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: Space Law Probe

Civil space policy and the "Spunik moment"

By jesse londin

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Here is a nice little 30-pager of a stocking stuffer for that civil space policy lover on your holiday shopping list (and who doesn't fit that description?): U.S. Civilian Space Policy Priorities: Reflections 50 Years After Sputnik (Dec. 3, 2007). From the festive folks at Congressional Research Service, who else?

I am not sure how much of this is at all revelatory, especially after all the nonstop Sputnik 50th anniversary reflection this year, but basically, CRS overviews:

No Sputnik moment, Cold War, or space race exists to help policymakers clarify the goals of the nation?s civilian space program. The Hubble telescope, Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters, and Mars exploration rovers frame the experience of current generations, in contrast to the Sputnik launch and the U.S. Moon landings that form the experience of older generations. As a result, some experts have called for new 21st century space policy objectives and priorities to replace those developed 50 years ago.

A Sputnik moment of course, is "a rapid national response that quickly mobilizes major policy change as opposed to a response of inaction or incremental policy change. The term is also used to question inaction ? as in whether or not the nation is prepared to respond to a challenge without an initiating Sputnik moment."

Well? Bring it on.

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UPDATE: Here is a quick summary of the report, from Aviation Week. (Link via NASA Watch.) I am now ready for an eggnog moment.

Full post as published by Space Law Probe on December 07, 2007 (boomark / email).