Space Boom

In the 1980s, a global **Space Boom** happened in many countries around the world. Due to the advancements in technology driven by the American and Soviet space programs, construction and launch costs where lowered, allowing space travel also for countries with fewer resources. This also allowed private business to enter the new market, including companies like Helios Aerospace, Polaris Space Tours, and the Soviet Kuragin conglomerate.

## History

### 1980s

In 1984, NASA expanded construction in Earth's orbit. The USA and the Soviet Union signed a Lunar Peace Agreement, dividing the resources of the Moon between both countries.

In March 1986, Sam Cleveland and Karen Baldwin launched the world's first space tourism company, Polaris Space Tours, becoming Forbes "Entrepreneurs of the Year".

In April 1987, Dev Ayesa's new startup company Helios won a NASA contract to mine Helium-3 on the Moon. A few months later, China announced to open their own Moon base by July. In the same year, North Korea abandoned their ballistic missile program to focus on their space program instead.

Sometime prior to 1989, NASA launched the Thomas Paine Space Telescope, the most powerful telescope at that time, into Earth's orbit.

In 1989, *Love in the Skies*, a movie about the lives of Gordo and Tracy Stevens, premiered internationally.

### 1990s

Around the early 90s, Polaris Space Tours announced their latest venture, an orbital hotel on a space station above Earth. Soon after, NASA unveiled their plans on a crewed mission to Mars, scheduled to be launched in 1996.

In 1992, Roscosmos announced to also launch a crewed Mars mission, planning for the same 1996 launch window as NASA. Later that year, Helios Aerospace CEO Dev Ayesa announced their own privately founded mission to the red planet, extending the race to Mars to three competitors and challenging the two national space agencies with their plan to already launch in fall 1994.

Also in 1992, the famous Outpost, which by that time had become an international franchise, was selling space themed food and merchandise.

By the end of 1994, so called "space merchandise" boomed so much it even made it into the news on television.

By 1995, many countries beside the USA and the USSR had sent probes to the Martian surface, including India, Turkey, and North Korea.

### Opposition

Not everybody was happy about all the new advances from space exploration. Some people were critical about the global switch to nuclear fusionW, taking away thousands of jobs in the oil and fossil fuel mining industries. Others thought, the money spent in space flight and astronautics should be better used for other things. There were regularly protests in front of the Johnson Space Center and elsewhere around the US.

## Galleries

### Space Boom in the 80s

NASA expands productions in spaceUSA & USSR sign peace treatyLunar Peace AgreementFirst space tourism company launchesChina to open own Moon baseHelios winning mining contractSam & Karen Entrepreneurs of the yearNoth Korean Space ProgrammeLove in the Skies World PremiereNASA announcing Mars '96
### Space Merchandise in the 90s

Space themed food at the OutpostOutpost selling space merchandiseSpace merchandise in the news
## Behind the scenes

* The space boom of the early 1990s in the timeline of *For All Mankind* vaguely resembles the dot-com boom/bubbleW of the real world's late 1990s, which was marked by the rise of venture capitalists and startups in the nascent information technology landscape.
* Notably, any growth of the internet in the alternate timeline of *For All Mankind* appears to have been stymied by the US government refusing to release the internet for public use.
* The NASA shirt shown in the news uses the real world NASA logo instead of the in-universe one.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 3, Episode 1: "Polaris" (Press review opening)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bonus Video: Another Giant Leap: 1984-1992 - Polaris Space Tours (1986)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Bonus Video: Another Giant Leap: 1984-1992 - Clean Nuclear Energy (1987)
4. ↑ Bonus Video: Another Giant Leap: 1984-1992 - Pathfinder Tragedy (1989)
5. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 3, Episode 1: "Polaris"
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 3, Episode 2: "Game Changer"
7. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 3, Episode 4: "Happy Valley"
8. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 3, Episode 9: "Coming Home"
9. ↑ *For All Mankind* TV Series - Season 3