Abstract
There were many issues to be resolved before the question of whether to move forward with a space station could be ready for presidential decision. They included: whether the scientific community or national security community would support a space station program; what was the design of the space station of the station the president would be asked to approve; how much that station would cost; and whether the U.S. space station program would be open to international participation. Those issues were extensively analyzed and debated during the April-August 1983 period. The SIG (Space) study process proved highly bureaucratic, as interested agencies and White House staff offices had widely differing perspectives. There emerged deeply felt disagreements among senior Cabinet officials and White House staff on the wisdom of approving the space station proposal, and by August those disagreements resulted in deadlock. President Reagan at several points during 1983 signaled that he was personally in favor of develo** a space station. But Reagan’s decision-making style meant that he did not impose his personal preferences early on in the policy-making process; issues were fully debated before policy options were presented to the president for choice.
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Notes
- 1.
Interview with Jeffrey Struthers, in 1983 OMB Branch Chief for Space and Science, May 29, 2016.
- 2.
Memorandum from Chairman, SIG (Space) Space Station Working Group to SIG (Space) Working Group Members, “SIG Activity for the Balance of This Year,” April 19, 1983, Folder 12905, NHRC. NASA, “A NASA Capabilities Evaluation Document,” Preliminary Draft, June 16, 1983, CIA-RDP92B00181R001901730063-1, CREST.
- 3.
Memorandum from Gil Rye to William Clark, “Schedule for the National Space Strategy,” June 1, 1983, NSSD 13-82 File, Executive Secretariat, National Security Council; memorandum from William Clark to Members, Senior Interagency Group for Space, “Schedule for National Space Strategy,” Box 30, Subject Files, Executive Secretariat, National Security Council, June 6, 1983, RRL.
- 4.
Memorandum from J.D. Hill to the deputy director, Intelligence Community Staff, “NSSD 5-83 Space Station Report,” July 25, 1983, CIA-RDP85M00364R000400550062-3, CREST.
- 5.
Hans Mark, The Space Station: A Personal Journey (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1987), 165, 172–173.
- 6.
The Space Science Board’s views are quoted in Howard McCurdy, The Space Station Decision: Incremental Politics and Technological Choice (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), 158.
- 7.
Memorandum from Charles Cook to General Stillwell, “DOD Space Station Requirements,” June 3, 1983, Box 1, Papers of Terence Finn, NARA.
- 8.
Much is this section is drawn from John M. Logsdon, “Together in Orbit: The Origins of International Participation in the Space Station,” NASA, Monographs in Aerospace History #11, November 1998, available at https://history.nasa.gov/monograph11.pdf. Unless otherwise noted, all quoted material in this section is drawn from this monograph.
- 9.
James Beggs, “Keynote Address,” July 18, 1983 in Mireille Gerard and Pamela Edwards, eds., Space Station: Policy, Planning and Utilization (New York: AIAA, 1983), 4.
- 10.
McCurdy, The Space Station Decision, 152–153.
- 11.
Ibid., 155.
- 12.
Ibid., 171. Much of this section is drawn from McCurdy’s study.
- 13.
Memorandum from Peggy Finarelli to Bart Borrasca, “Space Station Funding,” September 8, 1983, Box 1, Papers of Terence Finn, NARA.
- 14.
McCurdy, The Space Station Decision, 169.
- 15.
National Intelligence Estimate 11-1-83, “The Soviet Space Program,” July 19, 1983, available at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7327262.
- 16.
National Security Council, “Space Station Report (DRAFT),” August 4, 1983, Box 5, Papers of Edwin Meese, RRL. Quoted passages are on 1, 3–5, 7, 10–12, 14, and 16–22.
- 17.
Craig Covault, “NASA Chief Foresees Space Station Approval,” AWST, July 25, 1983, 18.
- 18.
Mark, The Space Station, 176.
- 19.
Proposed Remarks of Dr. George A Keyworth, II to the 19th Joint Propulsion Conference, Seattle, Washington, June 27, 1983, Folder 1187, NHRC.
- 20.
Mitchell Waldrop, “Keyworth Calls for Bold Push in Space,” Science, July 8, 1983. Interview with Jay Keyworth, January 25, 2017. Letter from Edward Teller to George Keyworth, July 19, 1983, RAC 13, Papers of George A. Keyworth, RRL.
- 21.
McCurdy, The Space Station Decision, 160–162.
- 22.
National Intelligence Estimate 11-1-83, “The Soviet Space Program,” July 19, 1983, 1, 10, 19, 21, available at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7327262.
- 23.
Craig Covault, “Reagan Briefed on Space Station,” AWST, August 8, 1983, 16.
- 24.
Mark, The Space Station, 173. Memorandum from Gil Rye to John Poindexter, “Briefing on Soviet and U.S. Space Capabilities,” July 26, 1983 and memorandum from William Clark to Caspar Weinberger, “Space Briefing for the President,” July 27, 1983, both in Box 30, Subject Files, Executive Secretariat, National Security Council, RRL.
- 25.
Diary notes of Hans Mark, with attached “White House Briefing” summary, August 8, 1983. I am grateful to Dr. Mark for providing me with a copy of this material. See also McCurdy, The Space Station Decision, 166 for another description of the August 8 meeting.
- 26.
McCurdy, The Space Station Decision, 181. Letter from Gil Rye to Hans Mark commenting on a draft of Mark’s The Space Station book, October 25, 1984, cited with Rye’s permission.
- 27.
Memorandum from “Cap” to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, “Defense Position on the SIG (Space) Station Issue,” August 19, 1983 Files of Valerie Neal.
- 28.
Memorandum from John McMahon to William Clark, “DCI Position of the SIG (Space) Space Station Issue,” August 18, 1983, Box 5, Papers of Edwin Meese, RRL.
- 29.
Name of author redacted, Memorandum for the Record, “Meeting with Judge Clark, 7 September 1983,” September 8, 1983, CIA-RDP85M00364R000601010070-0, CREST.
- 30.
Memorandum from John Marcum to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, “Comments on the Space Station Report,” August 19, 1983, Box 5, Papers of Edwin Meese, RRL.
- 31.
Letter from Malcolm Baldridge to William Clark, August 23, 1983, NHRC.
- 32.
Letter from James Beggs to William Clark, August 18, 1983, NHRC.
- 33.
Memorandum from Gil Rye to William Clark, “Space Station,” August 25, 1983, with various attachments, Box 5, Papers of Edwin Meese, RRL.
- 34.
Rye letter to Hans Mark, October 25, 1984.
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Logsdon, J.M. (2019). Debates and Disagreement. In: Ronald Reagan and the Space Frontier. Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98962-4_8
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