Spies and Shuttles - by James E David (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Revealing the connections between NASA and the United States defense community

In this real life spy saga, James E. David reveals the extensive and largely hidden interactions between NASA and U.S. defense and intelligence departments. The story begins with the establishment of NASA in 1958 and follows the agency through its growth, not only in scope but also in complexity.

In Spies and Shuttles, David digs through newly declassified documents to ultimately reveal how NASA became a strange bedfellow to the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He tracks NASA's early cooperation--supplying cover stories for covert missions, analyzing the Soviet space program, providing weather and other scientific data from its satellites, and monitoring missile tests--that eventually devolved into NASA's reliance on DoD for political and financial support for the Shuttle. David also examines the restrictions imposed on such activities as photographing the Earth from space and the intrusive review mechanisms to ensure compliance.

The ties between NASA and the intelligence community have historically remained unexplored, and David's riveting book is the first to investigate the twists and turns of this labyrinthine relationship.

Review Quotes

"Provides a valuable window into the workings of NASA and the impact that defense and intelligence efforts have on civilian science. . . . A must read for those interested in space history, Cold War security issues, and twentieth-century science and technology."--H-Net

"Offers one of the best analyses to date of the long, and often difficult, history of interaction between NASA and the national security community."--Space Review

"Explains the long history of NASA's tangled relationships with the Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency--both their secret successes and some of their more public failures."--Technology and Culture

About the Author