How would you put together a space program?

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By space, I mean astronomy related. I want to do something for a story that pertains to a severely autistic character reaching the stars so to speak. She is obsessed with astronomy and NASA. Anyway, I have this idea where she gets placed into a space program for people with moderate to severe disabilities, mostly related to autism as well. I just can't really think of any activities concerning space they could do though. It keeps nagging at my brain right now, and I'm drawing blanks.

Establish a base on the Moon and go from there. Have to worry about recycled oxygen though.

Well, since it isn't immediately clear why there would be a program for sending moderately to severely disabled people into space, and the whole plot is based on that, wouldn't the story mainly be about explaining that and how they manage to survive and operate the shuttle despite their difficulties? Or are they just getting a ride into space with another crew?

Might be total irreverent. But do you play games ?. kerbal space program is good at sparking ideas . It's like a fun sandbox game with little green men. Helps to spark own ideas and story.

And they are kind disabled silly kerbals.

If I were to start a space program, the goal would be subverting the "Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies" (usually just called "that UN space treaty signed in the '60s"). You see, the treaty made it illegal to claim ownership of anything outside of earth's atmosphere. The only private property in space is whatever you bring up there with you. If I recall correctly, this actually came into play when a man tried to sue NASA or some similar space agency for landing on an asteroid that he claimed ownership of. Needless to say, the suit didn' hold up in court.

The premise would be simple. Currently, the UN wouldn't intervene in anything somebody does in space unless it's something REALLY extreme like attempting to set up a moon base equipped with nuclear weapons (which some people believe the Chinese government has secretly attempted). Of course, as technology becomes more advanced and affordable, having blue helmets in space to enforce these laws would become plausible.

So, the goal would be to establish infrastructure on celestial bodies before such a time as the UN has the capacity to effectively enforce laws out there. I once joked that I wanted to coat the moon in glass floats (like the kind they sell at the beach) so that if anybody tried to land there again without my consent I could claim property damage. In actuality, it wouldn't be nearly as comical though. It would likely take the form of structures being erected from illegally mined material that my organization would claim to have brought from earth. As the structure was allegedly made from material brought from Earth, it would be considered private property even if we don't own the land it's on.

So, basically imagine a big scheme to sell illegally manufactured space condos before the cops show up and you pretty much have my idea of a space program worth funding. Nice profile picture by the way. Fluttershy is my favorite pony <3