed into space and to use the moon and other celestial bodies for peaceful purposes and says governments can’t claim the moon as theirs. Later in his presidency, Johnson had to cut some funding from NASA due to Vietnam but during those cuts NASA still had the most funding it ever had in all of American history. Adjusted for inflation, Johnson gave NASA $30 – 47 billion in 2020 dollars.

Transition: Here we are at Richard Nixon.

Nixon is who I think made the most significant impact and turnaround for the NASA program.  Partly because of budgeting issues and congressional mood, Nixon reduced the budget for NASA and stopped the creation of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, and instead gave NASA the ok to start the development of the space shuttle program for $5.5 million. This program would only involve low-Earth orbit and also deep-space satellite missions. Apollo 11 landed on July 20, 1969, and after the astronauts landed Nixon called them from the White House to congratulate them. Apollo 17 was the last Apollo mission in 1972 because of this decision to go with the Space Shuttle program. Nixon thought of treating NASA as a government domestic program meaning it would have to compete with the rest of government’s resources.

Transition: Gerald Ford is up now.

Ford was one of the congressmen, as I mentioned before, that helped draft the House version of the National Aeronautics and Space Act during his congressional years. Despite that, Ford didn’t have a lot of attention marked towards space during his two and a half years in office. He celebrated the successful Apollo-Soyuz Test Project where American astronauts docked their space module to the Soviet space capsule and shook hands for the first time in space. He also celebrated the landings of the twin Viking robotic explorers on Mars. He kept NASA’s budget as it was with slight increases each year most likely to keep up with inflation.

Transition: I will be ending part 1 with Jimmy Carter.

Carter also didn’t pay much attention to NASA during his term. In fact, in 1979, he considered terminating the Space Shuttle Program from its technical and schedule problems but continued the program after being advised the program was too far along to make such a move productive and the shuttle was needed to launch reconnaissance satellites required to verify arms control agreements. On September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 was launched with the Golden Record on. With that record, there was a printed note attached from Jimmy Carter for any advanced civilizations to read any billions of years from now. The next year, Carter gave the first Congressional Space Medals of Honor at the Kennedy Space Center to 6 astronauts. One of them was Neil Armstrong.

Conclusion

That is part one of my presidents in space presentation. If you remember, Nixon was the most consequential decision-maker relating to space in presidential history and Johnson gave the most money to NASA, but Eisenhower was there at the very beginning. I’ll do the rest of the presidents in the 2nd informative speech. Thank you.

==============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================

PART 2 -

Introduction

I will now continue my presentation of US presidents and their space policies. In part 1, I talked about Eisenhower through Carter so today I will cover Reagan up to Trump.

Transition: Starting off with Ronald Reagan we get a banger right off the bat.

The Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars as the media coined it, was Reagan’s plan to defend the United States from nuclear missiles in space. When Reagan became president, there wasn’t a way that the US could defend itself from a nuclear missile launch. Reagan didn’t like that idea which is where SDI came from. On March 23, 1983, Reagan announced on national television his plan for SDI. The government spent $50 billion on sending satellites to space that would shoot towards Soviet Union missiles with lasers in order to guide the missiles away or overheat them to where they would explode mid-course (which is when the missile is in space). In 1984, the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) was created within the US Department of Defense to start development. On Jan. 25, 1984, during his State of the Union address, Reagan gave his approval to build an International Space Station. It wasn’t called that back then but was called Freedom when he gave it that name in 1988. When his administration looked for places they could cut funding he made sure NASA wasn’t cut and gave NASA a $2 billion increase in 1989. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger was carrying 7 astronauts, with one being a teacher, and exploded 73 seconds after lifting off from its launch pad. This explosion was broadcast on live television for millions to see even in school classrooms. Reagan delivered his Challenger speech that day. That helped calm the nerves of the nation. In his speech, he talked about each astronaut and their families, the NASA employees involved, and the school children watching that morning. He told the children that such sacrifices are made in order to advance our knowledge and that these brave men and women have served their country well. He guaranteed that the space shuttle program would continue as that’s what the families of the astronauts said they wanted.

Transition: After that load of information, let’s move on to George H. W. Bush.

On the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1989, Bush gave a speech announcing the Space Exploration Initiative. He wanted to complete space station Freedom, return to the moon within the next century and stay, and believing it’s America’s destiny to lead in space exploration as it’s mankind’s destiny to explore space. Towards the end, he appointed VP Dan Quayle to lead the National Space Council to find the money, manpower, feasibility of international relations, and technology needed to lead the Space Exploration Initiative. He also replaced the NASA administrator with Daniel Goldin who conducted a study that estimated that SEI would cost $500 billion over 20 – 30 years. After his speech, he signed a proclamation making July 20 Space Exploration Day to forever celebrate our first landing on the moon and space exploration.

Transition: Now, I will talk about Bill Clinton.

He was advised to cancel the space station program at one point because it was backed up and over budget. He chose not after accepting NASA Admin Daniel Goldin’s proposal to redesign the space station Freedom to incorporate both U.S. and Russian-built elements and be renamed the International Space Station. His space policy said, “The United States will conduct those space activities necessary for national security” and not much else. He decreased the budget which made NASA struggle to carry out some of its missions. He ended the Strategic Defense Initiative in 1993 and replaced it with the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). That was focused on ground-based interceptor missiles and theater-scale systems. During the Clinton years, near-term human exploration beyond Earth orbit was abandoned, and the “faster, better, cheaper” strategy was applied to space science robotic exploration. As a result, the Clinton Administration’s 1996 National Space Policy officially removed human exploration from the national agenda.

Transition: After Bill Clinton, I will be moving on to George W. Bush.

The Colombia space shuttle blew up reentering the atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2003. That same day, Bush delivered his 3-minute Colombia disaster speech. He talked about the event of the morning and named each astronaut one at a time. With his calm tone, he gave the astronauts & their families gratitude for their service. He guaranteed we will continue our journey into space. On January 14, 2004, he gave his Vision for Space Exploration speech that talked out what he wanted to achieve regarding outer space. This would turn into his Constellation program. He called for the retirement of the space shuttle after completion of the ISS in order to replace it with a Crew Exploration Vehicle that would provide a low-Earth orbit vehicle and to travel to other worlds with it. He also wanted to return to the moon by 2020 but multiple unseen factors lead to that not happening. In the middle of his speech, he said “The moon is a logical step toward further progress and achievement.” which is true as true can be. On August 31, 2006, a new national space policy was released, updating the last national policy from 1996. The new National Space Policy rejects Arms control agreements that might limit U.S. flexibility in space and asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone "hostile to U.S. interest." The document emphasized security issues, encouraged private enterprise in space, and characterized the role of U.S. space diplomacy largely in terms of persuading other nations to support U.S. policy.

Transition: Barrack Obama is now up.

Charles Bolden was the NASA admin of his presidency and said one of Obama’s primary missions for NASA was to “reach out to the Muslim world” to help Islamic nations “feel good” about their contributions and accomplishments in the science arena. He stated 3 goals in his interview and never mentioned space exploration as one of Obama’s stated goals. He created the Augustine Commission to review the Constellation Program and what could be done after the program. It said the program was so behind schedule, underfunded and over budget, that meeting any of its goals would not be possible. Obama used that commission as an excuse to cancel the five-year-old Constellation program by taking off its funding from NASA’s 2011 budget. His new plans instructed NASA to get a spacecraft to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, and then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s. His Asteroid Redirect Mission would send a spacecraft to land on a near-Earth asteroid and have its robotic arms get a 4-meter boulder from that. The mission would cost around $2.6 billion but funding never got even close to that for the mission. The Orion crew capsule, which was what the crew exploration vehicle was called, would only be used in an emergency to return the ISS crew with the Russian Soyuz spacecraft back to Earth. Throughout his presidency, Obama relied heavily on commercial space companies, like SpaceX, to fly capsules going to space for the ISS. He wanted all launch vehicles designed, manufactured, and operated by private space companies.

Transition: I will be ending on another banger being Donald Trump’s space policy.

Donald Trump created one of America’s most amazing programs—the freaking Space Force. The Space Force was officially created on December 20, 2019, as the 6th branch of the US military. This idea started from his Space Policy Directive 4 in October 2018. This is Trump’s directive to the Department of Defense to begin creating the Space Force as its own military branch. It would form the United States Space Command to control our space forces and develop tactics, techniques, and procedures for space military operations. The Space Force will organize, train, and equip combat space forces. It creates the Space Development Agency to make sure the Space Force has its best warfighting capabilities. On August 29, 2019, Trump reinstated the Space Command, aka SPACECOM, with the Combined Force Space Component Command being a subgroup to help coordinate its efforts. The Space Command will focus on the protection of U.S. space assets and strengthen the military’s posture in space as adversaries develop more advanced anti-satellite weapons. The Combined Force Space Component Command’s focus is to “plan, integrate, conduct, and assess global space operations in order to deliver combat relevant space capabilities to Combatant Commanders, Coalition partners, the Joint Force, and the Nation.” Members of the Space Force would be called Guardians. On December 9, 2019, Trump’s national space policy promoted the commercial space industry, returning us to the moon and preparing for Mars, leading the world in exploration, and defending America and its allied interests in space with self-defense. In November 2020, Trump issued Executive Order 13959 prohibiting U.S. companies and individuals owning shares in companies that the United States Department of Defense has listed as having links to the People's Liberation Army of China and which also includes the aerospace industry of China. Trump signed the INSPIRE Women Act just a month after his inauguration. This act would allow K-12 schoolgirls around America to see what NASA employees do and get presented through STEM career opportunities at NASA and inspire them to pursue careers in aerospace. He created the Artemis program. This idea came from Space Policy Directive 1 and was named Artemis in 2019. The goals for this program are to land the first woman and person of color on the moon by 2024 to establish a base. Those astronauts will study and conduct experiments to apply that knowledge for the 2030s where we will go to Mars.

Conclusion

If you look back to Eisenhower, some of my favorite space policies include the creation of NASA, SDI, and the Space Force. Comparing the two political parties, there is a trend that can be seen with all the Democrats after Lyndon Johnson. They choose to either lower NASA’s budget, remove a space program, or a little of both. When you study the Republican presidents, you notice that they are the ones that most have increased NASA’s budget and have started the awesome space programs like NASA, the Space Shuttle, SDI, SEI, Constellation, Artemis, and the Space Force. Presidents like the Bushes had big ambitions for space, but problems arose that wouldn't let them advance their plans into motion. Just because history gave them factors outside of their control that wouldn't let them get what they wanted doesn't mean what they said should be discredited. That is all I have to say on presidential space policy.