John M. Logsdon is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. He was a member of the NASA Advisory Council from 2005 to 2009 and remains a member of the Council’s Exploration Committee. His research interests focus on the policy and historical aspects of U.S. and international space activities.
He is the author and editor of numerous works, including The Decision to Go to the Moon: Project Apollo and the National Interest (1976); John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon (2010); Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program (1996); and After Apollo?: Richard Nixon and the American Space Program (2015).
Once the United States landed on the moon in July 1969, it was up to President Nixon to decide what to do in space after Apollo. This book chronicles the decisions he made, including ending space exploration and approving the space shuttle. Those decisions determined the character of the US human space flight program for the next forty years.
While there are many biographies of JFK and accounts of the early years of US space efforts, this book uses primary source material and interviews with key participants to provide a comprehensive account of how the actions taken by JFK's administration have shaped the course of the US space program over the last 45 years.
