Introduction

The theme of the 1990s was and is the use of military space based assets in "the First Space War" and Space Station (Part 2). The Kuwaiti War of 1990-1991 showed the force multiplier capability of military satellite systems to the world, and how space based combat support assets could help win a war in the area of early warning, global positioning and communications. Also during this time period, the International Space Station finally took root and began to be built. NASA's main manned program remained the shuttle, and with the collapse of the Soviet Union, their space program began to collapse as well for lack of funds. But the United States returned to Mars again with the Mars Rover and Surveyor, sent Cassini spacecraft to Saturn, and the Hubble Space Telescope continued to show the wonders of the heavens.

American Space Policy

A new administration took over in 1993, President William Jefferson Clinton, and showed their enthusiasm for the space program by quickly eliminating the National Space Council, an space advisory group to the President, which had been in existence since the Kennedy Administration. No new space initiatives were undertaken by the new President, but kept existing programs going, like the space station, planned planetary probes to Mars, and other space science and earth applications satellites.