Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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SPACE AS AN INVESTMENT IN ECONOMIC GROWTH
McDonnell Douglas teamed with the pharmaceutical firm Johnson and Johnson
(Ortho Division) in the early 1980s to build a space version of an electrophoresis instrument
to conduct the R&D necessary to manufacture new drugs (the Electrophoresis
Operations in Space (EOS) Program). NASA provided the Shuttle for testing the machine
without charge, and it proved to be successful in separating chemicals and drugs in microgravity
that could not easily be separated on Earth. An early, and perhaps overly optimistic,
letter from John F. Yardley, president of McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company, to
NASA Administrator James M. Beggs testified to the success of these experiments and
predicted commercial production in space by 1987. 24 [III-24] A 1983 McDonnell Douglas
briefing details some of the commercial possibilities on which companies hoped to capitalize.
[III-25]
Two major factors led to the end of the EOS Program. First, the Challenger accident in
1986 halted all flights on the Space Shuttle, and this eventually led to a national policy that
eliminated most commercial payloads from the Shuttle. It also dramatically illustrated that
space was a very risky place to do business. Access could be delayed or denied suddenly.
These risks were greater than most normal terrestrial business risks. Not only were ongoing
commercial programs halted, but the accident also put a long-term damper on companies
considering new space business ventures (particularly those that depended on
bringing back material from space).
The second factor is the unpredictable nature of innovation and new technological
developments. The drug industry in the United States was undergoing change itself.
Genetic engineering and a burgeoning biochemical industry were busy developing new
drugs through new terrestrial methods. Also, some of those breakthroughs were in drugs
that would directly compete with the ones with which McDonnell Douglas was working in
space. Even though the space experiments in electrophoresis were extremely successful,
other, less risky terrestrial methods to meet similar markets ended the private partnership
to produce drugs in space. A little recognized spinoff benefit from this experiment was a
significant improvement in the electrophoresis process on Earth.
The Centers for Commercial Development of Space programs of the 1990s was another
attempt to stimulate private operations in space. [III-26] Through seed money to universities,
NASA hoped to generate university-industry partnerships in space-related R&D
leading to commercial operations.
Similar efforts by NASA to find commercial uses of space were undertaken for the
International Space Station program as well as for remote sensing and other applications
of space hardware and technology. To date, there are many proposals and ideas, but space
manufacturing is still a tantalizing future business activity for industry. Perhaps after the
International Space Station is operating, and transportation to and from space is cheaper
and more reliable, a number of the possible business ideas for space manufacturing will
materialize.
The Stimulation of Technology Transfer
One of the most historically successful technology transfer programs of the U.S. government
has been the stimulation and development of aeronautics. 25 From 1915 to 1958,
the agency directly responsible for R&D in aeronautics was the National Advisory
24. This letter was also a direct positive and reinforcing response to the August 3, 1983, luncheon at the
White House with industrial leaders and President Reagan. Yardley had attended the luncheon.
25. The stimulation of aeronautics as an infant industry in the early part of this century involved not
only the NACA, but also many other government activities, ranging from weather forecasting (aviation safety) to
the postal service (creating a market for air cargo through mail delivery contracts).