ks@astrovax.UUCP (Karl Stapelfeldt) (06/03/84)
I think I've got the book for you. It's called "Managing NASA in the
Apollo Era", by Arnold S. Levine. It is available as NASA SP-4102 from the
U.S. Government Printing office; the book was written in 1981.
It is a very management-oriented volume. It discusses how NASA was
organized, how it dealt with the President, Congress, contractors, and the
military; how NASA headquarters dealt with the individual centers; how the
budget process worked; and describes the planning for post-Apollo space
programs. My only regret is that the book confined its account to the
Apollo years, when NASA was most active (but also when it had the fewest
problems.) A volume like this needs to be writted about the 1970's and the
Space Shuttle Program (this was the topic of my research paper which lead me to
the book.)
The book was surprisingly readable; it delivers many informative facts and
a reasoned commentary. It will not (by itself) explain all of the various NASA
programs underway in the 1960's, so it is a good idea to have some familiarity
with these in order to not get lost. The portions of it that I read were very
good. I borrowed my copy from the Princeton library.