After Apollo? Richard Nixon and the American Space Program

by Logsdon, John M.

• ISBN13: 9781137438522
• ISBN10: 1137438525
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-03-05
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong took 'one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' The success of the Apollo 11 mission satisfied the goal that had been set by President John F. Kennedy just over eight years earlier. It also raised the question 'What do you do next, after landing on the Moon?' It fell to President Richard M. Nixon to answer this question. After Apollo? Richard Nixon and the American Space Program traces in detail how Nixon and his associates went about developing their response.

Author Biography

John M. Logsdon is a world-recognized scholar and analyst of space issues. He pioneered the study of the 'policy history' of the U.S. space program with his seminal The Decision to Go to the Moon: Project Apollo and the National Interest (MIT Press, 1970). His recent Palgrave book ,John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon (2010) received a wide variety of positive reviews and was the 2012 winner of the AIAA Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Award and the American Astronautical Society Emme Award for Astronautical Literature. Dr. Logsdon is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, and was the founder and long-time Director of GW's Space Policy Institute. He was a member of the NASA Advisory Council from 2005-2009, and in 2003 he served as a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. He is a recipient of the Exceptional Public Service, Distinguished Public Service, and Public Service Medals from NASA, the 2005 John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award from the American Astronautical Society, the 2006 Barry Goldwater Space Educator Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the 2013 Frank Malina Space Educator Award from the International Astronautical Federation.

Table of Contents

1. Richard Nixon and Apollo 11
2. Setting the Post-Apollo Stage
3. After the Moon, Mars? 
4. Space and National Priorities
5. The Nixon Space Doctrine
6. The End of the Apollo Era
7. A New Cast of Characters
8. The Space Shuttle Takes Center Stage 
9. National Security Requirements Drive Shuttle Design
10. A Time of Transitions
11. A Confused Path Forward
12. Debating a Shuttle Decision 
13. Which Shuttle to Approve?
14. A 'Space Clipper'
15. Richard Nixon and the American Space Program