Acknowledgments
Without the intellectual leadership of Albert Harrison, this book would never
have come into existence, and it could not have been completed in such a timely
manner. His contributions will be evident in the three chapters he has coauthored;
invisible is his extensive work recruiting other contributors, reviewing chapters,
and providing last-minute assistance more times than I care to remember. Much
more important to me, however, is Al’s ongoing friendship.
Over the past decade, many colleagues from the SETI Institute have shared
with me their insights about the societal and educational impact of space explo-
ration—especially John Billingham, Edna DeVore, Frank Drake, Andrew Fraknoi,
John Gertz, Chris Neller, Tom Pierson, Karen Randall, Seth Shostak, and Jill Tarter.
More recently, I warmly acknowledge the administration, faculty, staff, and students
of the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), especially for support from
Katie McGovern, Joseph Subbiondo, and Judie Wexler. The work of editing this vol-
ume was made possible through a generous sabbatical leave from my other academic
responsibilities at CIIS. In addition, I thank Harry and Joyce Letaw, as well as Jamie
Baswell, for their intellectual and financial contributions to promoting the societal
aspects of space exploration.
Among the organizations that have fostered discussions on the topics in this
volume, I especially want to recognize the International Academy of Astronautics
(IAA) and the American Psychological Association (APA). Several of the chap-
ters in this volume are elaborations of papers first presented at the APA’s 115th
Annual Convention, held in San Francisco in August 2007.
For his openness to considering a new topic for the NASA History Series, I
thank Steve Dick; I am also grateful to him and to Steve Garber for leading such a
thorough and helpful review process and for moving this volume into production
so efficiently.
In the Communications Support Services Center at NASA Headquarters,
Lisa Jirousek copyedited the manuscript, Christopher Yates designed the lay-
out, Stacie Dapoz and George Gonzalez proofread the layout, and Hanta Ralay
and Tun Hla handled the printing. Supervisors Gail Carter-Kane, Cindy Miller,
Michael Crnkovic, and Tom Powers oversaw the overall process. Thanks are due
to all of these fine professionals.
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