New HASA History Publication: Societal Impact of Spaceflight

Edited by Steven J. Dick and Roger D. Launius

(Washington, D.C.: NASA SP-2007-4801), pp. 680+ xv, hardcover.

Since the dawn of spaceflight, advocates of a robust space effort have argued that human activity beyond Earth makes a significant difference in everyday life. Assertions abound about the impact of spaceflight on society and its relationship to the larger contours of human existence.

Fifty years after the Space Age began, it is time to examine the effects of spaceflight on society in a historically rigorous way. Has the Space Age indeed had a significant effect on society? If so, what are those influences? What do we mean by an impact on society? And what parts of society? Conversely, has society had any effect on spaceflight? What would be different had there been no Space Age? The purpose of this volume is to examine these and related questions through scholarly research, making use especially of the tools of the historian and the broader social sciences and humanities. Herein a stellar array of scholars does just that, and arrives at sometimes surprising conclusions.

How to order: Please contact the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, 7121 Standard Drive, Hanover, MD 21076, 301-621-0390, help@sti.nasa.gov,

Online Order Form: https://www.sti.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ordersti.pl, Document ID: 20080007234, Title: Societal Impact of Spaceflight.

The price code is EA5 (Within U.S. $25.00 plus $2.00 shipping and handling: Outside U.S. $50.00 plus $17.00 S&H).

This book also may be purchased from the NASA Information Center, NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, Room 1H23, Washington, DC 20546-0001, (202) 358-0000. Order NASA SP-2007-4801.