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Preface --Part I: Nature of the subject -- Ch. 1: The meaning of space science -- Science a process -- Space science -- Ch. 2: The context -- Part II: Taproots -- Ch. 3: Prophets and pioneers of spaceflight -- Ch. 4: The rocket and satellite research panel: the first space scientists -- The V-2 Panel -- The need to replace the V-2 -- Scope of panel activity -- International contacts -- The IGY satellite program -- Ch. 5: The Academy of Sciences stakes a claim -- Ch. 6: Early harvest: the upper atmosphere and cosmic rays -- The threshold to space -- Problems to solve -- The harvest -- Significance -- Part III: Setting the course -- Ch. 7: Response to Sputnik: the creation of NASA -- Ch. 8 NASA gets under way -- Organization -- Staffing -- Program -- Ch. 9: External relations -- Department of Defense -- Academy of Sciences -- President's Science Advisory Committee -- Publication of results -- Universities -- Scientific societies -- Ch. 10: Rockets and spacecraft: sine qua non of space science -- Launch vehicles -- Spacecraft -- Hard-learned lessons -- Costs -- Ch. 11: Deepening perspective: a new look at the old world -- The magnetosphere -- Significance -- Satellite geodesy -- Significance -- Part IV: Love-hate relationships -- Ch. 12: Who decides? -- Space Science Board -- NASA's advisory committees -- Space Science Panel -- The scientists decide -- Ch. 13: The universities: allies and rivals to NASA -- Stepping up the pace -- Experimental program: facilities grants and memos of understanding -- Experimental program: research institutes -- A slower pace -- Ch. 14: Programs, projects, and headaches -- The character of the field centers -- Field versus headquarters -- Strains on the family tie -- Ch. 15: Jet Propulsion Laboratory: outsider or insider? -- The question of responsiveness -- Moon and planets -- Accommodation -- Ch. 16: Life sciences: no place in the Sun -- Ch. 17: Leadership and changing times -- NASA's administrators -- Manned space science -- Finding the way out -- Part V: The scope of space science -- Ch. 18: International ties -- Political context -- NASA International Program -- Cooperation with western countries -- The Soviet Union -- Escalation -- Ch. 19: Space science and practical applications -- Ch. 20: Continuing harvest: the broadening field of space science -- Space science as integrating force -- Exploration of the Solar System -- Investigation of the universe -- Part VI: Future course -- Ch. 21: Objectives, plans, and budgets -- Plans -- Budgets -- The Space Shuttle -- Ch. 22: Review and assessment -- Organization and management -- Individual and institutional relations -- The scientific process and space science -- Future course -- Appendixes -- A: Membership of Rocket and Satellite Research Panel -- B: Typical distribution of RSRP reports -- C: Meetings of Rocket and Satellite Research Panel -- D: RSRP proposals for a national space program -- E: Original membership of the U.S. National Committee for the International Geophysical Year -- F: Membership of the Space Science Board, 1958-1972 -- G: Reports from Space Science Board Summer Studies -- H: Advisers attending NASA's first University Program Conference, 1961 -- I: Meeting of physicists at Airlie House, Warrenton, Virginia, 1963 -- J: Statement by President Nixon on the space program 7 March 1970 -- K: Glossary -- Bibliographic essay -- Source notes -- Index -- The author.