Nov 13 1984
From The Space Library
The congressional Office of Technology Assessment released a report, "Civilian Space Stations and the U.S. Future in Space," which said that the kind of Space Station that NASA was planning could not be justified on scientific, economic, or military grounds. It went on to say that not just Congress, but the entire nation, ought to consider what the country wanted to do in the second quarter-century of the space era. The Space Station envisioned by NASA, the report said, "is only one alternative in a wide range of options." Thomas F. Rogers, director of the two-year study, said that the time had come for the general public to play a greater role in space program goals. "We've been spending $7.5 billion a year, every year; we can do anything want to do," he said. "It's great, it's exciting, but we're missing large numbers of important activities by allowing all this to go on under technological drive-not policy drive, economic drive, social drive, the way everything else is done in this country at that level of public expenditure." The report characterized the nation's goals in space as shortsighted and narrow, reflecting the views only of the science and technology communities and not of the general public, which foots the bills. The study also said, "There is no compelling, objective, external case" for building a Space Station "to be used to support over 100 conceptual uses, few of which have been sharply defined or gained wide acceptance as important objectives of the space program" The report concluded by spelling out the "kinds" of goals the nation should set: increase the efficiency of space activities and reduce their costs; involve the public; reap scientific, economic, social, and political benefits; increase international cooperation; and "spread life, in a responsible fashion, throughout the solar system." (Civilian Space Stations and the U.S. Future in Space, (D.C.: OTA, 1984; W Post, Nov 14/84, A-4; NY Times, Nov 14/84, B-20)
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