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

124 reMeMBerING the SpaCe aGe
waned,so did the necessity of dominating “this new sea.”Liberals also increasingly
rejected the frontier myth and its implied associations with exploitation and
oppression.Conservatives lacked these misgivings about the frontier and embraced
the economic benefts and material progress associated with the frontier myth. 10
however, the impact of conservative ideology on the space program was
far more pervasive than that described by Launius and McCurdy. the conservatives’
own comparison of the space program under the reagan administration
with that of the Kennedy years was not without grounds. at the very least,
the numerous new space initiatives undertaken by the reagan administration
made this a major turning point in U.S. space history at least on a par with that
of the Kennedy-Johnson era.
perhaps the most unforgettable reagan space program was the Strategic
Defense Initiative (SDI), a space-based antiballistic missile defense system.
With homage to president Kennedy and the apollo efort, reagan committed
the nation to building a space station by the decade’s end. Less memorable was
the National aero-Space plane (NaSp), commonly confused with the Orient
express. the Orient express would have been the nation’s fastest aircraft
capable of fying from Washington to tokyo in two hours, while the NaSp
would have been the world’s frst single-stage-to-orbit spaceship. the most
infuential and lasting of the reagan space initiatives was the formulation of the
frst national policy to foster the commercial use of space. as a result, the role
of the private sector in space grew tremendously following the end of the Cold
War, providing the aerospace industry with a respite from the defense cuts that
came in the immediate ending of formal hostilities.
In addition to president Kennedy’s space and frontier rhetoric, conservatives
also embraced the Kennedy era’s enthusiasm for large-scale space ventures
overseen by NaSa. One of the principal prophets of this conservative space
agenda was Newt Gingrich. elected to the house of representatives from
Georgia for the frst time in 1978, Gingrich began formulating his ideas about
the future, space, and technology in late 1982 and early 1983 as the economy
began to turn around and a mood of optimism spread among conservatives and
the public in general. 11 his ideas about space and technology are less important
as refections of his personal thinking than as a mirror held up to refect the
thoughts of a number of like-minded individuals who also viewed space as a
new frontier for planting the fag of conservative ideas. Like the fabled frontier
15, 1960, John F. Kennedy presidential Library and Museum, historical resources, http://
www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/JFK+PrePres/Ad
dress+of+Senator+John+F.+Kennedy+Accepting+the+Democratic+Party+Nomination+for+the+Pre
sidency+of+t.htm (accessed November 12, 2007).
10. Launius and McCurdy, “epilogue,” pp. 238.
11. James a. M. Muncy interview, Washington, DC, January 12, 1999, tape recording and transcript,
NaSa historical
reference Collection, NaSa headquarters,
Washington, DC.