Expert and media discourses around the second space race between Russia, the U.S. and other countries

Abstract

The article deals with expert and media discourses around the second space race between Russia, the US and other countries. This is relevant today because America’s recent achievements in space exploration have intensified the discussion of another wave of competition among countries in Russian and Western media and think tanks. For example, the successful launches of the manned spacecraft Crew Dragon by Elon Musk to the International Space Station in 2020–2021 and the Perseverance rover’s landing on Mars in February 2021 put a spotlight on the new space race, with numerous media outlets and think tanks commenting on this topic. The novelty of the article lies in the fact that the author makes an attempt to analyze the problem of rivalry and cooperation in outer space through the lens of critical discourse analysis and survey, as well as through the perspective of international relations theory, particularly, through the conflict of realism and liberalism or idealism. The author comes to the conclusion that realists tend to aggravate the situation and define the current state of relations in space exploration as a new space race among global powers, while liberals use more accurate and restrained language such as “space rivalry” or “competition”. Realists are more skeptical toward cooperation in space exploration between competing powers like Russia and the US because of their political contradictions, while idealistic liberals pin their hopes on such a partnership.