The American Space Age: History, Nationalism, and Popular Culture

Abstract

This paper is an analysis of the history of space exploration in the United States. The American space age, in this study, is defined as the years between 1957 and 1969. The events in space exploration that occurred during this time are interpreted through the use of three main types of sources. These are government documents and media, scholarly written works, and popular literature and media sources. This paper interprets each set of carefully selected sources individually, then collectively to assess their historical and cultural significance in the modern understanding of the space age as an important part of the national identity of the United States. Furthermore, this paper articulates the ways in which these sources can be used to assess notions of nationalism and cultural identity.