Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

BUILdINg SpaCe CapaBILIty thrOUgh
eUrOpeaN regIONaL COLLaBOratION
eUrOpeaN SpaCe aS aN INStrUMeNt OF FOreIgN aNd
INdUStrIaL pOLICy
european foreign policy is expressed in its space policy. Space industry,
science and technology provide the material infrastructure that lock governments
into formal multilateral agreements. the United Kingdom is the
exception that proves the rule as far as the integrative urge is concerned. Britain
emerged from the war much impoverished with respect to the United States,
but it still remained the leading scientifc and technological power in Western
europe. It was the frst country after the U.S. and the Soviet Union to test
both atomic and hydrogen bombs, it had the frst commercial nuclear power
reactor dedicated to civilian energy production in the free world, and it built
the frst commercial jet passenger aircraft. 13 By virtue of this leadership and its
close alliance with the United States and the Commonwealth, it had little interest
in collaborative european space eforts. there was just one brief moment
when matters were otherwise. In 1960, after some hesitation, prime Minister
Macmillan decided that the time had come to accept that Britain was no longer
a major world power and as a result should draw closer to its neighbors
across the english Channel. In June 1961, he deposited Britain’s request to join
the Common Market. While the six existing members of the club debated
the terms and conditions of British entry, two major Franco-British aerospace
projects were launched. One was Concorde, the supersonic airliner. the other
was the europa rocket to be built by eLdO. In January 1963, president de
gaulle vetoed British entry, arguing that London was not really committed to
european integration and that its inclusion would do little more than serve as a
trojan horse for american interests on the Continent. Concorde survived, but
Britain’s commitment to eSrO and especially eLdO did not. For the British,
space policy became something to be conducted primarily at a national level
and through multilateral agreements: they would not be tied into a supranational
organization in which their control over programmatic decisions would
be diminished. the result was predictable: Britain maintains a strong presence
in space science, but it is totally absent from rocketry and has a selective
approach to the development of applications.
the place of science and technology in german foreign policy is somewhat
unique since here the european option was an essential path back into scientifc
and technological collaboration with its erstwhile enemies. 14 It also relegitimated
technological projects in sensitive areas such as nuclear energy and space. the
precedent was set in high-energy physics in 1950 when Isidor I. rabi from
Columbia University proposed at a United Nations educational, Scientifc
13. david edgerton, Warfare State. Britain 1920-1970 (Cambridge University press, 2006).
14. Niklas reinke, The History of German Space Policy: Ideas, Infuences and Interdependence, 1923-2002
(paris: Beauchesne, 2007).translated from the german.
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