Engineering topics

Mccurdy, Howard E.

Publications and source records attributed to Mccurdy, Howard E..

5 records

NASA NTRS1994

Presidential Leadership in the Development of the U.S. Space Program

Papers presented at a historical symposium on Presidential leadership in the space program include the following: 'The Imperial Presidency in the History of Space Exploration'; 'The Reluctant Racer: Dwight D. Eisenhower and United States Space Policy'; 'Kennedy and the Decision to Go to the Moon'; 'Johnson, Project Apollo, and the Politics of Space Program Planning'; 'The Presidency, Congress, and the Deceleration of the U.S. Space Program in the 1970s'; 'Politics not Science: The U.S. Space Program in the Reagan and Bush Years'; 'Presidential Leadership and International Aspects of the Space Program'; 'National Leadership and Presidential Power'; and 'Epilogue: Beyond NASA Exceptionalism'.

Launius, Roger D.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Space and the American imagination

The introduction will set out the principal theme of the book: that the rise of the U.S. space program was due to a concerted effort by science writers, engineers, industrialists, and civic and political leaders to create a popular culture of space exploration based on important elements of American social life (such as frontier mythology, fears about the cold war, and the rise of the consumer culture). Much of the disillusionment with the NASA space program which set in during the third decade of space flight can be traced to a widening gap between popular expectations and the reality of space exploration.

Mccurdy, Howard E.↗

NASA NTRS1991

The Space Station decision - Politics, bureaucracy, and the making of public policy

The lack of consensus that dominates the conception of major scientific and technological programs is demonstrated via a comparison of the decisions to build the Space Station and the Space Transportation System, and the decision to go to the moon. It is argued that the way political reality conditions administrative behavior in NASA is shown by the decision to promote international cooperation prior to program approval. It is concluded that so long as NASA remains a government agency, its officials will struggle to learn how to balance professional accountability with political reality.

Mccurdy, Howard E.↗

NASA NTRS1990

The Space Station decision - Incremental politics and technological choice

Using primary documents and interviews with participants, this book describes the events that led up to the 1984 decision that NASA should build a permanently occupied, international space station in low earth orbit. The role that civil servants in NASA played in initiating the program is highlighted. The trail of the Space Station proposal as its advocates devised strategies to push it through the White House policy review process is followed. The critical analysis focuses on the way in which 'incrementalism' (the tendency of policy makers to introduce incremental changes once projects are under way) operated in connection with the Space Station program. The book calls for a commitment to a long-range space policy.

Mccurdy, Howard E.↗

NASA NTRS1989

The decay of NASA's technical culture

Changes in the organization structure and technical research activities of NASA since 1970 are evaluated. The creation of NASA and the original organizational structure and operation of NASA are reviewed. The relationship between organization and advanced technology is discussed and suggestions are given for ways of maintaining NASA as a high reliability organization.

Mccurdy, Howard E.↗