Jeff Shesol

Jeff Shesol, Historian and Author

Jeff Shesol, Liz

The 1962 orbital flight of John Glenn succeeded in overcoming technical failures and a false heat shield alarm to counter Soviet space superiority, an event that cemented the Cold War rivalry while exposing internal NASA tensions regarding astronaut selection. Decades later, the geopolitical landscape has shifted as China and Russia develop aggressive counter-space capabilities, yet current NASA funding remains a fraction of historical levels compared to the 1960s. Meanwhile, the public focus has pivoted toward commercial space entrepreneurs, though skepticism persists regarding the economic viability of mass market space tourism.