The development and initial implementation of South Africa's national space policy

South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa that has codified a national space policy. South Africa's first public national space policy was adopted in 2009. The policy has given direction and purpose to the country's recent space activities. Prior to this, space activities in South Africa were disparate and uncoordinated. Because space policy is not a primary policy issue, but rather an ancillary policy issue, the development of space policy had to be couched in terms that made it clear to policymakers exactly how space activities would contribute to national development and other policy priorities. This required building capacity in government to engage in policy discussions around these issues. We describe the process that was followed to raise the political profile of space affairs to the point that it became a policy issue for the South African government. The policy development narrative is arranged in a series of ten goals that were addressed during the policy development process. These goals speak to how one can address the political and systemic challenges of space policy formulation in the context of an emerging space nation that is also a developing country. The goals may thus be of interest to other emerging space nations at a similar stage in their development.