Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Volume V: Exploring the Cosmos (The NASA History Series)

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.