Reaching for the stars in times of crisis. Western Europe’s entry into manned spaceflight, 1972-1985
Final Report Abstract
In 1972, the European Space Association decided to enter the field of human spaceflight. Politically, this decision intended to strengthen European integration and to establish Europe as a fully-fledged space power. In times of stagnant growth such a step was considered economically important to acquire new markets and bolster the continental aerospace industry. Consequently, however, Western European participation in the Post Apollo Program challenged its utopian premises to the core and forced ESA to rethink its position towards military and/or commercial uses of outer space. Western European entry into human spaceflight was heavily contested within ESA because the development and use of the Spacelab, a reusable and multifunctional science platform that served as Western Europe’s entry ticket, implied close collaboration with the United States. Politically, this led to ESA’s involvement in the militarization of outer space gaining increased strategic significance in the wake of renewed Cold War-tensions since the late 1970s. Economically, the multifaceted commercial prospects that went along with Spacelab’s commission stimulated especially larger member states such as France and the Federal Republic to pursue primarily national interests that contradicted ESA’s multilateral approach towards space. In response to the US Strategic Defense Initiative, France and Germany re-converged during the 1980s and initiated a highly ambitious program for Europe’s future in space. However, its implementation failed not only because of the technical challenges and historical developments of the late 1980s but more so because “Europe” served primarily as a label that allowed member states to pursue national interests with the Federal Republic rooting strongly for its own national aerospace industry. Spacelab was no “international success story” but it enabled the Federal Republic to present itself as the number three among the world’s spacefaring nations from 1985 onwards. Ultimately, for ESA, participation in the Post Apollo-program was no deliberate turn towards a more militarized space agenda. Underlying historical conditions and growing commercial interests, however, stimulated a reframing of national space policies, especially in the Federal Republic that was characterized by a bold, but socially highly controversial approach towards the use of outer space facing a high degree of technophobia as well as ardent imperial ambitions.
Publications
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Der Weltraum im Jahre 2000. Astrofuturismus in Westeuropa, 1945-1990, in: Paulina Dobroc/Andreas Rothenhäusler (Hg.): 2000 Revisited: Visionen der Welt von morgen im Gestern und Heute, Karlsruhe 2020, ISBN: 978-3-7315-1022-2
Tilmann Siebeneichner & Daniel Brandau
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Spacewar! The Dark Side of Astroculture. Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology, 3-42. Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Geppert, Alexander C. T. & Siebeneichner, Tilmann
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Astrofuturismus und Zukunftsmacht. Der Weltraum in der entgrenzten Systemkonkurrenz. 1989 - Eine Epochenzäsur?, 102-119. Wallstein Verlag.
Siebeneichner, Tilmann
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Fetisch Zukunft #3: Kapitel Freiheit, in: Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen
Tilmann Siebeneichner
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Spacelab: Ein „Meilenstein“ deutsch-europäischer Raumfahrtgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts, in: Matthias Knopp (Hg.), Raumfahrt für die Erde ins All. Katalog zur Raumfahrtausstellung, München 2023, S.24-31, ISBN: 978-3-948808-12-9
Tilmann Siebeneichner
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Showcasing Germany in space: the lives and afterlives of Cold War rocket stars Sigmund Jähn and Ulf Merbold. The British Journal for the History of Science, 58(2), 281-302.
Siebeneichner, Tilmann
