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The History of the European Space Program

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Book cover Geopolitics of the Outer Space

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Abstract

In order to analyze the European position and future in the space domain, it is crucial to understand the historical development that led to its contemporary position. Especially in Europe, the historical development that occurred on the continent since the end of the Second World War holds a high level of impact on the current state of affairs. The issue is analyzed from two perspectives. First, the historical development of the common European project inside the post-Second World War geopolitical development is being set up. This establishes a framework into which European space activities are added. These are, again, analyzed in the global context that is divided into three distinct periods—approximately 1957–1972, 1972–1991, and 1991–nowadays.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a brief introduction to the history of European integration, see http://europa.eu/about-eu/eu-history/index_en.htm

  2. 2.

    Available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2007:306:FULL:EN:PDF. Accessed 28 May 2016.

  3. 3.

    For an alternative perspective on the future of the European integration, see, for example, Zielonka (2014).

  4. 4.

    Originally a French project that was handed to the common framework due to high costs (Al-Ekabi and Mastorakis 2015, p. 16).

  5. 5.

    See, for example, http://www.techtimes.com/articles/223137/20180316/the-new-space-race-vladimir-putin-says-russia-will-beat-us-to-mars.htm. Accessed 1 May 2018.

  6. 6.

    The Obama administration, for example, canceled the rather problematic antiballistic shield plan (Hays 2011, pp. 72–73).

  7. 7.

    The first attempted system failed at launch.

  8. 8.

    The second largest discovered Moon in the solar system after Jupiter’s Ganymede.

  9. 9.

    http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/ExoMars. Accessed 1 May 2018.

  10. 10.

    See http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Launchers/IXV/Reentry_technologies. Accessed 13 March 2016.

  11. 11.

    Accessible at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:C:2007:306:FULL&from=EN, pp. 88–89. Accessed 13 March 2016.

  12. 12.

    http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Launchers/Launch_vehicles/Ariane_6. Accessed 13 March 2016.

  13. 13.

    See http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2016/02/ESA_Euronews_Moon_Village (Carpenter et al. 2016, p. 53). Accessed 15 March 2016.

  14. 14.

    http://www.esa.int/ESA/Our_Missions. Accessed 13 March 2016.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Political Studies, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    Bohumil Doboš

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  1. Bohumil Doboš
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Doboš, B. (2019). The History of the European Space Program. In: Geopolitics of the Outer Space. Contributions to Political Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96857-5_5

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