posted 01-22-2023 12:05 AM               

A look back at Lyndon B. Johnson's space legacy, 50 years after his death

Ask the average person, let alone a space enthusiast, to name the U.S. politician who earned the title "Mr. Space," and Lyndon B. Johnson is not likely to be their first reply.

...the nation may have forgotten the impact Johnson had in steering the course of the U.S. space program well beyond the time he was in office and even the years he was alive. The decisions that he made, including championing the Outer Space Treaty and Apollo program, continue to influence today's activities in space.

"There's no question that LBJ's legacy relating to space is under appreciated and undervalued as we look at the history of space exploration," said Mark Updegrove, former director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation, in an interview.

Updegrove spoke with collectSPACE about the contributions LBJ made to space exploration policy and how the president's legacy is perceived today, half a century after the President's death on Jan. 22, 1973.