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SPACE – On October 4, 1957, the United States has a hangover: the USSR is the first nation to send space to a satellite, Sputnik 1. If the country catches up with Explorer 1 in February Americans are shocked. In response, they create, 60 years ago to the day, July 29, 1958, NASA.
This is the beginning of the race for space that will eventually allow Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to pose foot on the Moon 21 July 1969.
Today, NASA is struggling to reinvent itself in a sector where more and more international space agencies and commercial interests are coming together. Notably because of a budget that is no more than the shadow of what it was, even if it is still far superior to that of its competitors.
Its ambition is to send the man back far space, on the Moon over the next decade and on Mars by the 2030s. But funding problems could put an end to these ambitions, which also change with each new president.
Rise to Power
In 1957, the Soviet Union sent its first satellite in space with Sputnik 1, while American attempts, mainly under the auspices of the army, failed miserably.
President of the time, Dwight D. Eisenhower, then called the Congress to create a civil and separate space agency. On July 29, 1958, he signed the law creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).
The Soviets still won another round in April 1961, when Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. A month later, US President John F. Kennedy unveils plans to send a man to the moon in the late 1960s.
The Apollo program was born. In 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. And in 1969, Neil Armstrong enters history as the first man to walk on the moon.
Geopolitical Instrument
"Apollo was a unilateral demonstration of the power of a nation", recalls John Logsdon, professor emeritus at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. "It's the fact that Kennedy has decided to use the space program as a declared instrument of geopolitical competition that has made Nasa an instrument of national policy, with a very important budget," he told AFP.
During the Apollo era, no less than 5% of the national budget went to NASA. Today, this share has risen to less than 0.5% of the federal budget (or nearly $ 18 billion a year), and NASA no longer plays the same role in national politics, according to John Logsdon. [19659002] However, this remains much higher than the national agencies of other countries. And the agency experienced other episodes of glory in the 1980s, such as the birth of the space shuttle program, and then in 1998, with the start of operations of the International Space Station (ISS). It is also at the origin of a great part of the scientific discoveries realized in the solar system.
But what will it be tomorrow?
Moon, army of the space and cooperation
President Donald Trump defended a return to the moon, calling for a lunar bridge that would allow a continuous stream of spaceships and people to visit the moon, and that would serve as a starting point for Mars. With only a five-year crew mission on the moon, Nasa plans to spend approximately $ 10 billion on lunar exploration on a budget of nearly $ 20 billion by 2019.
A project that has been greeted with skepticism by some scientists, some of whom do not believe it when others are simply wondering if such a costly program will really be useful.
Donald Trump also called for the creation of a space force , a sixth branch of the army that would focus on defending US interests.
NASA has long been considered a leader in space innovation, but faces serious competition today.
"You have something like 70 countries that are in one way or another involved in space activity," says John Logsdon.
Rather than compete with international space agencies, "the focus has been put on "To reduce costs and accelerate innovation," said Teasel Muir-Harmony, curator at the National Museum of Air and Space.
A shuttle problem
Former NASA leader Charles Bolden warned of the recurrence of shuttle-era mistakes when the US ended its program with no other spacecraft ready to take over. "We can not tolerate another void like this," said Bolden.
The coming years will indeed be crucial for NASA, while it may well be denied access to space for its astronauts, its contracts with SpaceX and Boeing for private transport capsules have been delayed.
Because the agency can not send astronauts alone into space since 2011, when its space shuttle program ended after 30 years. It must now pay 80 million dollars per seat to Russia. A contract that should be completed by the end of 2019. But the shuttles of the two American companies have taken a lot of delay.
Let's hope that NASA astronauts do not find themselves grounded for their 61st birthday.
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