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

aMerICaN SpaCefLIght hIStory’S MaSter NarratIve
aND the MeaNINg of MeMory
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narratives could emerge to challenge the master narrative, creating for their
individual and individualistic followings a uniquely boutique but satisfactory
interpretation of space exploration’s history.
In the context of spacefight, the duels between these four narratives have
represented a battle for control of the national memory concerning this one area
of the “lifeworld” of americans. Would it be one that is unifed—one people,
one nation—or one that was fragmented and personal? this is an important issue
and fully worthy of consideration by all in the marketplace of ideas. by taking
action to fashion and champion alternative narratives, individuals reasserted a
fundamental direction over meaning whether for good or ill. political scientist
Jürgen habermas has suggested that when the “instrumental rationality” of the
state intrudes too precipitously into the lifeworld of its citizenry, they rise up
in some form to correct its course or to cast it of altogether. the lifeworld is
evident in the ways in which language creates the contexts of interpretations
of everyday circumstances, decisions, and actions. he argues that the lifeworld
is “represented by a culturally transmitted and linguistically organized stock
of interpretive patterns.” 89 for a not inconsequential proportion of americans
the interpretation of space exploration that dominated the discourse has
intruded into their lifeworld, as their alternative narratives certainly suggest.
accordingly, they have taken direct action to alter this perspective. over time,
their alternative narratives have come to challenge the master perspective
invoked routinely.
this leads back to the question posed above, who has the authority to decide
what the history says? an old baseball joke is apropos here. three umpires were
discussing how they call balls and strikes behind the plate. the frst said, “I call
them as they are,” a pre-modern, absolutist position. the second said, “I call
them as I see them,” a position refecting rationality and modernity. the third
opined in a ft of post-modern existential angst, “they ain’t nothin’ til I call
them.” It seems that this last perspective is the critical element in considering
these various narratives about the history of the Space age. perhaps the reality
of what happened does not matter all that much; the only thing that is truly
important is the decision about its meaning. that may well be an intensely
personal decision predicated on many idiosyncrasies and perspectives. When
will historians begin to explore the process whereby this has taken place and
seek to document and understand its evolution?
89. Jürgen habermas, The Theory of Communicative Action,Volume 2: Lifeworld and System,A Critique of
Functionalist Reason (boston, Ma: beacon press, 1987), p. 124.