National Space Council

The National Space Council was a body within the Executive Office of the President of the United States, which existed from 1989 to 1993 during the administration of George H.W. Bush. It was a modified version of the earlier National Aeronautics and Space Council (1958-1973).

1958 - 1973 National Aeronautics and Space Council (NASC)

Established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, the NASC was chaired by the President of the United States (then Dwight Eisenhower). Other members included the Secretaries of State and Defense, the NASA Administrator, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, plus up to four additional members (one from the federal government and up to three from private industry) chosen at the President's discretion.

The Council was allowed to employ a staff to be headed by a civilian executive secretary. Eisenhower did not use the NASC extensively during the remainder of his term, and recommended at the end of his last year in office, that it be abolished. He did not fill the post of executive secretary, but named an acting secretary on loan from NASA. Shortly before assuming office, President-elect John F. Kennedy announced that he wanted his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, to become chairman of the NASC, requiring an amendment of the Space Act.^[1]

Edward Cristy Welsh was the first executive secretary of the NASC, appointed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. Welsh, who as a legislative aide to Senator Stuart Symington (D-Missouri) helped draft the 1958 legislation that created NASA and the NASC, spent the 1960s as the principal advisor to the White House on space issues. He also assisted in the development of the legislation that created the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT). After his retirement in 1969, he remained active as an advisor to NASA.

1989 - 1993 National Space Council

George H.W. Bush created the National Space Council by "Executive Order 12675". The Council was chaired by Vice President Dan Quayle and included the following members:

• The Secretary of State;
• The Secretary of the Treasury;
• The Secretary of Defense;
• The Secretary of Commerce;
• The Secretary of Transportation;
• The Director of the OMB;
• The Chief of Staff to the President;
• The Assistant to the President for National Security Agency;
• The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology;
• The Director of Central Intelligence; and
• The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Disbanding

On February 12, 1992, friction between the largely astronaut-based management at NASA and the National Space Council led to Richard Truly, then NASA Administrator and a former astronaut, being forced out. Truly was forced out after Vice President Quayle and the space council's executive director, Mark J. Albrecht, enlisted the aid of Samuel K. Skinner, the White House chief of staff, in urging Pres. Bush to remove Truly. Quayle and the council staff made the move because they felt Truly would impede a new plan to restructure and streamline many aspects of the space program, including the space agency administration.^[2]

In 1993, the Space Council was disbanded and its functions absorbed by the National Science and Technology Council.^[3]

Re-creation of the National Space Council

President Barack Obama promised to re-establish the National Aeronautics and Space Council upon taking office in an effort to bridge the gap between the civil and military space agencies.^[4] However, as of April 2014, the status of the council's revival is unknown.^[5]

President-elect Donald Trump made a similar promise during his 2016 campaign.^[6]

References