The Secret of Apollo
Subtitle: Systems Management in American and European Space Programs (New Series in NASA History)
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: June 26, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 312
ISBN-13: 9780801868986
Subjects: Aerospace & aviation technology; Astronautics; History of engineering & technology; Systems management; Technology; Management; United States; Military Use Of Space; Space Engineering (Specific Aspects); Technology & Industrial Arts; Science/Mathematics; Europe; USA; Aeronautics & Astronautics; Astrophysics & Space Science; History; History / United States / General; Astronautics, Military; Radio
First sentence: July 1969 marked two events in humanity's exploration of space.
Description: How does one go about organizing something as complicated as a strategic-missile or space-exploration program? Stephen B. Johnson here explores the answer -- systems management -- in a groundbreaking study that involves Air Force planners, scientists, technical specialists, and, eventually, bureaucrats. Taking a comparative approach, Johnson focuses on the theory, or intellectual history, of "systems engineering" as such, its origins in the Air Force's Cold War ICBM efforts, and its migration to not only NASA but the European Space Agency. Exploring the history and politics of aerospace development and weapons procurement, Johnson examines how scientists and engineers created the systems management process to coordinate large-scale technology development, and how managers and military officers gained control of that process. "Those funding the race demanded results," Johnson explains. "In response, development organizations created what few expected and what even fewer wanted -- a bureaucracy for innovation. To begin to understand this apparent contradiction in terms, we must first understand the exacting nature of space technologies and the concerns of those who create them."