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Space Travel at 1G: Space Tourism in Cold War America

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SPACE TRAVEL AT 1G: SPACE TOURISM IN COLD WAR AMERICA by Emily Ann Margolis A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland March, 2019 © 2019 Emily A. Margolis All Rights Reserved Abstract Although tourism in space is a 21st-century phenomenon, spaceflight has been a part of American leisure culture since the late 1950s. The space age dawned in the golden age of the family road trip. Americans ventured from home in pursuit of pleasure in greater numbers in the postwar period than at any previous time in the nation’s history. Some of these vacationing motorists made unprompted detours to field centers of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), specifically those engaged in preparations for the nation’s human spaceflight program. In response to the spontaneous appearance of space tourists, NASA centers developed ad-hoc visitor programs and enterprising business people in the surrounding communities seized on space as the central theme for their existing tourism promotion efforts. The result was a proliferation of space-themed tourist attractions and amenities—museums, halls of fame, heritage trails, theme parks, and motels—across the American South in the 1950s and 60s. This dissertation project explores the production and patronage of space attractions in the first decade of human spaceflight. I argue that these sites represent the efforts of individuals and institutions to render spaceflight relevant to their lives. Mass tourism to space attractions offers a new opportunity to examine the role of spaceflight in American society. The most active form of public engagement with space, space tourism has been all but neglected by cultural scholars of the space age. Over the past decade a rich body of research has emerged from the academy and museum world, which approaches questions of popular attitudes towards spaceflight using evidence of passive engagement such as public opinion surveys, consumer goods, and film and television. ii The story of space tourism reveals how observers of the space program created and consumed space content in an attempt to make meaning of the nation’s activities in space. Doctoral Advisor: Stuart W. Leslie, PhD Committee Members: N.D.B. Connolly, PhD Yulia Frumer, PhD Ronald Walters, PhD Margaret A. Weitekamp, PhD iii Acknowledgements Every tourist knows that the journey is as important as the destination. It has been my good fortune and pleasure to take this journey with the best of traveling companions. Since I set the itinerary for this adventure over two years ago, and through every detour since, Bill Leslie has been my compass. Bill believed in me before I believed in myself, and I am a better historian, writer, and teacher because of his mentorship. The pages that follow are a product of the unwavering encouragement and guidance of my advisor, for which I am immeasurably grateful. This project is rooted in fieldwork I completed with Nathan Connolly and Roger Launius, and in a predoctoral fellowship with Margaret Weitekamp at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. I am inspired by their scholarship and humbled by their generosity. To that list I add Monique Laney and Richard Paul, two scholars whose support and friendship I greatly appreciate. I thank the American Historical Association, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for supporting my doctoral research. The Museum’s Department of Space History was exceptionally welcoming. My work was enriched through conversations with Matt Shindell, Mike Neufeld, David DeVorkin, Valerie Neal, Allan Needell, Jennifer Levasseur, Teasel Muir-Harmony, Martin Collins, Paul Ceruzzi, Jim David, Cathy Lewis, and Tom Lassman. Thanks also to Collette Williams for the VIP treatment during my fellowship term. The experience of writing this dissertation was made all the more enjoyable because of the collegiality in Department of History of Science and Technology and Department of History of Medicine. I thank the faculty and my classmates, past and present, Emilie Raymer, Penelope iv Hardy, Adrianna Link, Richard Nash, J.O. Richard, Matthew Franco, Kirsten Moore-Sheely, Joanna Behrman, Jon Phillips, Marc Alsina, Nuno Castel-Branco, Ryan Hearty, Filip Geaman, Yize Hu, Marlis Hinckley, Juyoung Lee, Zeynep Karasahan, Urna Mukherjee, Ayah Nurridin, Heidi Morefield, Emily Clark, Anna Weerasinghe, Kristin Brig, Alex Parry, and James Flowers. Special thanks to Yulia Frumer for her mentorship and friendship, and to Danielle Stout for brightening my days with her conversation and working behind the scenes to support my scholarship in every way possible. While completing this project I received assistance from every corner of the Homewood Campus. In particular, I wish to thank Deborah Buffalin of the Digital Media Center; Lael Ensor- Bennett of the Visual Resources Collection; and the members of the Department of History’s Twentieth Century Seminar for workshopping early drafts of two chapters. Nearly every page crossed the desks of Laura Hutchison and Rachel Fabi, my writing group members, whose work and work ethic I greatly admire. To the archivists, librarians, historians, staff, and volunteers—the stewards of American history—thank you for welcoming me into your treasured collections. In studying space tourism in Huntsville I became indebted to Diane “Doc” Brown and Carolyn Lawson at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center; Reagan Grimsley, John Rankin, and Henry Turner at the University of Alabama-Huntsville; Brian Odom at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center; Claus Martel at the U.S. Army Materiel Command; and Nancy Dupree at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. In researching Brevard County, Florida I benefited greatly from the assistance of Elaine Liston and Al Feinberg at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center; Ben DiBiase at the Florida Historical Society; Burak Ogreten and Rebecca Hammond at the University of Central Florida; Shane Bell v at the National Archives and Records Administration-Atlanta; Jim Banke at the Air Force Space and Missile Museum Foundation; and Mark Taylor at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. I am especially grateful to Hugh Harris, retired Public Affairs Officer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and Bob Gross, Brevard County historian, for connecting me to important people, places, and resources. My efforts in Texas were aided by Lauren Meyers at the Johnson History Collection at the University of Houston-Clear Lake; Jennifer Ross-Nazzal at NASA’s Johnson Space Center; Dara Flinn at the Woodson Research Center at Rice University; Tracie Lasater at Millard’s Crossing Historic Village; Benna Vaughan at the Texas Collection at Baylor University; Leslie Winters and Jennifer Reibenspies at Texas A&M University; Beverly Carver at the University of Texas-Arlington; Donna Meadows of the Houston Museum of Natural Science; Ketina Taylor at the National Archives and Records Administration-Fort Worth; Tiffany Bradley of the Petroleum Museum; and Cathy Harper and Jim Mayberry of the New Mexico Museum of History. Steve Garber, Colin Garvey, and Liz Suckow at the NASA Headquarters History Office provided assistance throughout. Thank you to the individuals who sat with me for formal interviews and casual conversations, whose remembrances and observations brought the historical record to life. I am grateful to Deborah E. Barnhart and Edward O. Buckbee of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center; Penny Pettigrew, Mike Gentry, and Louis Parker of NASA; David Christensen; Bud Crisafulli; and George Wilson. I could not tell the story of space tourism without the generosity of Jon Proctor, original guide at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Debbie Linde, and James F. and Robin Hurley. Debbie, Jim, and Robin, thank you for opening up your homes to me, and for vi sharing the life work of your remarkable fathers. I hope I have honored their legacies in the pages that follow. I am deeply grateful to my space monkeys, Rachel Harrington and Kathleen Donovan; my tigresses, Kate Benner, Linsay Hiller, Jennifer and Christine Schoppe; my favorite archivist, Emily Davidson; my Pennsbury pal, Monika Clarke; my University of Oklahoma cohort, Carolyn Scearce, Margaret Gaida, and Kimberly Minor; my aerospace crew, Phoebe Tang, Lois Rosson, and Layne Karafantis; my Freunden, Rolf Riekher and Michael Korey; my uncle, Sam, my Bubby, Yetta, and my beloved cat, Winnie. Your love sustained me through this challenging and rewarding process. This work is dedicated to my fellow space tourists, sisters Rachel, Miriam, and Sarah, and parents Louis and Suzanne. Who could have imagined that our family vacations would lead to this? Thank you for encouraging all of my celestial endeavors. I love you to the Moon and back. vii Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………….iv List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………...viii Introduction: “Let Me Play Among the Stars”: Space and American Leisure Culture…...1 Chapter 1: Space Tourism in “Rocket City, USA”: Huntsville’s Alabama Space and Rocket Center…………………………………………………………………………….40 Chapter 2: “See Your Spaceport”: Space Tourism in Brevard County, Florida…………83 Chapter 3: Making “Space City”: Houston’s National Space Hall of Fame…………...134 Epilogue: Space Tourism in the Twenty-First Century………………………………...185 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………196 Abbreviations of Archival Collections…………………………………………………203 Curriculum
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