Privatization Of NASA Essay

Ezekiel Forsythe

English 9

Ms. Zitka

April 20, 2023

NASA: Federal or Privatized? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has played a pivotal role in American space exploration, scientific research, and foreign policy ever since its inception in 1958. Spectacular achievements, including human space travel during the Mercury Missions, earth orbit during the Gemini Missions, and lunar landings during the Apollo missions have shaped how our society views spatial exploration and research. However, as private companies like SpaceX investigate the possibility of commercial space travel and the federal budget comes under increasing strain, the question remains as to whether or not space exploration and scientific research should be placed

Although NASA traces its origins to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, founded in 1915, American space exploration didn’t truly expand until the 1950’s under President John F. Kennedy (Britannica). After the launch of the first satellite by the USSR in 1957 and the subsequent start of the Cold War’s Space Race, NASA scrambled to increase its efforts in the 1960’s. Ever since the end of the Space Race and the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the USA has faced new emerging competitors in outer space, most notably the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China. Space is rapidly becoming a stage for the demonstration of hard power, as symbolized by the creation of the US Space force in late 2019 (United States Space Force History). As space draws increasing attention from the international community, it is becoming ever more important to maintain the federal government’s current $32.5 billion investment in NASA’s space

In order to adequately develop this capacity, the American government again relies on NASA’s scientific knowledge. An example of this occurred in mid-2020, when a Russian Satellite began to move closer to America’s USA 245 satellite. The Russian Satellite then released a baby satellite, Kosmos 2543. The baby satellite in turn released a projectile traveling at approximately 435 miles an hour (Marshall, p. 252). Although no satellites or other property were damaged, the incident serves as a warning as to what space is becoming; NASA’s work helped ensure that US decision makers remained informed during the incident, and that the US’s position in space was not jeopardized. Similarly, NASA’s research regarding space is proving critical to the US Space Force as it analyzes technologies that could combat threats such as Russia’s Kosmos 2543, giving the US the ability to back its claims concerning outer space. Indeed, NASA is already providing the newest branch of the US military with information pertaining to foreign nations’ actions in space, including new Chinese technology the Space Force believes was reverse engineered (or stolen) from US equipment (Ayres).Without NASA’s research and support, the Space Force would be hard pressed to design new spacial defense technology and remain informed about said