Abstract: By 1970, the small cadre of veteran astronauts of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) found themselves a dwindling force in a mammoth bureaucracy that had long since grown well beyond their control. That year, the astronaut-friendly Robert Gilruth departed as steward of NASA's human spaceflight program, leaving questions about the future of the effort, and about NASA's astronaut leadership. Meanwhile, the turbulent labor dynamic that had emerged with the arrival of scientist-astronauts intensified, as growing flight rosters, increasing layers of civilian management, declining budgets, and public scandals brought astronauts new occupational challenges. The early 1970s saw some of NASA's most dramatic successes in space—including the final Apollo flights to the Moon and the launch of the Skylab space station—but, for NASA's astronauts, the decade was one of diminished celebrity and autonomy, uncertainty about the future, and adjustments to a new kind of space workplace.KeywordsSpace ShuttleCrew MemberSpace ProgramLunar LandingApollo ProgramThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot