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

356 reMeMberINg the SpaCe age
advisory Committee for aeronautics with its 8,000 employees, an annual
budget of $100 million, and its research laboratories. It quickly incorporated
other organizations into the new agency, notably the space science group of
the Naval research Laboratory in Maryland, the Jet propulsion Laboratory
managed by the California Institute of technology for the army, and portions
of the army ballistic Missile agency in huntsville, alabama. 4 this set in train
the necessary capabilities for the achievement of considerable success in space
exploration during the 1960s.
according to this master narrative, the experience from Sputnik through
the apollo Moon landings have represented an epochal event that signaled the
opening of a new frontier in which a grand visionary future for americans
might be realized. It represented, most americans have consistently believed,
what set the united States apart from the rest of the nations of the world.
american exceptionalism reigned in this context, and apollo is often depicted
as the critical event in the united States’ spacefight narrative, one that must be
revered because it shows how successful americans could be when they try. at
a basic level, apollo served as a trope of america’s grand vision for the future.
this exceptionalist perspective has also dominated the public characterizations
of spacefight in general, and apollo in particular, regardless of the form of
those characterizations. 5 for example, expressing this central perspective
on americanism, not long after the frst lunar landing in July 1969 richard
Washington, DC;alison grifth, The National Aeronautics and Space Act:A Study of the Development
of Public Policy (Washington, DC: public afairs press, 1962), pp. 27-43.
4. Launius, NASA, pp. 29-41.
5. Several years ago I prepared “a baker’s Dozen of books on project apollo,” and I have
updated it periodically since. these are singularly worthwhile books, but all support
the dominant trope in the historiography. the titles include: Donald a. beattie, Taking
Science to the Moon: Lunar Experiments and the Apollo Program (baltimore, Maryland: Johns
hopkins university press, 2001); roger e. bilstein, Stages to Saturn: A Technological History
of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles (Washington, DC: National aeronautics and Space
administration Sp-4206, 1980); Courtney g. brooks, James M. grimwood, and Loyd S.
Swenson, Jr., Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft (Washington, DC:
National aeronautics and Space administration Sp-4205, 1979); andrew Chaikin, A Man
on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts (New york, Ny: viking, 1994); Michael
Collins, Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys (New york, Ny: farrar, Straus and giroux,
1974); edgar M. Cortright, ed., Apollo Expeditions to the Moon (Washington, DC: National
aeronautics and Space administration Sp-350, 1975); David M. harland, Exploring the Moon:
The Apollo Expeditions (Chicester, england: Wiley-praxis, 1999); Stephen b. Johnson, The
Secret of Apollo: Systems Management in American and European Space Programs (Washington,
DC: Johns hopkins university press, 2002); W. henry Lambright, Powering Apollo: James E.
Webb of NASA (baltimore, MD: Johns hopkins university press, 1995); John M. Logsdon,
The Decision to Go to the Moon: Project Apollo and the National Interest (Cambridge, Ma: the
MIt press, 1970); Walter a. McDougall, . . . the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of
the Space Age (New york, Ny: basic books, 1985); Charles a. Murray and Catherine bly
Cox, Apollo, the Race to the Moon (New york, Ny: Simon and Schuster, 1989); David West
reynolds, Apollo: The Epic Journey to the Moon (New york, Ny: harcourt, brace, 2002).