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

30 rememberINg the SpaCe age
claims that the space program will produce major economic benefts,” the
Japan aerospace exploration agency (JaXa) issued a 20-year vision statement
in 2005. 30 In it, the agency emphasized goals that were reiterated by JaXa
president Keiji tachikawa in an annual message:
I feel that Japan’s space program can contribute more to the
safety and security of the Japanese people. I hope that JaXa
will actively bear responsibility to follow this lofty goal and
space development leads to greater safety and security for all
mankind, from our daily lives to emergency situations. 31
tachikawa’s message is emblematic of a general shift in justifcations
characteristic of all the major global space programs, one that equates a concern
for the welfare of the environment with important social benefts. all national
space programs—both major and minor—now pay lip service to critical
environmental issues such as global warming, deforestation, land erosion,
earthquake prediction, and disaster warning. Such rationales have begun to
augment and replace Cold War-centered justifcations that centered largely
around prestige and national security.
the justifcation tropes, then—whether arguing for survival of the species,
national pride, national security, economic competitiveness, scientifc discovery,
or benefts to the populace—serve to provide a foundation for which to discuss
the very possibility of space exploration. because of its extremely high costs
and attendant high risks, nations have had to frequently and insistently justify
the existence of space programs; thus, justifcations are not simply extraneous
rhetoric but have become intrinsic to our future visions of space exploration.
CoNteSted VISIoNS
each of these four elements that form the core of space exploration
narratives—the founding fathers, the notion of indigenity, connecting
spacefight with national identity, and the need for justifcations—are contested
and mutable. In each case, there are actors who seek to displace or destabilize
the master narratives.
perhaps the most rancorous disagreements have been over the founding
father archetypes and the claims of indigenity. In the former case, the u.S.
space program is somewhat of an anomaly. a plausible candidate for a founding
father is the rocketry pioneer robert goddard who designed, built, and
30. the quote is from Steven berner, Japan’s Space Program: A Fork in the Road? (Santa monica, Ca:
raNd technical report tr-184, 2005), p. 30.
31. “message from president of JaXa,” http://www.jaxa.jp/about/president/index_e.html (accessed
February 29, 2008).