The Secret of Apollo: Systems Management in American and European Space Programs

This book is the winner of the Emme Award for Astronautical Literature, American Astronautical Society. Exploring the history and politics of aerospace development and weapons procurement, Stephen B. Johnson examines how scientists and engineers created the systems management process to coordinate large-scale technology development, and how managers and military officers gained control over that process. Johnson’s groundbreaking study addresses the roles of Air Force planners, scientists, technical specialists, and, eventually, bureaucrats. Taking a comparative approach, he focuses on the theory, or intellectual history, of systems engineering, its origins in the Air Force’s Cold War intercontinental ballistic missile, and its migration to NASA and the European Space Agency.