The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is all too often thought of in a purely national context — as an American initiative developed specifically to compete with the Soviet Union. Yet, from its inception in 1958, NASA was mandated not only to sustain U.S. leadership in space, but also to pursue international collaboration. Since that time, NASA has participated in over 4,000 international projects, even as historians have almost entirely neglected this remarkable aspect of the agency's work.
This definitive and groundbreaking study is the first to trace NASA's history in a truly international context. Drawing on unprecedented access to agency archives and personnel, it explores US-Soviet cooperation during the darkest days of the Cold War, relations with India and Japan, the development of the International Space Station, and a host of other fascinating episodes, making it a signal contribution to space studies and American diplomatic history.
About the authors
John Krige is Kranzberg Professor in the School of History, Technology and Society at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, and the author of American Hegemony and the Postwar Reconstruction of Science in Europe (2006). An acknowledged expert on the history of the space program, he has appeared in recent years on American Public Radio, the BBC, and Swiss Radio.
Angelina Long Callahan is Associate Historian at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, USA, where she wrote her dissertation on meteorological satellites and the Cold War. She has a PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of History, Technology, and Society. Her other research pursuits include the history of 1920-30s drone research and development and technological roots of the Vanguard satellite project.
Ashok Maharaj has a PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of History, Technology, and Society, USA. He lives and works in Chennai, India.
posted 03-18-2013 04:27 PM
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