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Acknowledgments The process of seeing this book through from an idea to a published manuscript has been a long one indeed. I have many people to thank, starting with some of my professors in graduate school. Bill Lowry served as my adviser in graduate school and has continued to read my work and comment on it over the years. Not only is he an insightful professor, he is a good friend, and I am grateful for his help. John Gilmour and Jack Knight also served on my dissertation committee when these ideas were first being developed. Not only did they help get this project off the ground, but they encouraged me to pursue this matter further, knowing that there was still much to be done in order to tum this project into a first-rate piece of scholarship. During my years at Washington University, a number of other graduate students and professors commented on my work, and while I cannot list them all, I am particularly grateful to Craig Humphries, Charles Franklin, Ann Khademian, and Liane Kosaki for their constructive criticisms. Paul Wahlbeck (now of George Washington University ) has been one of my best friends in graduate school and beyond. His help and support over the years have been tremendous. I have been fortunate enough to work with some wonderful colleagues at Michigan State University. Tom Hammond and Jack Knott have read and commented on my work and have been tremendously supportive of this project . In addition, Paul Abramson and Paula Keams have given me advice and encouragement at various stages of this project, for which I am grateful. I would also like to thank Michigan State University for awarding me an AllUniversity Research Grant, which helped fund some of the travel and other expenses involved in this research. In addition to my colleagues at Michigan State, a number of other scholars have offered constructive criticisms of my work at conferences and seminars. Among them are Jon Bendor, Don Chisholm, Gary Miller, Don KettI, Martin Landau, Todd LaPorte, Scott Sagan, Lee Siegleman, and Jack Wright. Despite all the helpful comments I have received over the years, any errors that remain in this book fall squarely on my shoulders alone. I am grateful to all the men and women at NASA and the FDA who took time from their busy schedules to talk with me and for sharing documentation that has aided my research. Without their cooperation, this project would not xiv Acknowledgments have been possible. I promised them anonymity as a condition of the interviews , and I have done my best to keep my word. I would like to extend particular thanks to the staff at the NASA History Office. They have been extremely helpful to me as I collected documents regarding the political and organizational changes that occurred at NASA; without their expertise, it is doubtful I would have been able to find as much pertinent information as I did regarding NASA. Finally, I have many family and friends to thank for their encouragement and support over the years-far too many people to name in this brief section. I am particularly grateful to my brother John and his wife Sue for allowing me to stay with them while I was in D.C. and for building me an external hard drive that allowed me to do some of my work at home. I am especially thankful for my lovely wife, An, and our twin boys, Alex and Mark. They patiently listened to me talk about my work, tolerated my being absent from time to time, and freely gave me their love at the times I needed it most. Most important, An and the boys have reminded me that-in the grand scheme of things-there is more to life than getting books published. I thank God for blessing me with such a wonderful family. ...

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