Appointed by President Reagan and chaired by former NASA Administrator Thomas Paine, the National Commission on Space was charged with recommending a civilian space program that would advance the broader goals of American society over the next century.

Note: The text of the report is a product of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright. However, the illustrations in the published edition are copyrighted and are not included here. The book is out of print but can still be obtained from used book sources. [Buy from Amazon].

DECLARATION FOR SPACE

• Looking Fifty Years into the Future
• A Pioneering Mission for 21st-Century America
• Rationale for Exploring and Settling the Solar System
• A New Long-Range Civilian Space Program
• Benefits

I. CIVILIAN SPACE GOALS FOR 21st-CENTURY AMERICA

• Advancing Science
• Exploring, Prospecting, and Settling the Solar System
• Space Enterprise

II. LOW-COST ACCESS TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• Building the Technology Base
• Highway to Space
• Bridge Between Worlds

III. OPENING THE SPACE FRONTIER: THE NEXT 20 YEARS

• An Economical, Phased Approach
• Conducting an Effective Science Program
• Government Policy and The Private Sector
• International Cooperation and Competition
• The American People and the Space Program

IV. AMERICAN LEADERSHIP ON THE SPACE FRONTIER: THE NEXT 50 YEARS

• 21st-Century America
• What Our Recommended Program Will Do

APPENDIX

• Commissioners
• Non-Voting Members of the National Commission on Space
• Staff of the National Commission on Space
• Glossary
• Bibliography

SIDEBARS

• The Evolution of the Universe
• Some Potential Space Science Headlines
• Physics, Chemistry, and Biology in Space
• Was Einstein Right?
• Solar and Space Physics
• Returning Samples from Solar System Bodies
• Exploration of the Outer Planets
• Future Great Space Observatories
• Life: Earth and the Universe
• Earth's Gravity Well
• Biospherics
• Remote Sensing and the Private Sector
• Self-Replicating Factories in Space

• Electromagnetic Accelerators
• Aerospace Plane Technology
• Advanced Rocket Vehicle Technology
• Protecting the Space Environment from Debris
• Space Station
• Tethers in Space
• Gravitation and Biology

• Outer Space Agreements
• International Space Year