Jul 9, 2021, 3:57 PM ETInterview, Fireside Chat

Jeff Shesol, Historian and Author

Strategic Rationale: The Eisenhower administration established NASA and Project Mercury in 1958 primarily to consolidate rival military space programs (Air Force, Army, Navy), though Eisenhower remained skeptical of human spaceflight, noting, "we don't have any enemies on the moon."
Kennedy's Pivot: President Kennedy, initially sharing Eisenhower's hesitations regarding the utility of manned spaceflight, reversed course after Yuri Gagarin's orbital flight in April 1961.
Political Imperative: Kennedy campaigned in 1960 on the premise that Soviet dominance in space equated to total global superiority, stating, "if we are second in space... we will be second in science and technology, in military power."
Public Perception: Western European allies polled shortly after Kennedy's inauguration believed the Soviets would achieve military superiority by the decade's end primarily due to space achievements, regardless of actual military parity.

Media Hysteria: The April 1959 announcement of the Mercury 7 astronauts triggered unprecedented media frenzy, contrasting with the previous day's front-page coverage of a Virginia cat-shooting ordinance.
John Glenn's Profile: Glenn emerged as the public favorite due to his "everyman Superman" persona: a decorated combat veteran from a small Ohio town who set a transcontinental speed record in 1957.
Risk Acknowledgment: The seven astronauts recognized the high probability of fatality; they explicitly discussed the inevitability that one would die, viewing the mission as a contest to determine who would be the first American in space.
Selection Controversy: NASA administrator Bob Gilruth selected Alan Shepard for the first suborbital flight over Glenn, citing personality differences and discipline issues; Glenn was chosen to fly the more critical orbital mission three.
Interpersonal Conflict: Glenn's insistence on a strict moral code for the group (e.g., fidelity to wives) created resentment among fellow astronauts and managers, contributing to his delayed selection for the primary flight.

Mission Delays: Glenn's orbital flight was scrubbed 10 times over four months due to technical failures, leading to public and media fears that the mission would end in failure or death.
Critical Malfunctions: During the flight, the capsule's autopilot failed, forcing manual control, while a faulty sensor triggered a panic-inducing alarm that the heat shield was detaching.
Information Suppression: Flight Director Chris Kraft ordered Mission Control to withhold the heat shield warning from Glenn to prevent panic, asking him misleading questions about "banging noises" instead.
Unconventional Solution: Lacking faith in their own data, controllers instructed Glenn to leave the retrograde (retro) pack attached to the capsule during re-entry to clamp the shield in place; this component was not designed to survive re-entry heat.
Successful Re-entry: Chunks of the melting retro pack struck the capsule as Glenn braced for incineration, but he survived; post-landing analysis confirmed the warning light was a false alarm caused by a faulty switch.

Diplomatic Outreach: Kennedy proposed joint space missions to Khrushchev during the 1961 Vienna Summit to reduce costs and bridge the Cold War divide, but was rebuffed.
Soviet Response: Following Glenn's flight, Khrushchev sent a congratulatory letter, prompting Kennedy to attempt reopening negotiations, though no concrete cooperation beyond small scientific missions materialized.
Current Space Race: NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy identify China as a primary aggressive competitor in space, citing China's simultaneous Mars landings and flag deployment.
Budgetary Disparity: Current NASA spending as a share of the federal budget is one-tenth of 1960s levels, creating a gap between public interest and political will to fund countermeasures.
Anti-Satellite Threats: China and Russia are developing "counter-space capabilities," including lasers to shoot down satellites and interceptor satellites that physically destroy stationary assets, threatening global GPS, communication, and military infrastructure.

Public Focus Shift: Public attention has shifted from trained astronauts to billionaire entrepreneurs (Bezos, Musk, Branson), who are leveraging their personas for commercial space ventures.
Space Tourism Feasibility: The speaker expresses skepticism that space travel will become accessible to the general public, comparing the economics of commercial spaceflight to the Concorde, which failed to attract mass market business travel.
Rocket Development: Blue Origin is developing the "New Glenn" rocket to compete with SpaceX; it remains behind schedule, whereas the suborbital "New Shepard" has already been utilized for Jeff Bezos's flight.