Intermission

Abstract

With NASA’s cancelation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, deferral of space station development, and the decision to make the space shuttle the centerpiece of its post-Apollo hopes, the curtain came down on the first act in the drama of setting the content and direction of the post-Apollo space program. NASA Administrator Tom Paine’s hope of getting, in the months following the success of the Apollo 11 lunar landing and the submission of the Space Task Group (STG) report, White House support for a fast-paced space effort in the 1970s had been decisively denied. The Nixon White House in shaping a post-Apollo space effort had decided not to build on the national investment in the capabilities that had made Apollo possible.