President Barack Obama follows a long history of leaders in the exploration of space, the pursuit of international cooperation, and defining mankind’s future within the universe. An examination between the presidency of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama reveals a multitude of similarities in space policy challenges. The two presidents share a common passion to promote space efforts even when up against tight budget constraints and international tension.
Administrative differences of the two presidents are apparent in their space program initiatives. President Reagan, known for supporting a smaller government, encouraged the private sector to pioneer space expansion and make investments in the efforts. Reagan understood that using the private sector would advance the space program at a quicker pace. Demonstrated at his “Radio Address to the Nation on the
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Optimistically, the president made reference to the need of more private sector companies to support the effort. Ronald Reagan would surely have applauded this. President Obama also outlined technology efforts to go beyond the moon and having larger goals for missions to Mars. This mindset to think exponentially beyond the present and on a large scale is a similarity between the two presidencies.
To sum up the similarities, President Obama and former president Reagan drew upon the indomitable spirit of the American people and the exploration of the unknowns to find ways to peacefully fund space program efforts. Respectively, they saw economic benefits to being leaders of space exploration. The differences are seen largely through the administrative details in government size. The challenges of leading a space program in the greatest nation can be intimidating. Each president, as mentioned, has come away with noteworthy advancements in the future of mankind’s space