McCurdy The Space Station Decision

Incremental Politics and Technological Choice
Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4214-0176-8
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 0 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: New Series in NASA History

Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title

Outstanding Academic Title, 1991, Choice Magazine

Although building a space station has been an extraordinary challenge for America's scientists and engineers, the securing and sustaining of presidential approval, congressional support, and long-term funding for the project was an enormous task for bureaucrats. The Space Station Decision examines the history of this controversial initiative and illustrates how bureaucracy shapes public policy. Using primary documents and interviews, Howard E. McCurdy describes the events that led up to the 1984 decision to build a permanently occupied, international space station in low Earth orbit.

As he follows the trail of the space station proposal through the labyrinth of White House policy review, McCurdy explains the evolution of the presidential budget review process, the breakup of the cabinet system, the proliferation of subcabinets and Executive Office interagency, the involvement of White House staff in framing issues for presidential review, and the role of bureaucracy in advancing administration legislation on Capitol Hill. Comparing the space station decision to earlier decisions to go to the moon and to build the space shuttle, McCurdy shows how public officials responsible for long-term science and technology policy maneuvered in a political system that demanded short-term flexibility.

Autoren/Hrsg.

McCurdy, Howard E.

Fachgebiete

• Technische Wissenschaften Technik Allgemein Technikgeschichte
• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Astronomie: Allgemeines
• Technische Wissenschaften Sonstige Technologien | Angewandte Technik Weltraumforschung
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Vision
Part I
1. The Race (Spring 1961)
2. One New Initiative (January 5, 1972)
3. Beggs (June 17, 1981)
4. The Team (May 20, 1982)
5. Independence Day (July 4, 1982)
Part II
6. Budget Strategy
7. Wheels, Cans, and Modules
8. Configurations
9. The First Move
10. How to Organize a Task Force
11. International Participation
12. Technology
13. Budget Wars
Part III
14. Positions
15. The White House
16. The Rabbit in the Hat
17. SIG (Space)
18. The Number
19. Reagan
Part IV
20. Congress
21. Momentum
22. Management
23. Congress II
Afterword: Politics, Bureaucracy, and Public Policy
Notes
Photo Credits
Index

Über Autor(innen)

McCurdy, Howard E.
Howard E. McCurdy is a professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University and the author of Faster, Better, Cheaper: Low-Cost Innovation in the U.S. Space Program; Inside NASA: High Technology and Organizational Change in the U.S. Space Program; and the coauthor of Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel, all published by Johns Hopkins.

Howard E. McCurdy is a professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University and the author of Faster, Better, Cheaper: Low-Cost Innovation in the U.S. Space Program; Inside NASA: High Technology and Organizational Change in the U.S. Space Program; and the coauthor of Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel, all published by Johns Hopkins.