Space stories :

Oral Histories From The Pioneers of America’s Space Program

An Oral History Project conducted in conjunction with the Houston Chapter of the AIAA and Honeywell Corporation

Official histories often make it appear that nations make big decisions based on thorough research and understanding. But when the individuals intimately involved in those big decisions are given voice, a very different story emerges–one of hops and skips, personality clashes and chats between friends, and bootlegged designs that lead to billion-dollar programs. With funding from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Houston Chapter, and from the Honeywell Corporation, Robbie Davis-Floyd and Kenneth J. Cox have embarked on the project of collecting oral histories from a number of individuals who were intimately involved in the events leading to the
formation of NASA and the early development of its space program. Our focus is not on the well-publicized astronauts, but on the inside stories of the engineers and administrators who worked behind the scenes.