Japan and Post-Apollo Talks

The 1969 agreement on the transfer of launcher technology to Japan catalyzed renewed efforts in the country to establish a centralized body responsible for space that was similar to NASA. Japan’s National Aeronautics and Space Development Agency (NASDA) was established to that end. Though ISAS was sidelined in favor of NASDA, both these bodies along with a few other government agencies and private corporations steered the Japanese space program until an umbrella organization called the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was formed in 2003.29 Cognizant of the “growing pains” of building and establishing a space program in Japan, of the geopolitical realities during the Cold War, and of domestic politics in Japan, over the last 50 years NASA has identified selective niches within ISAS, NASDA, and later JAXA for scientific and technological col­laborative endeavors.

NASDA was established as a public organization on October 1, 1969, with strong support from both the minister of science and technology and Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. It operated under the policy guidance of the STA who provided its budget, along with some government agencies. NASDA took over the functions of the National Space Development Center and of the Ionosphere Sounding Satellite Division of the Radio Research Laboratories of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and included engineers and scientists from both academic and industrial circles.

The timing of the creation of NASDA reflected the trajectory space was tak­ing toward the application needs of nation-states. The agency took the lead in the development of space application capabilities in Japan, including satellites for remote sensing, communications, and meteorological observation, the develop­ment of launch vehicles for those satellites and the development of facilities for production, testing, and tracking the satellites. It also benefited from a change in Washington’s foreign policy initiatives in the 1970s that saw the waning of a “special dependency relationship” that had characterized US-Japan relations since the end of World War II. The opening of China during the Nixon administra­tion and the “changing nature of the cold war—detente with Soviet Union, the evolution of a new world economy, and domestic forces transformed the Pacific alliance.”30 This was reflected in NASA administrator Tom Paine’s invitation to Japan in March 1970 to participate in the post-Apollo program (see chapter 4).

While the Japanese space community was eager to participate in the post-Apollo program, it was unclear what they could contribute. Uncertainties over the evolv­ing configuration of the post-Apollo program itself (chapters 4 and 5) were com­pounded by the reorganization of the national program, and the limited resources Japan had for space. Minister Nishida noted that the country could only make a useful contribution to post-Apollo if it had achieved something significant of its own, and was suitably advanced technologically: “real international cooperation” was otherwise impossible.31 Notwithstanding these reservations a special commit­tee was formed by the Space Activities Commission on July 1, 1970, to consider what contributions Japan could make. It sought clarity from NASA on its detailed plans, but to little avail given the fluid nature of the situation in the United States and Frutkin’s determination that potential partners should bring their own sug­gestions to the table (see chapter 4). A top-level team visited NASA field centers and contractors in July 1971 and had extensive discussions with Arnold Frutkin at the NASA headquarters.32 The lesson that was drawn was that Japan should first close the technological gap with other countries by developing space technolo­gies indigenously. The Special Committee backed off from any major participa­tion in the shuttle, recommending instead, in its final report filed in May 1974, that Japan prepare experiments to use the shuttle and Spacelab, doing its best to develop and supply the hardware itself.33 It also recommended that when the next generation system for human spaceflight was developed it was in Japan’s interest to extend its cooperation to the full development of a space laboratory and to send­ing a Japanese astronaut into space.34 This came in handy when deliberations on participation in the space station came up in 1984.