Uncertain future of manned space-flights?: The ethically challenged U.S. astro policy and the “New Space Race”
Uncertain future of manned space-flights?: The ethically challenged U.S. astro policy and the “New Space Race”

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyses how quality of ethical decision-making in government space-flight organisations affects the effectiveness of a national astro policy in terms of the “New Space Race”. The Post-Cold War global arena becomes a battlefield crowded with the aspiring space nations — such as Russia, China, India, Iran, Canada, Japan and EU — who are making progress toward equalizing the United States’ supremacy in exploring and controlling outer space. While technological, financial and security challenges are largely discussed, the paper brings attention to vital importance of sound managing and decision-making for an effective space policy. Space flights are among the most demanding endeavours of mankind, with multi-sectoral networking of actors and highly complex work specialisation. The analysis focuses on the case studies of tragic accidents of the space shuttles Columbia and Challenger to support the thesis that poor ethical reasoning can easily end in the loss of life and enormous waste of resources, which in the long run threat to seriously undermine feasibility of further development of national space programmes. The authors conclude that if the U.S. government is to ultimately win the “New Space Race” it has to transform organisational culture in public spaceflight organisations in a way that recognise moral integrity as a fundamental prerequisite for the successful implementation of manned space-flight programmes.

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