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Rather than asking us to suspend disbelief, Robots in Space demands that we accept facts as they evolve.

Changes imposed to accomplish the lunar landing-along with the normal aging process and increased bureaucracy in the government as a whole-gradually eroded NASA's original culture and reduced its technical strength.

He shows how Webb's performance reflected important changes in twentieth century public life, including the concentration of political power in Washington; expansion of the federal bureaucracy; the rise of big science; and visions of cooperation among government, industry, and higher education.

Comparing the space station decision to earlier decisions to go to the moon and to build the space shuttle, McCurdy shows how public officials responsible for long-term science and technology policy maneuvered in a political system that demanded short-term flexibility.

She explains why NASA sometimes encouraged and sometimes thwarted the privatization of space projects and describes the agency's role in the rise of such new space industries as launch vehicles and communications satellites.

Conway, JPL's historian, offers an insider's perspective into the changing goals of Mars exploration, the ways in which sophisticated computer simulations drove the design process, and the remarkable evolution of landing technologies over a thirty-year period.

Historians, along with participants in current aerospace research programs, will gain valuable perspective on the interaction of politics and technology.