Orders of Magnitude: A History of the NACA and NASA, 1915-1990

In 1965, Eugene M. Emme, historian for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), wrote a brief survey of the agency entitled Historical Sketch of NASA (EP-29). It served its purpose as a succinct overview useful for Federal personnel, new NASA employees, and inquiries from the general public. Because people were so curious about the nascent space program, the text emphasized astronautics. By 1976, a revision was in order, undertaken by Frank W. Anderson, Jr., publications manager of the NASA History Office. With a different title, Orders of Magnitude: A History of NACA and NASA, 1915-1980 (SP-4403), the new version gave more attention to NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), although astronautics was still accorded the lion’s share of the text. After a second printing, Anderson prepared a revised version, published in 1980, which carried the NASA story up to the threshold of Space Shuttle launches. Anderson retired from NASA in 1980.