Mars Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Space Exploration Initiative

by Thor Hogan, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA SP 2007-4410. NASA History Series. Recounts the story of the rise of Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) and its eventual demise. Tells of organizational, cultural, and personal confrontation. Organizational skirmishes involved the Space Council versus NASA, the White House versus congressional appropriators, and the Johnson Space Center versus the rest of the space agency--all seeking control of the national space policy process.

198 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid research on the politics and formulation of Bush’s Space Exploration Initiative. Recommend for anyone that does space policy and I think it’s a useful case study for Technology Policy studies more broadly. My only criticism is that it goes a little repetitive … the book may be too long. Unless you’re specifically interested in policy related to SEI, I suggest that you check out Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership by Roger Launius first. It’s a more comprehensive look at Space policy since Eisenhower and covers all these same themes.