One of the most important developments of the twentieth century has
been the movement of humanity into space with machines and people.
The underpinnings of that movement-why it took the shape it did;
which individuals and organizations were involved; what factors
drove a particular choice of scientific objectives and technologies
to be used; and the political, economic, managerial, and
international contexts in which the events of the space age
unfolded-are all important ingredients of this epoch transition
from an Earthbound to a spacefaring people. This desire to
understand the development of spaceflight in the U.S. sparked this
documentary history series. The extension of human activity into
outer space has been accompanied by a high degree of self-awareness
of its historical significance. Few large-scale activities have
been as extensively chronicled so closely to the time they actually
occurred. Many of those who were directly involved were quite
conscious that they were making history, and they kept full records
of their activities. Because most of the activity in outer space
was carried out under government sponsorship, it was accompanied by
the documentary record required of public institutions, and there
has been a spate of official and privately written histories of
most major aspects of space achievement to date. There is no lack
of material for those who aspire to understand the origins and
evolution of U.S. space policies and programs. This reality forms
the rationale for this series. Precisely because there is so much
historical material available on space matters, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration decided in 1988 that it would
be extremely useful to have available to scholars and the
interested public a selective collection of many of the seminal
documents related to the evolution of the U.S. civilian space
program. While recognizing that much space activity has taken place
under the sponsorship of the Department of Defense and other
national security organizations, within the U.S. private sector,
and in other countries around the world, NASA felt that there would
be lasting value in a collection of documentary material primarily
focused on the evolution of the U.S. government's civilian space
program, most of which has been carried out since 1958 under the
Agency's auspices. As a result, the NASA History Office contracted
with the Space Policy Institute of George Washington University's
Elliott School of International Affairs to prepare such a
collection. This is the fifth volume in the documentary history
series; three additional ones detailing programmatic developments
with respect to aspects of space science not covered in the current
volume, and to human spaceflight, will follow. The documents in
this volume are presented in three major sections, each covering a
particular aspect of the origins, evolution, and execution of the
U.S. space science program. Chapter 1 deals with the origins,
evolution, and organization of the space science program. Chapter 2
deals with solar system exploration. Chapter 3 deals with NASA's
astronomy and astrophysics efforts. Vol. I covered the antecedents
to the U. S. space program, as well as the origins and evolution of
U.S. space policy and of NASA as an institution. Vol. II dealt with
the relations between the civilian space program of the U.S. and
the space activities of other countries, the relationship between
the U. S. civilian and national security space and military
efforts, and NASA's relations with industry and academic
institutions. Vol. III provided documents on satellite
communications, remote sensing, and the economics of space
applications. Vol. IV covered various forms of space
transportation. Future volumes will cover solar and space physics,
earth science, and life and microgravity science, and human
spaceflight.
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