Defining NASA : the historical debate over the agency's mission
"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."--Jacket
Print Book, English, ©2005
State University of New York Press, Albany, ©2005
History
xii, 247 pages ; 23 cm
9780791463819, 9780791463826, 0791463818, 0791463826
55124394
pt. 1. Introduction
What is NASA's purpose?
Analytical framework
pt. 2. First mission
Prehistory : space policy before Sputnik
NASA : born out of fright (1957-1961)
Mission advanced
pt. 3. Second mission
Mission accomplished ... now what?
Space policy redefined (again)
Dollars, not dreams; business, not government
Concluding thoughts
Full text of book available. To read click here, then click view/open.