I’d like to offer my sincerest thanks to none other than Vladimir Putin. Despite what you may have been told, he’s actually done this great nation a favor.
Recent media coverage has caused many Americans to worry about the coming of a new Cold War, but the truth is we should be welcoming it with open arms. After all, there’s nothing that drives this country more than the spirit of competition.
The Cold War once gave Americans a simple sense of purpose: to be better than the Soviets at anything and everything. And it was with this sense of purpose that our nation was able to accomplish so many great triumphs.
Part of this purpose meant containing Soviet political influence across the globe. Another meant supporting capitalism through heavy consumerism. Most importantly, though, it meant building strong cultural competition in the arts and sciences.
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
Would John F. Kennedy have said these words if not for the Cold War? Probably not.
But it’s not just about sending a man to the moon — if Eisenhower hadn’t signed the Space Act in 1958, NASA as we know it wouldn’t even exist.
To some, that might not seem like a big deal, but deleting NASA from history would mean saying goodbye to your memory-foam mattress, your Brita water filter, cordless power tools, shoe insoles, and even long-distance telecommunications (a.k.a. all of your mobile devices).
The fact is, the world today would look entirely different (most likely for the worse) if not for the many technological advances that arose from the competitive culture of the Cold War.
Without the threat of a common foe, America has become far too comfortable lately. Don’t you find it strange that we declared the Cold War won yet now rely on Russian rockets to get American astronauts to orbit?
After years of American politicians naively treating Russia as a non-competitor, national math and science programs have practically gone down the drain.
And it’s for this reason that I say thank you to Vladimir Putin. America needed a swift kick in the butt, and Russia’s actions in Crimea have undoubtedly served as the steel-toed boot.
On April 2, in a leaked email, NASA Associate Administrator for International and Interagency Relations Michael O’Brien wrote the following to undisclosed colleagues:
“Given Russia’s ongoing violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, until further notice, the U.S. government has determined that all NASA contacts with Russian government representatives are suspended, unless the activity has been specifically excepted.”
This means no more visits by Russian government representatives to NASA facilities, no more bilateral meetings, and even no communication by email.
As for excepted activities, ISS relations are sound, and American astronauts will still be hitching rides on Russian Souyez rockets until 2017.
NASA has made it clear, however, that the Agency is now heavily focused on bringing back domestic launches for astronaut transport. According to agency spokesperson Allard Beutel:
“NASA is laser focused on a plan to return human spaceflight launches to American soil, and end our reliance on Russia to get into space… We’re now looking at launching from U.S. soil in 2017… The choice here is between fully funding the plan to bring space launches back to America or continuing to send millions of dollars to the Russians. It’s that simple.”
Aside from this being a point of nationalism, the degrading relations between American and Russian space agencies is excellent news for commercial space companies such as Orbital Sciences (NASDAQ: ORB) and SpaceX. With both of these companies now having successfully completed cargo resupply missions to the ISS, we can expect contracts for human launch missions in the near future.
NASA’s space-taxi contract with the Russia’s Federal Space agency is putting up nearly $70 million every time the Agency sends an astronaut to space. So in addition to political pressures, there is a huge financial incentive for the agency to award contracts to space companies operating in the capitalist landscape.
Right now, Orbital and SpaceX are the only two companies capable of filling this void. In the most likely of scenarios, NASA will split human launch contracts between both Orbital and SpaceX, just as it has done with cargo resupply missions over the past few years.
NASA has certainly warmed up to SpaceX since its inception, but the agency’s most recent contract to launch eight science satellites went to Orbital’s Pegasus rocket.
In either case, NASA will experience the benefits of the free market, and America can finally begin climbing back into a position of global space leadership.
Turning progress to profits,
Jason Stutman
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