Politics and Space: Image Making by NASA

Government agencies have tended to attempt to project favorable public images of themselves as a method of building the public support they need to survive, all the more so in times of increasingly sophisticated communications and decreasingly available financial resources. This study analyzes NASA’s efforts to build political support through its public image. Throughout its tumultuous history, the space agency has carefully tailored its use of basic images: nationalism (during the Mercury era), romanticism (during the Apollo era), and pragmatism (during the Shuttle era)–to fit its prevailing political circumstances. This in-depth study will be of keen interest to scholars in political science and political communication.