September 21, 1984
To the Congress of the United States:
I am pleased to transmit the report of the Nation's progress in space and aeronautics during calendar 1983, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President, 1983 Activities. It is provided in accordance with Section 206 of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2476).
The quest for knowledge about and beyond the earth, as well as profitable use of that knowledge, advanced in 1983. In the 25th anniversary year of the formal founding of the Nation's space program, four operational flights of the Space Shuttle expanded service to the government for civil use and for national security. They also served the private sector for commercial advantage and for university research. The first Shuttle flight of the reusable laboratory Spacelab was, in addition, a triumph of international cooperation. Built by the European Space Agency and flown by NASA, Spacelab carried both U.S. and European scientific experiments and crew; the largest crew yet launched into space included among its six members the first European to orbit in a U.S. spacecraft. On an earlier mission, the first American woman astronaut in space helped launch two satellites from the Shuttle.
Twenty-seven satellites launched during 1983, five of them from the Shuttle, went to work in communications, navigation, weather forecasting, and space science. One of these made numerous discoveries about the universe as it surveyed the entire sky.
Aeronautical research continued to develop technology to maintain the preeminence of civil and military aviation and the predominance of U.S.-built aircraft in the world's commercial fleet.
The Nation can be proud of 25 years of achievements, as well as these and others reported for 1983.
Ronald Reagan
The White House,
September 21, 1984.