The Birth of NASA: Fear, Rockets, and Reputation

This episode traces NASA's Cold War origins, examining how Soviet technological superiority, captured German rocket expertise, and American political panic combined to create a civilian space agency in 1958. Max explores the tension between military objectives and scientific ideals, the personalities who shaped NASA's founding vision, and the cultural urgency that transformed space into a national obsession, revealing that NASA was never primarily about exploration but about credibility, power, and American identity.

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