After nearly a decade of having to hitch rides with Russia to reach the International Space Station, the United States is once again launching its own astronauts into space.
It’s about time. This renewed reach for the stars is something to celebrate (particularly during our prolonged pandemic confinement), but it is also an imperative. As a nation, we must again devote ourselves to leadership in space.
It is difficult to comprehend our reliance on Russia following the grounding of NASA’s space shuttle program in 2011. My first memory of public affairs was the death of President John F. Kennedy and news accounts of his call, 59 years ago this week, “before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” In elementary school, classmates and I crowded into the cafeteria to watch each space launch. One of my early out-of-state vacations included a visit to the Kennedy Space Center. My younger brother was named after Neil Armstrong.
While space captures the imagination, it also makes our lives better. Without GPS navigation and the communications capabilities delivered from space, life would grind to a halt. Everything from processing financial transactions to controlling energy grids, water, and transportation depends on space assets. Our military capabilities on land, air, and sea are also enabled by and reliant on space.
To control our destiny as a nation, we must control our destiny in space.
Thankfully, just as the breakup of AT&T’s telecom monopoly unleashed our innovation in all things digital, early signs suggest that NASA’s pivot to public-private partnerships is fostering similar advances. SpaceX’s scheduled launch of two astronauts to the space station from the same launchpad at Kennedy Space Center that lifted Apollo 11 to the moon should be just the beginning.
Boeing continues its journey to qualify its Starliner for transporting astronauts. SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics were selected to return humans to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program. Axiom Space is building the first stages of a private space station. Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo had a successful test flight to the edges of space as a prelude to its aspirations in space tourism. By tapping into the ingenuity of the private sector, America is again on the move in space and is a major player in one of the world’s fastest-growing industries.
In Colorado, we have the nation’s second-largest concentration of space activity (the highest per capita) and one of the country’s strongest space economies. Home to some 500 aerospace companies and suppliers, including the headquarters for Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin Space, and United Launch Alliance, Colorado’s space ecosystem makes us a leader in both commercial and national security realms. At the University of Colorado, we have been deeply involved in space since the 1950s, producing 20 astronauts over the years (ranging from Mercury missions to the space shuttle), and receiving more NASA funding than any other public university.
The University of Colorado and Colorado’s commercial expertise, combined with the many capabilities at Peterson, Schriever, and Buckley Air Force bases, make Colorado the logical home of the U.S. Space Command (for the next six years, as was recently announced) making a compelling case for the designation to be permanent. Given emerging threats from other nations in space, the U.S. Space Command will play a critical role in defending our space-based assets, including those that serve our economic interests and ensure our national security.
My wife’s childhood nickname was Sputnik, after the Russian satellite that showed America its shortcomings in space more than a half-century ago, leading to JFK’s challenge. In that same speech, he observed, “For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war.”
For the sake of our nation’s prosperity and security, it is not enough to journey to the moon once again. We must commit to government, commercial, and academic collaboration to retain a position of preeminence in space, in this decade and beyond. It’s about time.
Mark R. Kennedy is president of the University of Colorado.
Disclosure: The University of Colorado’s medical campus is named after the Anschutz family. Philip Anschutz is owner of the Washington Examiner’s parent company.
