E-Book Overview
The Other Space Race is a unique look at the early U.S. space program and how it both shaped and was shaped by politics during the Cold War. Eisenhower's "New Look" expanded the role of the Air Force in national security, and ultimately allowed ambitious aerospace projects, namely the "Dyna-Soar," a bomber equipped with nuclear weapons that would operate in space. Eisenhower's space policy was purely practical, creating a strong deterrent against the use of nuclear arms against the United States.
With the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, the political climate changed, and space travel became part of the United States' national discourse. Sambaluk explores what followed, including the scuttling of the "Dyna-Soar" program and the transition from Eisenhower's space policy to John Kennedy's. This well-argued, well-researched book gives much needed perspective on the Cold War's influence on space travel and it's relation to the formation of public policy.
E-Book Content
OLSEN
The Other Space Race is the story of how neither policy was fully realized. By examining the important but largely forgotten period of research between 1954 and 1961, Nicholas Michael Sambaluk provides a more meaningful context for understanding space security policy and space history.
Advance Praise for The Other Space Race “Sambaluk’s scholarly survey of this most sensational subject amply demonstrates the wisdom of Eisenhower’s ‘building blocks’ approach to space technology, a wisdom unfortunately discarded by the Kennedy administration.” —WALTER A. McDOUGALL, University of Pennsylvania, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of . . . the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age
“Dr. Sambaluk fills a void in the historiography of America’s space technology. He addresses many of the factors and competing interests that shaped America’s early space programs. A well-researched and organized work that should be on the shelf of every historian of the ‘new frontier.’ ” —DR. JOHN CURATOLA, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
“Nick Sambaluk has written an important new book about Ike and the early days of the space race. He provides insights into Eisenhower in a field that has deserved more historical exploration.” —WILLIAM B. LACY, director, Dole Institute of Politics
“Nick Sambaluk’s fascinating book deals with the past but speaks to the present—an advanced technology Air Force project, rising costs, uncertain mission: and no, it’s not the F-35! As Sambaluk shows in his analysis of the ‘Dyna-Soar’ project, sometimes the past really can be prologue.” —ROBERT M. CITINO, author of The Wehrmacht Retreats: The Campaigns of 1943
NICHOLAS MICHAEL SAMBALUK is an assistant professor of practice in military science and technology at Purdue University and a research fellow at the Army Cyber Institute at West Point.
“Sambaluk lays bare the tension between the military strategies and policies of presidents and the competing goals of the military industrial complex. The Other Space Race should be on the reading lists of every member of Congress, the current and next presidential administration, and any American citizen concerned with the nation’s military affairs.” —COL. GIAN GENTILE, USA (Ret.), author of Wrong Turn: America’s Deadly Embrace of Counterinsurgency; former professor of military history at West Point; senior historian at the RAND Corporation
Sambaluk
The Other Space Race
initiatives played overseas, Eisenhower’s policy relied on space reconnaissance happening quietly and behind the scenes.
The Other Space Race Eisenhower and the Quest for Aerospace Security
TRANSFORMING WAR
Jacket image: Dwight D. Eisenhower (courtesy the New York Times) and design study from declassified document “DYNA SOAR Hypersonic Concept