Date
8-9-2024
Department
College of Arts and Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)
Chair
Chad Shelley
Keywords
Commercialization of space, space economy, merchant, Cold War, space exchange, commodity, power
Disciplines
History
Recommended Citation
Piseno, Sandra Jeneane, "Cold War Merchants and the Commercialization of Space" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5905.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5905
Abstract
During the Cold War, several merchants commodified space exploration and human spaceflight. Beginning with defense contractors who supported the development of missiles for national security and artificial satellites for the International Geophysical Year (IGY), industry and government collaborated to form consortiums which promoted U.S. dominance in space. The initiatives resulted in research and development of innovative technology which the U.S. government used to propel hegemony, leading to commercial industries taking an active role in space. The impact of Sputnik created a new competitive environment in which Western economic methods facilitated the commercialization of space, capitalizing on market-based production of goods and services that built the U.S. space economy. Throughout the Cold War, government maintained principal control over space programs and the development of technology used to launch rockets, probes, and humans into low earth orbit (LEO) and eventually to the moon. However, over time this trend shifted to include more collaborative strategies between government and private industry which eventually led to the commercial infrastructure in the twenty-first century. Although there were many policy-related considerations, including the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, the primary driving force for the commercialization of space developed in the Cold War through media and communication merchants, popular culture and consumer markets, the economic side of government, the domestic and international competition with NASA, and entrepreneurs seeking a framework for solutions to modern problems that could be solved by a commercial presence in LEO. The framework presented in this dissertation focuses on the contributions of private industry in the commercialization of space outside the parameters of defense, technocracy, and revenue. This framework provided utility that was a function of the Cold War and space commerce rather than a product of it.
