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

Great (UNFULFILLeD) expeCtatIONS: tO BOLDLY GO Where NO 151
SOCIaL SCIeNtISt aND hIStOrIaN have GONe BeFOre
beginning by the inherent inability of historians and social scientists to create
information and package knowledge in a form useful to policymakers?
Did the Committee on Space ever ask itself or NaSa, “What sort of
product would be most useful to NaSa policymakers?” Railroad, from a practical
or theoretical policy perspective, was useless. there were no conclusions, no
lessons learned, no set of bulleted issues to serve as guide points, or any other
packaging of information in a useful form.
Similarly surprising was what else did not occur. the aaaS did not
convene a conference of historians, social scientists, and NaSa policymakers
to discuss the book. Indeed, the contributors to Railroad never met or
coordinated their eforts. 66 If initiated today, at a minimum, the contributors
would hold a workshop to discuss the topic and their plans. after receiving the
papers, the planners would then convene a conference with the intended
audience, NaSa managers, and policymakers. this process of consultation
and feedback would ensure greater focus, feedback, and relevance.
to the Committee on Space, the railroad appeared the logical subject to
study. as the Fogel essay suggests, would studying other historical analogies,
such as exploring and colonizing hostile environments such as the oceans
or arctic have proved more fruitful? 67 Would studying frontiers—real and
imagined—have provided insights valuable to NaSa? 68
Did NaSa ask, “What can we learn from history, and what is the best
way for historians and social scientists to work together with managers and
engineers?” NaSa, along with the Department of Defense, is among one of the
major government agencies that uses its history. the history Ofce at NaSa,
established in 1959, not only creates and contracts histories but also serves as a
source of information for NaSa as well as business and the public. 69
has NaSa learned? In one sense, no. to take a recent example, the 2004
administrator’s Symposium focused on risk and exploration. In addition to
administrators, astronauts, and scientists, the speakers included explorers of the
earth and sea—but not one historian or social scientist, even though the NaSa
history Ofce provided signifcant support. 70
66. robert Brandfon, interview, January 25, 2008.
67. I am grateful to peter Stearns for raising this point. See albert a. harrison, Yvonne a. Clearwater,
and Christopher p. McKay, eds., From Antarctica to Outer Space: Life in Isolation and Confnement
(New York, NY: Springer-verlag, 1991) and Jack Stuster, Bold Endeavors: Lessons from Polar and
Space Exploration (annapolis, MD: Naval Institute press, 1996).
68. David F. Noble, The Religion of Technology. The Divinity of Man and the Spirit of Invention (New York,
NY: alfred a. Knopf, 1997), 115-141; howard e. McCurdy, Space and the American Imagination
(Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution press, 1997); Carl abbott, Frontiers Past and Future.
Science Fiction and the American West (Lawrence, KS: University press of Kansas, 2006)
69. roger D. Launius, “NaSa history and the Challenge of Keeping the Contemporary past,” Public
Historian 21, 3 (Summer 1999): 63-81.
70. Steven J. Dick and Keith L. Cowing, eds., Risk and Exploration. Earth, Sea and the Stars. NaSa