[4/4/24] 17. The History of NASA and the US Space Program with Dr. Bill Barry

Places and Profiles Podcast with Adam Camac

Dr. Bill Barry, former NASA Chief Historian, joins host Adam Camac to discuss the history of NASA and the US space program, including the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs. The future of NASA and of space travel is also discussed. The show notes page for this episode can be found at placesandprofiles.com/17.

1:12 - Space research in the US before NASA, the establishment of NASA

8:07 - How the Soviets launching Sputnik 1 helped lead to the establishment of NASA and how the larger space race between the United States and the Soviet Union factored into what NASA did at the time

19:16 - Alan Shepard, John Glenn, and the Mercury 7 astronauts

27:35 - Project Gemini and its significance

30:52 - Apollo program: tragedies (Apollo 1 deaths) versus tremendous successes (the first men walking on the Moon during Apollo 11)

48:27 - The later years of the Apollo program, how NASA’s goals and priorities changed after the Apollo program, the beginning of the Space Shuttle

59:20 - The legacy of the Space Shuttle, the Challenger and Columbia disasters, accomplishments of the Space Shuttle program

1:06:21 - Rivalry and collaboration over time between the United States and the Soviet Union or Russia

1:21:06 - SpaceX and Blue Origin, increasing role of private companies in US space travel and exploration, potentially returning to the Moon and going to Mars, the Artemis Program and efforts to build the Orion spacecraft, the future of space travel and exploration, NASA’s role in the coming decades

1:30:14 - Recommended resources