Reference no: EM133413792
What was the importance of Congress passing legislation that allowed private industries to explore space?
Story:
The world is entering a new period of space exploration with the rise in corporate space travel. For some people, this new chapter presents boundless opportunities for developing new products and services. For others, there is deep concern that private companies' activities in space will lead to more of the problems we have here on earth.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first human-made object into orbit around earth-a small satellite called Sputnik I. This launch raised significant national security fears among Americans and was the beginning of the "space race" between the United States and Russia. This race culminated in NASA's successful landing of Apollo 11 on the moon in 1969. With that event, space travel became more commonplace. It was followed by the successful launches of Skylab, the space shuttle, and the International Space Station (ISS) in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Up until this time, only governments had the capability and legal right to explore space. But space exploration was aided by private corporations that helped develop and manufacture everything from rocket components to space suits. Today, companies build private commercial satellites and conduct zero-gravity science experiments on the ISS. In 1984 and again in 1990, Congress passed public-private partnership legislation that allowed private industries to launch their own systems into space and required NASA to purchase launch services from commercial providers.
After the NASA Space Shuttle program ended in 2011, President Barack Obama initiated a program that would allow private companies to build and operate spacecraft capable of ferrying U.S. astronauts into orbit- and eventually deeper into the solar system. Leading the way were CEOs such as Jeff Bezos of Amazon (Blue Origin), Richard Branson of the Virgin Group (Virgin Galactic), and Elon Musk of Tesla (SpaceX). These companies aim to expand space exploration at a rapid pace. Private companies are taking part in activities such as payload delivery, space tourism, and mining for minerals in outer space. Out of these developments, an important debate has emerged over the ethics of space exploration. On one hand, some taxpayers feel space exploration should be funded and operated solely by governments so that citizens can have a say in how and why space is explored. Others feel that space exploration should be conducted by private companies that may be able to accomplish missions at lower cost to taxpayers. Ethical questions abound over how much of space should be explored and by who. In what ways can governments and private companies cooperate for the good of all?