464 



is not similar to Shuttle space transport, but the 

 coming of economical bulk shipping does represent 

 a useful analog. Space likely will provide little in 

 the way of precious cargo; the Shuttle provides the 

 boon of ready access to a new environment, which 

 in turn will permit greater economic division of 

 labor and differentiation. This compares well to 

 the effect of bulk transport in cereals, in the Baltic 

 Sea in early modern times, and in trans-Atlantic 

 shipping of American grains in the 1870s. Both 

 times the new transportation capability altered 

 world economic patterns (in the early case, with 

 great stimulus for West European economic 

 modernization). 



(2) Item: Spacelab and Space Telescope. 

 Potentials: These scientific projects may produce 

 untold revelations about the universe, and data 

 may multiply literally a thousand times at a blow. 

 Spacelab should provide a cheap, flexible, reusable 

 facility for e.\periments impossible on Earth, gener- 

 ating a substantial increase in the capability and 

 efficiency of space-based R&D in materials process- 

 ing and basic science. 



Analogs: The Galilean telescope also enlarged the 

 universe many times and changed forever man- 

 kind's view of the world and the cosmos, producing 

 profound scientific, philosophical, and religious 

 changes. Other such "eye openers " would include 

 the Pacific voyages of Cook and Darwin and the 

 advent of spectroscopy. 



(3) hem: Space applications satellites. 



Potentials: A communications revolution promises 

 a "satcom center " (with possible computer links) 

 in every U.S. home, thanks to communication 

 satellites with functionally limitless capacity. Hun- 

 dreds of cable television stations could supply 

 instant gratification of every visual/audio desire 



(but with what moral and cultural effects?). For 

 the Third World, satellites can offer direct broad- 

 cast television for education and propaganda 

 purposes. Landsat will produce economic benefit 

 from new applications of remotely sensed geophys- 

 ical data. 



Analogs: The common comparison for the com- 

 munication satellite revolution is the advent of 

 the Gutenberg printing press in the fifteenth 

 century; the cultural revolution that followed needs 

 no elaboration. But another analog usually over- 

 looked IS the invention of the linotype machine in 

 the late nineteenth century, which brought the 

 penny press to the masses. Combined with 

 universal education, mass journalism changed the 

 politics and culture of Europe and America as few 

 other innovations. 



C. Summary 



In all these analogies, one still must be very careful to 

 understand the differences between the historical environ- 

 ment in which the changes occurred and the historical 

 environment in which the Shuttle operates. The most 

 important difference applicable in every case is, perhaps, 

 the all-powerful role of the state, "Leviathan, " in the 

 funding, organization, and execution of space activities. 

 The likely effects of space technology would seem more 

 predictable as a result of state control; in fact, a monopo- 

 listic state, for various reasons, also may stifle the 

 revolutionary potential of space technology. Would the 

 printing press have spread freely throughout Europe if a 

 single state had been in monopolistic possession of the 

 technology? One has cause to wonder — great cause. 



Appendix Two materials provide insights from two 

 experienced instructors who have integrated space into 

 history courses. 



