Short abstract:

Using an interdisciplinary lens pulling from human space travel research, space ethics, and feminist STS, this short talk will explore how a critical examination of human space exploration can inform the development of future space infrastructure to reflect a more equitable future in space.

Long abstract:

As we look forward to our future in space, there are many activities and timeframes we should consider. Some of these timeframes are far out, such as the settlement of another planetary body. Some are a little closer, such as the industrialization and militarization of space. Others, such as human space exploration, span the past, present and future and hold many insights into the values we hold about space as a shared resource and source of scientific and infrastructural discovery. Human space exploration has informed many of the imaginaries of future space infrastructure, and will continue to do so. Understanding the values underlaying these missions, then, is important in considering how we plan for future activities in space. How we conceptualize the history of human space exploration, plan for near missions and imagine future missions will help us more deeply understand the dominant ideological values that have been historically ingrained into space exploration. This will then allow us to evaluate how those ideologies make their way into mission planning during the present, help us integrate a more diverse set of values into future missions, and by extension, inform the development of a more equitable future in space. Using an interdisciplinary lens that pulls from human space travel research, space ethics, and feminist STS, this short talk will explore how a critical examination of the past, present and future of human space exploration can inform the development of future space infrastructure to reflect a more socially equitable future in space.