1.1 Genesis of the Space Transportation System

¶The origins of the Space Shuttle Program date to discussions on what should follow Project Apollo, the dramatic U.S. missions to the moon.¹¹ George Mueller, Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, NASA, "Honorary Fellowship Acceptance," address delivered to the British Interplanetary Society, University College, London, England, August 10, 1968, contained in John M. Logsdon, Ray A. Williamson, Roger D. Launius, Russell J. Acker, Stephen J. Garber, and Jonathan L. Friedman, editors, Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program Volume IV: Accessing Space, NASA SP-4407 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1999), pp. 202-205.Show full note NASA centered its post-Apollo plans on developing increasingly larger outposts in Earth orbit that would be launched atop Apolloʼs immense Saturn V booster. The space agency hoped to construct a 12-person space station by 1975; subsequent stations would support 50, then 100 people. Other stations would be placed in orbit around the moon and then be constructed on the lunar surface. In parallel, NASA would develop the capability for the manned exploration of Mars. The concept of a vehicle – or Space Shuttle – to take crews and supplies to and from low-Earth orbit arose as part of this grand vision (see Figure 1.1-1). To keep the costs of these trips to a minimum, NASA intended to develop a fully reusable vehicle.²² For detailed discussions of the origins of the Space Shuttle, see Dennis R. Jenkins, Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System – The First 100 Missions (Cape Canaveral, FL: Specialty Press, 2001); T. A. Heppenheimer, The Space Shuttle Decision: NASAʼs Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle, NASA SP-4221 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1999; also published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002); and T. A. Heppenheimer, Development of the Space Shuttle, 1972-1981 (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002). Much of the discussion in this section is based on these studies.Show full note

¶Figure 1.1-1. Early concepts for the Space Shuttle envisioned a reusable two-stage vehicle with the reliability and versatility of a commercial airliner.

¶NASAʼs vision of a constellation of space stations and jour- neying to Mars had little connection with political realities of the time. In his final year in office, President Lyndon Johnson gave highest priority to his Great Society programs and to dealing with the costs and domestic turmoil associated with the Vietnam war. Johnsonʼs successor, President Richard Nixon, also had no appetite for another large, expensive, Apollo-like space commitment. Nixon rejected NASAʼs ambitions with little hesitation and directed that the agencyʼs budget be cut as much as was politically feasible. With NASAʼs space station plans deferred and further production of the Saturn V launch vehicle cancelled, the Space Shuttle was the only manned space flight program that the space agency could hope to undertake. But without space stations to service, NASA needed a new rationale for the Shuttle. That rationale emerged from an intense three-year process of technical studies and political and budgetary negotiations that attempted to reconcile the conflicting interests of NASA, the Department of Defense, and the White House.³³ See John M. Logsdon, "The Space Shuttle Program: A Policy Failure?" Science, May 30, 1986 (Vol. 232), pp. 1099-1105 for an account of this decision process. Most of the information and quotes in this section are taken from this article.