WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday called for greater international cooperation in space exploration and bolstering U.S. companies that build spacecraft.
Obama vowed to maintain the U.S. competitive edge in space exploration and in systems that support national-security operations. At the same time, the president said, U.S. policy must recognize that the world has changed since the end of the Cold War.
“No longer are we racing against an adversary,” Obama said in a statement. “In fact, one of our central goals is to promote peaceful cooperation and collaboration in space, which not only will ward off conflict but will help to expand our capacity to operate in orbit and beyond.”
The policy follows up Obama’s April announcement that he is retooling the focus of NASA to deep-space exploration and extending the role of private companies in the space program.
Obama said Monday he’s committed to investing in the domestic aerospace industry, which includes Boeing of Chicago and Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin, and to promoting the purchase and use of U.S. commercial space goods and services as part of the international agreements.
Among the smaller companies at the center of Obama’s plans, closely held Space Exploration Technologies, commonly known as SpaceX, will carry out test flights in the next five years to show it can haul cargo and possibly astronauts to the Earth-orbiting international space station.
The administration said it will look to other nations to collaborate on areas including Earth exploration, climate-change research, sharing environmental data and monitoring and removing of space debris.
