Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

136 reMeMBerING the SpaCe aGe
NaSa grant for the “Conduct of a study of long-range national problems
related to the development of the NaSa program” 4 in april 1962.
according to its charter, the Boston-based aaaS was established in 1780,“to
cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honour,
dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” 5 Conducting
such a project with signifcant societal implications ft fully with its activities.Indeed,
its president paul Freund considered this project “a major academy study.” 6
the aaaS proposal to NaSa asked
From the standpoint of NaSa objectives how can the
resources of the nation be mobilized for the achievement
of national goals developing out of advances in scientifc
knowledge and engineering capabilities, and what will be
the predictable impact of enterprises so conceived on various
sectors of our society? What will be the reciprocal impact
back on NaSa? Basically, the efort will be to develop a
system by which the feedback indicators to NaSa may be
improved and to assist in making the NaSa experience and
achievements most meaningful in the public interest. 7
Based upon an original proposal of two years, the aaaS project ultimately
consumed four years and $45,000 more than expected. 8 this was one of several
eforts funded by NaSa as part of its 1958 mandate to study the “potential
benefts to be gained from, the opportunities for, and the problems involved” in
the space program. 9 Overall, in its frst decade NaSa spent nearly $35 million
on 365 contracts to study the impact of the space program. Most of these
contracts studied technology transfer and economic impacts. 10
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earl p. Stevenson, “report of the Committee on Space eforts and Society,” Records of the Academy
(American Academy of Arts and Sciences), 1962/1963, 141.
accessed at http://www.amacad.org/about.aspx (downloaded august 7, 2007).
paul a. Freund, “president’s report,” Records of the Academy (American Academy of Arts and Sciences),
1964/1965, 7.
Stevenson, op. cit., p. 141.
earl p. Stevenson, “report of the Committee on Space,” Records of the Academy (American Academy
of Arts and Sciences), 1965/1966, 22.
“Introduction,” in raymond a. Bauer with richard S. rosenbloom and Laure Sharp and the
assistance of Others, Second-Order Consequences. A Methodological Essay on the Impact of Technology
(Cambridge, Ma: MIt press, 1969), p. 2. among other eforts were Lincoln p. Bloomfeld, ed.,
Outer Space: Prospects for Man and Society (englewood Clifs, NJ,: the american assembly, 1962)
and Lillian Levy, ed., Space: Its Impact on Man and Society (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co.,
1965). Levy was a journalist who joined the NaSa Ofce of public afairs.
10. Mary a. holman, The Political Economy of the Space Program (palo alto: pacifc Books, 1974), pp.
171-74. See also, t. Stephen Cheston, “Space Social Science,” in Johnson Space Center’s Space