Space in Argentina

Interest in space research in Argentina is not new. During the 1940s a group of foreign and Argentine specialists, under the leadership of Mr. Teofilo Tabanera, created the Sociedad Argentina Interplanetaria, SAI (Argentine Interplanetary Society). Tabanera, and the members of SAI put Argentina on the world map at the beginning of the space age. In fact, our country was one of the first members of the International Astronautical Federation, IAF, and first Latin American nation to create a spaceflight organization

Teofilo Tabanera (far right) is pictured above during the 1952 International Astronautical Federation Congress in Stuttgart, Germany. From Left to Right, Dr. Sanger-Bredt, Prof. Hermann Oberth, Dr. Eugen Sanger, Dr. Frederic Durant and Arthur C. Clarke.”

Also, Dr. Aldo Cocca was a world pioneer in space law and was one of the first to propose the idea of space being a common heritage of humankind, now an accepted policy of the United Nations and international community.
In 1960, the president of Argentina created the Comision Nacional de Investigaciones Espaciales (CNIE), or National Commission for Space Research, with Tabanera in charge. Along with the Instituto de Investigaciones Aeronauticas y Espaciales (IIAE), or Aeronautics and Space Research Institute, of the Argentine Air Force, they designed and built a number of indigenous multistage high altitude sounding rockets.
Argentina was the first country in Latin America to send an object into space by means of indigenously developed rockets.

During the 1970s Argentina regularly launched the Castor rocket, a two stage solid propellant rocket, up to 500 kilometers (310 miles). This rocket carried many international experiments from the United States, Germany, France, and other countries.
Since its beginnings, the Argentine space program has been used for peaceful purposes.

“ Capacidades existentes para la fabricación de cohetes en la planta de Falda del Carmen antes de 1990”.

Regrettably, due to the policies of several Argentine governments, and the lack of political interest on national space research and development, Argentina lost significant aerospace capability. The nation’s space activities reached its lowest point at beginning of the 1990s, when the Condor Program was canceled. The facilities at Falda del Carmen were closed down, the Fabrica Militar de Aviones (Military Aircraft Factory) was transferred to a foreign company, the IIAE was closed, and the CNIE dismantled.
This period coincided with the enormous national economic crisis.

During this time work in propulsion and launch vehicles was banned and many specialists in these fields left the country to find work or stayed in Argentina to work on projects that were outside of their specialties.
There is an interesting article written about Latin America’s space programs by Marsha Freeman in the U.S. magazine, 21st Century Science and Technology, in the spring of 2002. Even if we do not fully agree with its content, it may be of interest by our English speaking visitors. We reproduce part of the article HERE, with thanks to Ms. Freeman and to the publishers