Bush-Quayle 1988

Before being elected as vice president, despite having served as a naval aviator during WWII, George Bush did not exhibit a particular interest in the American space program. As vice president, however, Bush became increasingly involved in space policy making—particularly in the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Challenger accident. Bush met with the families of the lost astronauts just hours after the tragedy and was deeply moved by both their sorrow and continued dedication to NASA. Dr. June Scobee, the wife of the mission commander, told him not to let the disaster hurt the agency and to fight to keep the space program alive. On 21 March 1987, at the dedication of the Challenger memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Bush stated, “the greatest tribute we can pay to the Challenger’s brave crew and their families is to remain true to their purpose, and to rededicate ourselves to America’s leadership in space.”[89]

In the summer of 1987, NASA Administrator James Fletcher requested a meet­ing to brief Vice President Bush on issues relating to the American space program.[90]

Specifically, the administrator wanted to talk about the U. S. and U. S.S. R. civil space programs, the status of the Space Shuttles return to service, and the keys to the agency’s future. On 10 August, Fletcher went to the White House to present the agency’s vision for the 1990s and beyond. He told Bush that the Soviets were beating the Americans in space because of the former nation’s unrelenting expan­sion of its civil and military capabilities during the prior three decades. The primary examples of that preeminence were the permanently occupied Mir space station and the massive Energia launch vehicle. Fletcher argued that Space Station Freedom and a Shuttle-derived advanced launch vehicle would not be capable of achieving parity with the Soviets until the end of the century. He suggested that this disparity in technical capabilities gave the U. S.S. R. an advantage in robotic and human explora­tion of Mars, which was the long-term goal of Soviet space efforts.[91]

Administrator Fletcher indicated that four important steps needed to be taken to reverse the current course of American-Soviet competition. First, NASA needed funding to develop a flexible and robust space transportation system to assure access to Earth orbit. Second, several critical enabling technologies needed to be tested, including: artificial gravity, closed loop life support, aero-braking, orbital transfer and maneuver, cryogenic storage and handling, and large scale space operations. Third, the U. S. needed the national will to excel. Finally, policy makers needed to choose a long-term, post-Space Station goal that would provide a strategic focus for the space program. Fletcher argued that human exploration of the solar system would provide this direction. He outlined a plan that would commence with a return to the Moon, establishment of a scientific outpost, and exploitation of lunar resources. Then, in the early 21st century, the space agency would be ready to start sending human missions to explore Mars. The meeting with the vice president was purely informational in nature and was not aimed at gaining an immediate response. The main objective was to lay the groundwork for further lobbying efforts should Bush be elected to replace President Reagan.[92]

On 13 October 1987, speaking at Houston’s Hyatt Regency Hotel, Vice Presi­dent George Bush announced he would make a second run for the presidency. Just weeks after declaring his candidacy, Bush delivered a major policy address on the future of the space program at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala­bama. While space policy was not a hot issue during the election cycle, Bush gave it more attention than any presidential candidate since John Kennedy. He told the crowd gathered at the NASA field center, “In very basic ways, our exploration of space defines us as a people—our willingness to take great risks for great rewards, to challenge the unknown, to reach beyond ourselves, to strive for knowledge and innovation and growth. Our commitment to leadership in space is symbolic of the role we seek in the world.” Exhibiting his moderate Republican roots, Bush spoke eloquently of the environmental problems facing humanity and the role that NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth (a planned network of earth science satellites) could play in altering “our disastrous course.” He also endorsed aggressive launch vehicle developments aimed at replacing the Space Shuttle, assuring access to low-Earth orbit and drastically reducing launch costs. Finally, drawing on his briefing from Administrator Fletcher two months earlier, Bush argued that the nation “…should make a long-term commitment to manned and unmanned exploration of the solar system. There is much to be done—further exploration of the Moon, a mission to Mars, probes of the outer planets. These are worthwhile objectives, and they should not be neglected. They should be pursued in a spirit of both bipartisanship and international teamwork.” He stressed the need for international cooperation, stat­ing that the solar system should be explored not as Americans, Soviets, French, or Japanese, but as humans. Despite delivering a relatively optimistic address about the future of the space program, Bush also openly spoke about the budgetary pressures facing the federal government and its impact on the space agency. “We cannot write a blank check to NASA… while our dreams are unlimited, our resources are not, and we must choose realistic missions that recognize these constraints.”[93]

During the course of the next year, the country watched one of the nastiest presi­dential contests in history unfold. After a slow start with a third place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Bush stormed back with a solid win in New Hampshire followed by a sweep of the Super Tuesday primaries on 9 March 1988. In August, the Repub­lican Party unanimously nominated Bush. On the morning of 3 October 1988, while engaged in a chaotic general election campaign against Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, the nominee was on hand at Edwards Air Force Base for the landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery, the first shuttle mission since the Chal­lenger accident. That afternoon, at a campaign stop in Redding, California, Bush strayed from his regular stump speech to talk about the space program. He stated that if he were elected president, he would have certain strong notions about the proper priorities for the space program. Once again drawing upon the NASA brief­ing he had received the previous year, Bush contended that the logical progression of the human spaceflight program would involve completion of the Space Station, followed by missions to the Moon and Mars. He stopped short of endorsing the adoption of an exploration plan focusing on the red planet, however, stating that he was “not completely sure Mars is the next place we ought to go, and I want to receive the best thinking on that. But if we decide to go, we’ll have to be ready, and a space station is part of that process.”

Still, Bush made it clear that while robotic probes had great benefits he believed the future of the American space program should place an emphasis on human spaceflight. The primary rationale he gave for human involvement was that mis­sions to explore the solar system were “journeys of discovery and daring, and they will lose their impact and their meaning if they are performed only by machines.”[94] [95] The following month, George Bush defeated Michael Dukakis—with a supportive president-elect ready to take office, this opened a policy window for adoption of a long-term human spaceflight initiative. The main question facing the space policy community, however, was whether a plan could be formulated that would revitalize the space program without requiring a large infusion of budgetary resources.