Human Space Exploration: Justifications and U.S. Space Policy

American supporters of human space exploration, identified in this essay as space proponents, want the United States to pursue a policy of establishing human settlements on other worlds in the Solar System. Human space exploration is a matter of public policy because a substantial expenditure of public resources is necessary to achieve this goal. A new approach to this policy question can be realized by critically examining the fundamental assumptions and beliefs of the space proponents. The theory of myth-systems provides a means to examine these principles. This theoretical framework demonstrates that the space proponents lack insight into their beliefs, misinterpret political events associated with human spaceflight, and thus unintentionally narrow their perspective on how to achieve their goal.