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History of the Space Age

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“History of the Space Age,” in Handbook of Space Engineering,
Archaeology, and Heritage, edited by Ann Garrison Darrin and Beth Laura O’Leary
(London: CRC Press of Taylor & Francis Group, June 2009), 195-207

History of the Space Age

By Anne Millbrooke

In 1947 Robert A. Heinlein published Rocket Ship Galileo, a “science fiction

adventure,” about four American astronauts who flew to the Moon, where they found and

fought Nazis. Theirs was by no means the first fictional space trip. Jules Verne’s From the

Earth to the Moon (1865) and H.G. Wells’ First Men in the Moon (1901) had long been

classics. Heinlein’s book became the inspiration for the 1950 movie Destination Moon set

firmly in the postwar Cold War: the race to the Moon was a military arms race. In the movie

the fictional General Thayer explains that “there is absolutely no way to stop an attack from

outer space” so “the first country that can use the Moon for the launching of missiles will

control the Earth.”1 In fact, the Cold War defined much of the early Space Age from the

World War II and postwar work on missiles and rockets to satellites and other space vehicles

— in the United States and in the Soviet Union. Only as the Soviet Union and Cold War

crumbled did other countries develop significant space flight programs.

The Space Age as a historical era coincided with the Cold War, and that is no

coincidence. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, the successful launch and

orbits of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in 1957, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the

first person in space in 1961, American astronauts landing and walking on the Moon in 1969,

the various space stations and space transportation systems developed thereafter, and other
 2

Space Age events happened in the context of the Cold War rivalry between the United States

and the Soviet Union, allies of these two Superpowers, and the unaligned nations (Third

World) whose allegiance both sides sought. The Space Age, defined by space travel,

continued after the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia in 1986, the fall of the Berlin

Wall in 1989, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but without the direction and

funding of the military imperative of the Cold War space rivalry, nor the popular and

political support of earlier times, but with an increased number of nations seeking

international stature and scientific and technical development through space programs.

A popular “age” is a period generally recognized by the public. For the Space Age

the initial public awareness came in 1957 with the Soviet launch of the satellite Sputnik.

That event marks the transition of space flight from science fiction to science fact, albeit not

the end of science fiction by any means, as amply illustrated by the subsequent popularity of

the three Star Wars movies, the later three prequel Star War movies, the several Star Trek

television series, and Star Trek movies.2

Sputnik

The Soviet Union launched the first Sputnik satellite in early October 1957. The next

day the Soviet newspaper Pravda reported, “As a result of very intensive work by scientific

research institutes and design bureaus the first artificial satellite in the world has been

created. On October 4, 1957, this first satellite was successfully launched in the USSR.

According to preliminary data, the carrier rocket has imparted to the satellite the required

orbital velocity of about 8000 meters per second.”3 It was the carrier rocket, an R-1 military

rocket, as much as the satellite that caused much of the concern in the First World, the Free
 3

World, the West. The fact that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics — a member of the

Second World, the Communist World, the East — had a rocket that powerful and had

achieved a space flight before the West suggested a Soviet lead in the scientific and

technological arms race. Indeed, there was fear that the Soviets would develop the capability

to attack the United States from outer space, or at the least that the powerful Soviet rockets

might be used to launch intercontinental missiles.

In 1957 the Soviets did more than launch the world’s first artificial satellite. On

November 3, 1957, they successfully launched their second satellite, Sputnik II, with a dog

named Laika on board. Then, on December 6, the United States failed to launch the Navy’s

Vanguard rocket with a satellite on board. Finally, on January 31, 1958, an Army team, led

by the German immigrant Wernher von Braun, succeeded in launching the first American

satellite, Explorer I, on a Jupiter-C rocket. Although the early satellite launches of both the

United States and the Soviet Union were part of formal, published programs of the

International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958, the actual success of Sputnik brought what had

been quiet military rocket programs to the public attention as a space race. The Explorer

carried scientific instruments that allowed the discovery of radiation belts named after the

scientist James A. Van Allen. As Van Allen later recalled, “We were treated like heroes,

rescuing the honor of the United States in this great Cold War with Russia by having a

successful satellite.”4

Just as the Atomic Age had inspired “Atomic” cafes, “Atomic” cocktails, and even

bikini swimwear (too hot to handle, like the Bikini nuclear test site in the Marshall Islands),

the Space Race acquired a public language of its own. Flopnik, for example, became the

derisive term applied to the United States’ first and failed launch of a rocket with a satellite
 4

on board. Spookniks became a term for the spying possibilities of Soviet satellites. The

Atomic Age and the Space Age merged at the thought that one or the other Superpower

might deliver an atomic bomb from a space-launch-capable rocket, a spacecraft, or a space

base.

Among the consequences of Sputnik was the development of satellite

communications, both commercial and defense systems.5 A significant consequence was the

establishment in 1958 of two space agencies in the United States, one civilian and one

military. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Advanced

Research Projects Agency (ARPA) became part of the growing Cold War military-industrial

complex. NASA, for example, acquired not only the programs of the National Advisory

Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), but also the Navy’s Vanguard rocket program and the

Army’s Explorer rocket program. According to a NASA chief historian (Roger D. Lanius),

“First, NASA’s projects were clearly cold war propaganda weapons that national leaders

wanted to use to sway world opinion about the relative merits of democracy versus the

communism of the Soviet Union. … Second, NASA’s civilian effort served as an excellent

smoke screen for the DOD’s military space activities, especially for reconnaissance

missions.”6 The Soviets used their space programs similarly.

Space Flight

The romance of flight, whether of birds, balloons, or airplanes, extended with

spacecraft into outer space, but space flight remained experimental through many projects,

including the Soviet one-person Vostok (East), two-person Voshkod (Rise), and lunar Soyuz

(Union) programs, and the American one-person Mercury, two-person Gemini, and lunar
 5

Apollo programs. Using the one-person capsules, both nations acquired valuable experience,

one astronaut at a time, orbiting the Earth, and integrating man and machine, the machine

being not only the spacecraft but also the spacesuit and mission equipment. As spacecraft

got large enough to carry two people, the nations experimented with an extravehicular

activity that quickly became known as a spacewalk. Early in 1965 the Russian astronaut

Alexei Leonov had made the first spacewalk in history, tethered to a Voskhod capsule. Good

publicity followed for the Soviet Union. Three months later American astronaut Edward H.

White accomplished the first American spacewalk, tethered to a Gemini capsule, but also

using a Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit (HHMU). Good publicity followed for the United

States. Such was the propaganda value of the space programs.

Figure 1: Yuri Gagarin on the launch pad before becoming the first person in space, April
12, 1961. Credit: NASA

Figure 2: With a Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit in his right hand, Edward White performs
extravehicular activity (a spacewalk) outside the Gemini 4 spacecraft. Credit: NASA.

Initially, the Soviets seemed to be ahead in the Space Race: first satellite — Sputnik,

October 4, 1957; first animal in space — the dog Laika, November 3, 1957; the first man in

space — Yuri Gagarin, April 12, 1961. In May 1961 President John F. Kennedy

acknowledged the Soviet lead, attributed it to their big rockets, and predicted it would

continue for a while. But he had a plan to overtake the Soviets and achieve leadership in

space. He announced, “Finally, if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the

world between freedom and tyranny … Now it is time to take longer strides — time for this

nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the

key to our future on earth.”7 He continued, “We go into space because whatever mankind
 6

must undertake, free men must fully share.” Kennedy concluded, “I believe that this nation

should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the

moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

But, as Kennedy predicted, the Soviets continued to capture headlines with their

space achievements:

• first woman in space — Valentina Tereshkova, June 16, 1963;

• first spacewalk — Alexei Leonov, March 18, 1965;

• first soft landing on the Moon — the probe Luna 9, February 3, 1966;

• first automatic docking in space — unmanned Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188, October

30, 1967; and

• first docking in space of two manned spacecraft — Soyuz 4 and Soypz 5, January 14-

15, 1969.

Whether in control of the ground station or of an astronaut on board, early spacecraft

were being flown by test astronauts in the tradition of test pilots. There were accidents

through the years, bad accidents in the early lunar tests. Three American astronauts — Virgil

“Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger Bruce Chaffee — died in a fire during a launch

pad test of the Apollo 1 spacecraft (January 27, 1967). Soon thereafter the Soviets reached a

dubious first: first person to die in spaceflight, when the crash of the first Soyuz spacecraft

killed Vladimir Komarov (April 24, 1967). These accidents reminded the public of the

dangers undertaken in the race to reach the Moon. The Apollo accident review board

concluded, “Those organizations responsible for the planning, conduct, and safety of this test

failed to identify it as being hazardous.”8 That prompted a redesign of the Apollo capsule
 7

and the Apollo safety program. Apollo 7 finally achieved the first manned Apollo flight in

October 1968, when it orbited the Earth 163 times. Apollo 8 orbited the Moon. These and

other flights tested equipments, systems, and astronauts in preparation for a lunar landing.

Figure 3: The interior arrangement of the Mercury spacecraft, with seating for one. Credit:
NASA.

Despite the strong Soviet push under Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, the United States

won the race to place a man on the Moon: Neil A. Armstrong, July 20, 1969. The successful

Apollo 11 mission involved a Saturn V rocket as the launch vehicle, the Columbia command

module that orbited the Moon, and the Eagle landing module. Five more Apollo missions

reached the Moon: Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Thus between July 1969 and April 1972,

twelve American astronauts walked on the Moon. Russian astronauts on the Moon, zero.

The Americans had achieved unquestioned leadership in the Space Race.

In addition to manned spaceflight, NASA and the Soviet space program sponsored

unmanned programs that sent probes to explore to the moon, planets, solar system.9 But

popular attention focused mostly on the Space Age manned flights. The first Soviet Salyut

(Salute) space station entered orbit in April 1971. In all, the Soviets launched nine Salyut

modules during the eleven-year program; six Salyuts were research stations and three were

military reconnaissance stations. The American Skylab 1, 2, and 3 orbited the Earth in 1973

and 1974. These space stations enabled astronauts of the two countries to spend extended

lengths of time in space and to conduct experiments while there. And the stations had

enough space for weightless floating inside the spacecraft. That experience expanded with

the Soviet Mir (Peace) space stations and the American reusable Space Shuttles.
 8

The Soviets designed a reusable space transportation vehicles, selected the Buran

(Snowstorm), even successfully launched an unmanned Buran, but canceled the program. In

contrast, the United States produced and operated a fleet of reusable vehicles: Columbia,

Challenger, Enterprise, Discovery, and Atlantis. The Columbia was the first to reach orbit,

on April 12, 1981. On return, the shuttle became a lifting-reentry vehicle, and astronauts

Robert L. Crippen and John W. Young landed the shuttle like an airplane. The Columbia

made its next flight in November and thereby became the first spacecraft to be reused. Space

shuttles thereafter flew missions to recover satellites and to move people and equipment,

even spacecraft. In 1983, on Space Shuttle flights, Sally Ride became the first American

woman in space and Guion Bluford became the first black astronaut.

Inside these spacecraft, as space writer Harry L. Shipman noted, “Velcro takes the

pace of gravity.”10 The discovery of Velcro (the brand name for a hook and loop fastener)

derived from the observation that cockleburrs’ hooks stuck in the hair loops of the inventor’s

dog. That inventor, George de Mestral, received a patent in 1955 — in time for Space Age

applications, literally in space. Astronaut Joseph P. Allen traveled into space on the Space

Shuttles Columbia and Discovery. He described the experience:

During the first few days in space, the act of simply moving from here to there looks

so easy, yet is challenging. The veteran of zero gravity moves effortlessly and with

total control, pushing off from one location and arriving at his destination across the

flight deck, his body in the proper position to insert his feet into Velcro toe loops and

to grasp simultaneously the convenient handhold, all without missing a beat in his

tight work schedule. In contrast, the rookies sail across the same path, usually too
 9

fast, trying to suppress the instinct to glide headfirst and with vague swimming

motions. They stop by bumping into the far wall in precisely the wrong position to

reach either the toe loops or the handholds.11

The reusable Space Shuttle carried Manned Maneuvering Units (MMUs) on three flights, and

six astronauts wore the backpack units, a la Buck Rogers, on a total of nine sorties for a total

of ten hours and 22 minutes in 1984. Bruce McCandless became the first person to flight

free, untethered in space, when he wore a MMU in February. He described the first step off

the shuttle, 150 nautical miles above Earth, as “a heck of a big leap.”12 The MMUs were to

enable astronauts to perform services outside the shuttle, specifically to recover satellites for

repair, but the 1984 sorties were the only time the units were used. The robotic arm replaced

the maneuvering unit.

Designed with no escape system, the Space Shuttle program suffered two major

disasters. The Challenger exploded after liftoff on January 28, 1986. The crew of five men

and two women died. According to the Presidential Commission that investigated the

accident: “The specific failure was the destruction of the seals that are intended to prevent

hot gases from leaking through the joint during the propellant burn of the rocket motor.”13

The Challenger had been starting its tenth mission. The first of the space shuttles to enter

service in 1981, the Columbia went on the 114th shuttle mission in 2003. It reentered the

Earth’s atmosphere on February 1st. The spacecraft literally fell apart, and the seven

astronauts on board died. This time a piece of insulating foam that had broke off the external

propellant tank on takeoff and knocked some reinforced carbon insulation off the wing,

which then overheated and failed on reentry. The Columbia Accident Board concluded that
 10

NASA’s culture and history contributed to the accident, because the “agency [was] trying to

do too much with too little.”14 The board continued, “The recognition of human spaceflight

as a developmental activity requires a shift in focus from operations and meeting schedules to

a concern with the risk involved.” This brought to many minds the conclusion of early

Apollo accident board. Space flight was still developmental.

Beyond the Superpowers

Although Europe was caught between the Superpowers during the Cold War, the

nations of Europe tried at times to establish independence from the Cold War rivals. To

develop their own technologies, economies, space programs, the European nations

cooperated on various programs. The Commission Préparatoire Européenne pour la

Rechereche Spatiale (COPERS) started the work toward a European satellite program and a

European launch vehicle. Established in 1962, the European Space Research Organization

(ESRO) established and operated an satellite program that used American launch vehicles

and the Vandenberg launch site in California. Established in 1964, the European Launcher

Development Corporation (ELDO) used the British Blue Streak vehicle for the first stage,

French technology for the second stage, and German technology for the third, while Italy

developed a satellite, and the Netherlands and Belgium worked on tracking and telemetry.

Australia joined ELDO when the European organization selected Moomera for the launch

test site. The four tests there failed to launch a satellite. ELDO moved launch tests to

Kourou, French Guiana, in South America.

The two European collaborations — ESRO and ELDO — merged in 1973. The

resulting European Space Agency (ESA) continued the work of developing and operating a
 11

European space program. The European Space Agency selected its first astronauts in 1977.

Riding Russian and American spacecraft, European astronauts have visited Spacelab, Mir,

and the International Space Station. Why does Europe continue to develop its space

program. According to the European Space Agency, “Today’s space systems are the key to

the understanding and management of the World, to the provision of goods and services in

the global marketplace, and to regional and global security and peacekeeping.”15

The International Space Station is a cooperative program involving the United States,

Russia, European Space Agency, Japan, and Canada. A Russian Proton rocket and an

American Space Shuttle carried the first two modules into space in 1988, and in 2000 Soyuz

spacecraft carried the first crew to reside at the station. As a matter of fact, with the aging of

the Space Shuttle fleet, and the groundings after the Challenger and Columbia accidents, the

venerable Soyuz spacecraft have become the workhorses transporting crews, supplies, and

equipment to the International Space Station. The Russian Federal Space Agency

(Roskosmos) literally sells flights on the Soyuz; the price in January 2006 was just over US

$20 million.16 The Soyuz line has been in service since 1968; the first flight in 1967 ended in

the astronaut’s death. The current model rendezvous and docks at the International Space

Station. Shedding the orbital and service modules for reentry, Soyuz is not reused as only the

reentry capsule parachutes to Earth.17

Figure 4: Launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, this Russian Soyuz
space capsule is leaving the International Space Station in October 2001. On board are the
Soyuz taxi crew, Commander Victor Afanasyev and Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev, and
a French Flight Engineer named Claudie Haignere who represented the European Space
Agency. Credit: NASA.
 12

Since the 1950s, China has had a space program, albeit small initially. As a young

communist country, China received space technology and technical assistance from the

Soviet Union until 1960. During the 1960s China focused more on developing nuclear

weapons than on spacecraft for a while; China detonated its first nuclear bomb in 1964 and

first hydrogen bomb in 1967. Yet trade opened with the West, and West Germany provided

communication package for a Chinese satellite, the United States provided radiation-

hardened electronic chips for Chinese meteorological satellites. In 1966 China decided to

pursue human spaceflight, but for years launching satellites remained the main space

operation. The Chinese government again approved a human space flight program in 1992,

using the country’s three satellite launch centers for tests. An unmanned Chinese spacecraft

orbited the Earth in November 1999. The Chinese launched a spacecraft carrying animals

into orbit in January 2001, unmanned spacecraft into orbit in March 2002 and another in

December 2002. China achieved manned spaceflight on October 15-16, 2003, when Yang

Liwei rode the Shenzhou 5 around the Earth 14 times. Among the motivations behind the

Chinese space program and the Chinese astronaut Yang was national prestige; as Yang said

as he boarded the spacecraft, “I will not disappoint the motherland.”18 He did not disappoint

the motherland. China sent two astronauts into space in 2003. A spaceflight and spacewalk

are scheduled for September 2008.

India, South Africa, Brazil are among the nations developing space capabilities.

Literature of the Space Age

The American space program, at least the civilian side of it, is well documented,

especially by NASA. The NASA History Series includes a four-volume set called NASA
 13

Historical Data Book, which covers NASA resources, programs, and projects, 1958-1978.19

The NASA History Series also includes a six-volume set entitled Exploring the Unknown,

Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program.20 The first director of

NASA, T. Keith Glennan, recounts Birth of NASA.21 “Before This Decade Is Out …” is a

collection of personal accounts of the Apollo program.22 The NASA History Series also

covers the history of various NASA facilities, like the Johnson, Marshall, and Stennis, space

centers, the Langley Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Center, and space programs,

like the Mercury, Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle programs.23

Many books published independent of NASA also cover the U.S. space program.

Autobiograhies present the stories of different participants in the space program. Homer H.

Hickam Jr.’s Rocket Boys tells of boys inspired by Sputnik to build their own rockets.24 Alan

Shepard and Deke Slayton wrote Moon Shot about the race to the Moon from the astronauts’

perspective.25 Similarly, biographies provide a wealth of information, like Ernst Stuhlinger

and Frederick I. Ordway’s two-volume Wernher von Braun, Crusader for Space.26 On the

fifth anniversary of the Aerospace Medical Association, Eloise Engle and Arnold Lott wrote

an early history of biomedical research, Man in Flight.27 More specific to the space program

is John A. Pitts’ The Human Factor, Biomedicine in the Manned Space Program to 1980, in

the NASA History Series.28 Another example of a book focused on an aspect of the space

program is Lillian D. Kozioski’s U.S. Space Gear.29 Dennis R. Jenkins provides a thorough

overview of the Space Shuttle through the first one hundred missions.30 And there is some

literature about the military side of the space program, like the Industrial College’s National

Security Management: National Aerospace Programs.31

 14

Some books cover Soviet as well as American space programs. An excellent volume

covering the space race in the Cold War context is Walter A. McDougall’s … the Heavens

and the Earth, a Political History of the Space Age.32 Philip Baker has written The Story of

Manned Space Stations.33 Much of the Soviet remains to be told, but a good introduction is

James Harford’s Korolev, How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to

the Moon.34

These are just some examples of vast and growing literature on the Space Age.

Conclusion

No one has visited the Moon since 1972. The Space Shuttle is scheduled for

retirement in 2010. Its successor will not be ready until at least 2015. Soyuz spacecraft have

been carrying most astronauts to and from the International Space Station, but the Soyuz is

an old technology too, older than the Space Shuttle. Spaceplanes remain a popular idea for a

21st-century space vehicle, like NASA’s Orbital Space Plane intended to replace the Space

Shuttle, and like Scaled Composites’ commercially designed Space Ship One that won the

Ansari X Prize in 2004. Russia has looked at the Klipper (Clipper) winged crew vehicle

concept. The European Space Agency launched a new Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV),

a cargo hauler, called Jules Verne in March 2008; it went to the International Space Station.

Reentry and fiery destruction over the Pacific Ocean are scheduled for late September.

Currently unmanned, the one-time-use spacecraft might be further developed for crew

capability. As recently as September 2008, NASA Administrator Michael Griffen reminded

Congress of the importance of priority and status in what is now an international space

environment: “A Chinese landing on the moon prior to our own return will create a stark
 15

perception that the U.S. lags behind not only Russia, but also China, in space.”35 And

planetary probes still try to answer the question, are we alone? But national pride, scientific

research, and technological development aside, the Cold War rivalry that fueled and funded

the historic Space Age is over.

1
Destination Moon, dir. George Pal, writ. Robert A. Heinlein, et al., perf. John Archer,
Warner Anderson, Dick Wesson, et al., Universal, 1950; 50th Anniversary Edition, DVD,
Wade Williams, 2000.
2
Star Wars: A New Hope, dir. & writ. George Lucas, pref. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford,
Carrie Fisher, et al., TCF/Lucasfilm, 1977; Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, dir. Irvin
Kershner, w. Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, pref. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie
Fisher, et al., TCF/Lucasfilm, 1980; Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, dir. Richard Marquand,
writ. Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, pref. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher,
et al., TCF/Lucasfilm, 1983; and the prequels Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace
(1999), Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones (2002), and Star Wars: Episode 3 -
Reverge of the Sith (2005). Regarding Star Trek, there were several television series, the
original produced in 1966-1969, The Animated Series in 1973-1974, The Next Generation
series, 1987-1994, Deep Space Nine series, 1993-1999; Voyager, 1995-2001, and Enterprise,
2001-2005. The Star Trek films include Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Star Trek II:
The Wrath of Khan (1983), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The
Voyage Home (1986), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), Star Trek VI: The
Undiscovered Country (1991), Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact
(1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).
3
Pravda, October 5, 1957, as translated and quoted in Exploring the Unknown, Selected
Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Volume 1: Organizing
Exploration, NASA History Series, Washington: National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, 1995
4
James A. Van Allen as quoted in “The Beeping Ball That Started a Dash into Outer Space,”
by Paul A. Hanle, Smithsonian, Octorber 1982, pp. 148-162. See also, Walter Sullivan,
Assault on the Unknown, the International Geophysical Year, New York: McGraw-Hill Book
Company, 1961.
5
Andrew J. Butrica, Beyond the Ionosphere, Fifty Years of Satellite Communications, NASA
SP-4217, NASA History Series, Washington: NASA Hisotry Office, 1997.
6
Roger D. Launis, NASA: A History of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Anvil Original,
Malabar, FL: Krieger Publishing Company, 1994, pp. 34-5.
7
John F. Kennedy, “Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs, May 25,
1961,” pp. 396-406 in Public PApers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy
… 1961, Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1962.
8
Apollo 204 Review Board, Final Report, April 1967, in NASA Historical Reference
Collection, NASA HIstory Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, as viewed at the
 16

NASA History website, http://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/content.html/, accessed September

2008.
9
Oran W. Nicks, far Travelers, the Exploring Machines, NASA SP-480, Washington: NASA
Scientific and Technical Information Branch, 1985. For a specific case study, see Viking
Lader Imaging Team, The Martian Landscape, NASA SP-425, Washington: NASA
Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978, and Martin Caidin and Jay Barbree with
Susan Wright, Destination Mars in Art, Myth, and Science, New York: Penguin, 1997.
10
Harry L. Shipman, Humans in Space, 21st Century Frontiers, New York: Plenum Press,
1989), p. 97.
11
Joseph P. Allen with Russell Martin, Entering Space: An Astronauts Odyssey,1984;
revised edition, New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1985, p. 75.
12
Bruce McCandless II as quoted in “Astronauts Evaluate Maneuvering Backpack,” by Craig
Covault, Aviation Week & Space Technology, February 13, 1984, p. 16.
13
Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, Report of the
Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, Washington, June 1986,
available online at the NASA History website,
http://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/51lcover.htm/, accessed September 2008.
14
Columbia Accident Investigation Board, Report Volume 1, Washington, August 2003,
available online at a NASA website, http://www.nasa.gov/columbia/home/CAIB_Vol1.html/,
accessed September 2008.
15
European Space Agency website at http://www.esa.int/, accessed March 2006.
16
Brian Berger, “NASA Strikes Deal for Soyuz Flights,” Space.com, January 6, online at
CNN.com, http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/01/06/nasa.soyuz.flights/index.html/,
accessed September 2008.
17
A good source on the Soyuz is the RussianSpaceWeb.com site, at
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz_flight.html/, accessed September 2008.
18
BBC, “Profile: China’s First Spaceman,” BBC News, October 15, 2003, online at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3192844.stm/, accessed September 2008.
19
Jane Van Nimmen, et al., eds. NASA Historical Data Book, Volumes I-IV, NASA SP-
4012, NASA History Series, Washington: NASA History Office, 1988-1994.
20
John M. Logsdon, et al., eds., Exploring the Unknown, Selected Documents in the History
of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Volumes I-VI, NASA SP-4407, NASA History Series,
Washington: NASA History Office, 1995-2004.
21
T. Keith Glennan, The Birth of NASA, the Diary of T. Keith Glennan, NASA SP-4105,
NASA History Series, Washington: NASA History Office, 1993.
22
Glen E. Swanson, ed., “Before This Decade Is Out …”, Personal Reflections on the Apollo
Program, NASA SP-4223, NASA History Series, 1999.
23
Henry C. Dethloff, Suddenly, Tomorrow Came …, a History of the Johnson Space Center,
NASA SP-4307, NASA History Series, Houston: NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center,
1993; Andrew Je Dunar and Stephen P. Waring, Power to Explore, a History of the Marshall
Space Flight Center, 1960-1990, NASA SP-4313, NASA History Center, Washington:
NASA History Office, 1999; Mack R. Herring, Way Station to Space, a History of the John
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