EDITORIAL INFORMATION

This is the fourth volume of the series devoted to presenting a historical summary of the activity of NASA from its inception. As a continuation of the first volume (NASA HISTORICAL DATA BOOK VOLUME I: NASA RESOURCES 1958-1968), this work covers the period 1969-1978. Just like the former volume, this book contains all the basic information referring to the functioning of the facilities, the management of the different installations, the personnel staffing the centers, the financing and distribution of the budget, as well as all aspects related to the organization of the NASA. This book is complemented with volume III of the series, which is devoted to providing data about the programs and specific projects undertaken during this period.

(Extracted (edited) from the preface.)

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Table of Contents.

-Illustration Credits.

-Preface.

-1: Introduction.
-2: NASA Facilities.
-3: NASA Personnel.
-4: NASA Finances.
-5: NASA Procurement.
-6: NASA Installations.

-Appendix A: Selected Aerospace Awards.

-Appendix B: Organizational Charts.

-Index.

-The Authors.

-The NASA History Series.

OUR REVIEW

The historical era this book covers happens to be rather different from that in volume I, as great budgetary changes took place with respect to the previous years. The budgetary as well as personnel cuts suffered by NASA during this period are in sharp contrast with the enormous wealth it enjoyed during the dawn of astronautics and the moon race. This can be appreciated with the utmost detail by examining the data contained in this book, as well as comparing them with those that volume I provides. In spite of this fact, the NASA was capable of using its diminished resources to develop programs that, even if lacking in as much popular interest as the Apollo program, have become a perhaps far more important scientific contribution.

The tables of numerical data constitute a plentiful element in the book which occupies several of its pages. Their great usefulness in providing precise information on the money expenditure and personnel assignments, will allow the researchers or those who are interested in these aspects to realise how the NASA was like from the inside during the 1970s.