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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. 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. When top leaders
considered what course of action to pursue in space, their
deliberations and decisions often were carefully put on the record.
There is no lack of material for those who aspire to understand the
origins and early evolution of U.S. space policies and programs.
This reality forms the rationale for this compilation. 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 easily 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 up to that time. While recognizing that much
space activity has taken place under the sponsorship of the
Department of Defense and other national security organizations,
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 volume and two additional ones
detailing programmatic developments and relations with other
organizations that will follow are the result. Copies of more than
2,000 documents in their original form collected during this
project, as well as a data base that provides a guide to their
contents, have been deposited in the NASA Historical Reference
Collection. Another complete set of project materials is located at
the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. The
documents selected for this volume are presented in four major
sections, each covering a particular aspect of the evolution of
U.S. space policies and programs. Those sections address: the
antecedents to the U.S. space program; the origins of U.S. space
policy in the Eisenhower era; the evolution of U.S. space policies
and plans; and the organization of the civilian space effort. A
second volume contains documents arranged in four sections
addressing specific relations with other organizations: the
NASA/industry/university nexus; civil-military space cooperation;
international space cooperation; and NASA, commercialization in
space, and communications satellites. A third volume describes
programmatic developments: human spaceflight; space science; Earth
observation programs; and space transportation.
A selection of key documents in the history of the U.S. civil space
program is presented. This volume deals with organizational
developments of the space program. More than 200 documents are
printed. Each is introduced by a headnote providing context,
bibliographical information, and background information necessary
to understanding the document. These are organized into four major
sections, each beginning with an introductory essay that keys the
documents to major events in the history of the space program. The
NASA History Series. NASA SP 4407.
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