In 2011 we celebrate the 50th anniversary of manned spaceflight, mankind’s greatest scientific and technological achievement. However, this remarkable accomplishment has been undercut from the outset by a fundamental philosophic contradiction: the subordination of science to the state. Pragmatic political considerations that have wasted billions of taxpayer dollars—and cost many lives—have also compromised the heroism of America’s astronauts and the rationality of the scientists who made their exploration possible.

How should we evaluate the past and present of American space flight? What changes need to be made to our space program to ensure that the legacy of those early astronaut heroes is not that all their efforts have gone to waste?

This general session lecture reviews and analyzes the 50-year history of manned spaceflight—its achievements and failures—and examines how the mixed premises behind America’s space program have derailed the great challenge of exploring space.