The Kennedy Administration and Project Apollo: International Competition and Cooperation through Space Policy
- Paper number
IAC-06-E4.2.01
- Author
Mr. Hirotaka Watanabe, Osaka University, Japan
- Year
2006
- Abstract
It has been more than thirty-five years since humankind landed on the surface of the Moon. The first lunar landing might have been accomplished as a U.S.-Soviet joint project. It is true that the Kennedy administration decided to go to the Moon so as to defeat the Soviet Union in the next space race just after the Soviet first human spaceflight following its first satellite launching. However, the Kennedy administration also strived to realize some U.S.-Soviet joint human lunar exploration, advocating international cooperation in space activities. The concrete plan was about to be brought up to the Soviet Union when President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. The two aspects of Project Apollo, competition and cooperation with the Soviet Union, have been examined by making use of the documents declassified especially after the end of the Cold War. But it has not yet been fully explained how and why the two aspects had changed during one thousand days of the Kennedy administration. On the basis of the transition of the two aspects, the purpose and meaning of Project Apollo in the Cold War should be reexamined. With the awareness of the issues, this paper will explore historically how the Kennedy administration decided and implemented Project Apollo in the Cold War, paying attention to the relationship between the space policy and the foreign policy of the Kennedy administration. It will synthesize other past studies and utilize newly unveiled materials. By doing so, this paper will clarify the two aspects of Project Apollo and discuss the meaning of Project Apollo in the Cold War, and the feature of space policy as national policy as well.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-06-E4.2.01.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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