Direct messaging: Amy Paige Kaminski

January 8, 2025

What inspired you to write ‘The People’s Spaceship’?

I was fascinated with the space shuttle while I was growing up. It’s a huge part of what inspired me to pursue a career in space exploration.

Meanwhile, I was interested in how NASA connected its work to the American public and resolved to one day write a book on this topic.

Writing about the relationship between the shuttle and public seemed very fitting.

What does the space shuttle represent?

The space shuttle was an amazing NASA creation. It was intended to be able to launch larger crews into space for longer than the Apollo capsules could.

NASA wanted the shuttle to be utilitarian, serving many people and many applications.

When did the shuttle become about the people?

NASA advertised the shuttle as a vehicle that would be all things to all people.

This was because the space agency needed to find a way to make human space flight relevant to the American people. This is because NASA did not have widespread public support for Apollo as a national investment.

NASA adopted many approaches to engage people with the shuttle in ways that would be meaningful to them.

How do you define public engagement?

Public engagement describes efforts by an organization to involve people who aren’t typically connected to their work with the things they do.

How did the Space Act impact public engagement?

The Space Act directed NASA to disseminate information widely. NASA took this as a directive to create a public affairs office to share its accomplishments with the Americans and people around the world.

So the desire to engage with the public has been part of NASA’s history and culture throughout its existence.

You introduce a few terms. Let’s break them down.

Attestive American public.

This is a concept that was coined by political theorist Yaron Ezrahi to describe the idea that liberal democracies use their people’s captivation with their technology demonstrations to legitimize their authority and actions.

It applies to the idea that NASA leveraged the American people’s captivation with Apollo to justify continuation of human space flight.

Sociotechnical imaginary.

This concept was created by Sheila Jasanoff and Sang-Hyun Kim to describe the idea that nations develop visions of how they and their societies can be made better through technology.

NASA did this first with Apollo, saying that space flight would make the United States more secure and powerful; it did this again with the space shuttle, saying the vehicle would provide economic and other benefits to all Americans.

Democratic space shuttle program.

This is a reference to NASA’s sociotechnical imaginary for the shuttle – the space agency said the shuttle would provide economic and other benefits to all Americans.

In other words, it would be the people’s spaceship.

Most people might assume ‘space is cool, of course everyone loves NASA and the space shuttle.’ How has this not been the case?

From the start, NASA has always had detractors, not just supporters.

There are plenty of people who have questioned how space is relevant to their lives and why we should spend billions of tax dollars on space activities when we have so many problems to settle on Earth.

What ways did NASA engage with the public to bring space to the people?

During the shuttle program, NASA took several approaches.

The space agency invited a wide range of people - from researchers at companies to artists to fly experiments in space. It also broadened the range of people who could fly into space.

It used to be that only military test pilots (who all happened to be white males) could become astronauts; during the shuttle program, NASA also welcomed women and people of other races and ethnicities, and even non-scientists.

NASA also provided opportunities for people to virtually experience space flight from the ground. For example, it teamed with the IMAX Corporation to create films that would let viewers get a close-up look at life aboard the shuttle in orbit.

What themes guided NASA to build support for its mission?

NASA tailored messaging to appeal to people with varying degrees of interest in space exploration. It appealed to those who wanted to see the practical benefits of space flight as well as to space enthusiasts who wanted to feel the excitement of space travel.

NASA also tapped into feelings of patriotism and American technological progress.

After the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, how did NASA reset its public engagement approach?

After the Challenger accident, NASA realized the shuttle had more limitations than the space agency had once articulated.

Accordingly, it felt the need to dial back how much it tried to do with the vehicle. As a result, it halted efforts to fly non-professional astronauts on the shuttle and limited opportunities to fly the range of payloads it had been seeking.

When NASA needed the shuttle to assemble the International Space Station, it throttled back these opportunities even further. NASA started to rely more on sharing the shuttle through the internet and eventually social media.

What role and impact did the Shuttle’s commemoration have on the public’s long-term perception of NASA?

The shuttle proved to be more popular than Apollo, as shown by public opinion polls, applications to NASA’s programs to invite new flyers and payloads aboard the shuttle, and the many, many letters people wrote to NASA expressing support for the program.

I strongly believe this is due to NASA’s efforts to make the shuttle relevant to Americans in so many different ways.

When it comes to public engagement, how can government agencies be more like NASA?

It’s important for government agencies to think through the needs of their publics and strategize about how to connect to them.

This starts with setting a vision that resonates and then figuring out ways to engage different segments of society.

It is not an easy task, but it is critical to making government programs of greatest service to the people that fund and should be benefiting from them.