Slide 25 of 99
Notes:
Despite strong opposition from other Reagan Administration officials (most notably science advisor George Keyworth and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger), the President finally approved the space station project in January 1984. Two years of determined NASA lobbying had finally paid off. Scientists and the military were opposed to the project, however, so NASA promised Reagan that the first two years of the project would be devoted to low-cost definition studies in order to develop a design that met all the requirements.
The Space Station looked like this in January 1984 when Reagan approved the program. NASA had agreed to develop a facility that would meet certain requirements while costing no more than $8 billion at 1984 rates. The concept shown here was developed by the Space Station Task Force's Concept Definition Team.
The main justifications for the Space Station project were “jobs and foreign policy prestige.” In his January 1984 speech, the President directed NASA to invite “America's friends and allies” so that “we can strengthen peace, build prosperity, and expand freedom for all who share our goals." Reagan showed the Space Station model to the other G7 leaders at the London economic summit in June 1984.