A New Space Policy: Free Enterprise

This article was published in the October 1987 issue of The Freeman.

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Since the Challenger Shuttle disaster effectively grounded America’s space program in January 1986, President Reagan has increasingly called for private businesses to enter the space industry. Space Services Inc., which made a successful test launch in 1982, plans to begin commercial operations in late 1988, as does start-up faro American Rocket. Aerospace veterans Martin Marietta and McDonnell Douglas already have received orders for satellite launches. Despite this, America still trails the Soviet Union in satellite launches, and the Europeans and Japanese are quickly catching up.

The launching of Sputnik in 1957 was taken by many Americans as a signal of Soviet technological superiority. To calm a frightened public, the U.S. government poured billions of dollars into the space race and, to this day, the American space program has been a virtual government monopoly. Read more.