2007/12/01 by Kim McQuaid · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · Psychology · #Space exploration and regulation #Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life #Planetary Science and Exploration #Elite #Space (punctuation) #Prestige #Politics #Panic #Formative assessment #Public opinion #Political science #History #Space exploration #Media studies #Sociology #Psychology #Law #Astronomy #Computer science #Anxiety #Philosophy
paper · doi:10.3138/cras.37.3.371
openalex publication_date 2007/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract: Chroniclers regularly affirm that Russia's Sputniks produced popular crisis. More nuanced explanations argue that a preliminary “media riot” made cosmic space races an essential counterpart of earthly missile races in the public mind. Widespread public interest and political support for the US civilian space program during its formative years is presumed, as is the concept that space explorations were a key global determinant of US Cold War prestige. Such ideas are overdrawn. Contemporary analysts often studied to confirm what they already knew. Unattractive official findings were censored or ignored. Surveying all formerly secret and other opinion data about civilian space exploration from Sputnik 1 to the end of the Mercury program shows how space exploration advocates helped create elite panic regarding the Sputniks via selective reporting, while wider publics generally stayed indifferent to lunar and planetary missions. Elite panic, not mass panic, impelled the priorities and programs of the early space age.