R. Handberg et J. Johnsonfreese, THE RETURN OF THE AMERICAN MILITARY TO CREWED SPACEFLIGHT - HYPERSONIC AND OTHER VISIONS, Space policy, 13(4), 1997, pp. 295-304
Since the 1950s, crewed spaceflight has been the province of NASA, a d
ecision reaffirmed in the 1960s with the cancellation of all military
projects which might have competed. That understanding has driven Amer
ican space policy since that time despite the fact that the military h
as not given up its dream of crewed spaceflight. Over the past decade,
that division of labor has begun to break down in part due to the mil
itary's heightened awareness of the usefulness of space as operational
location. The Air Force, the service most committed to this vision of
military space, has in its planning for the next generation returned
to the concept of military space activities across the spectrum. In es
sence, the implied social contract which drove American crewed spacefl
ight since the sixties is now undergoing revision and possible reversa
l. Given the political climate, NASA may be particularly vulnerable to
such challenges. The impact of such a change upon the world wide huma
n spaceflight effort is unknown but likely to be extremely disruptive
as military considerations move to the fore. The debate is ongoing, th
e major limitation remains budget so that any agreed upon changes are
likely to be slow to occur. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved.