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For some years, the space programs have been experiencing a period of uncertainties with a reconsideration of the beliefs and the functioning that have supported this activity since the beginnings. The interest for the big programs, the role of the space agencies as well as the relationships between the public and the industrial sector are progressively affected by a necessity to redefine the orientations of the space effort and to adapt a new discourse about it. This is particularly true in the United States where the intensity of the adaptation effort measures up to the enormous amount of the past investments devoted to space, both politically and financially. The way the U.S. space community has been speaking about itself and its problems has been accentuating this feeling by describing an « abnormal » current situation versus what it sees as a « normal » situation during the sixties. This article suggests that, beyond the purely programmatic debates, the positions and strategies analysed are also expressing the difficulties experienced by a very specific community to find a role and an identity in the new « space policy » it is precisely trying to promote.