Defining NASA: The Historical Debate over the Agency's Mission

by W. D. Kay

Overview

Most observers would point to the 1969 Apollo moon landing as the single greatest accomplishment of NASA, yet prominent scientists, engineers, and public officials were questioning the purpose of the U.S. space program, even at the height of its national popularity. Defining NASA looks at the turbulent history of the space agency and the political controversies behind its funding. W. D. Kay examines the agency's activities and behavior by taking into account not only the political climate, but also the changes in how public officials conceptualize space policy. He explores what policymakers envisioned when they created the agency in 1958, why support for the Apollo program was so strong in the 1960s only to fade away in such a relatively short period of time, what caused NASA and the space program to languish throughout most of the 1970s only to reemerge in the 1980s, and, finally, what role the agency plays today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791483633
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	02/01/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	260
File size:	882 KB

About the Author

W. D. Kay is Associate Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University and the author of Can Democracies Fly in Space? The Challenge of Revitalizing the U.S. Space Program.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Part One: Introduction

1. What is NASA's Purpose?

2. Analytical Framework

Part Two: First Mission

3. Prehistory: Space Policy Before Sputnik

4. NASA: Born Out of Fright (1957–1961)

5. Mission Advanced

Part Three: Second Mission

6. Mission Accomplished . . . Now What?

7. Space Policy Redefined (Again)

8. Dollars, Not Dreams; Business, Not Government

9. Concluding Thoughts

Notes

Index