Description
Book SynopsisWhen Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, limits on NASA funding and the lack of direction under the Nixon and Carter administrations had left the U.S. space program at a crossroads. In contrast to his predecessors, Reagan saw outer space as humanity’s final frontier and as an opportunity for global leadership. His optimism and belief in American exceptionalism guided a decade of U.S. activities in space, including bringing the space shuttle into operation, dealing with the 1986
Challenger accident and its aftermath, committing to a permanently crewed space station, encouraging private sector space efforts, and fostering international space partnerships with both U.S. allies and with the Soviet Union. Drawing from a trove of declassified primary source materials and oral history interviews, John M. Logsdon provides the first comprehensive account of Reagan’s civilian and commercial space policies during his eight years in the White House. Even as a fiscal conservative who was hesitant to increase NASA’s budget, Reagan’s enthusiasm for the space program made him perhaps the most pro-space president in American history.
Trade Review“John Logsdon’s Ronald Reagan and the Space Frontier is a foundational work that should be consulted by anyone who wishes to delve deeply into NASA history and civil space policy in the 1980s. … it will be an essential work for professional historians and political scientists interested in late 20th-century presidential space decision-making.” (Michael J. Neufeld, Quest, Vol. 27 (1), 2020)
“This volume is a tutorial on the leadership and legacy of Reagan’s space interests, details that should be instructive to all those in the space community eager to fathom today’s presidential pronouncements about America’s space agenda.this new book from Logsdon adds to the author’s legacy of space policy observations.” (Leonard David, Leonard David's Inside Outer Space, leonarddavid.com, May 29, 2019)
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