Setting the tone for the collection,
NASA chief historian Roger D. Launius and Howard McCurdy maintain that
the nation's presidency had become imperial by the mid-1970s and that
supporters of the space program had grown to find relief in such a presidency,
which they believed could help them obtain greater political support and
funding. Subsequent chapters explore the roles and political leadership,
vis-à-vis government policy, of presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy,
Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan.