Chapter 1, “Spaceflight: Discerning Its Meaning,” introduces key concepts of framing, branding, and construction of meaning and then explores the heroic, pioneering spaceflight imaginary of the 1960s as an example of the power of ideas and images to shape public understanding. For Americans, human spaceflight resonates with core ideas that pervade U.S. history and culture--exploration, pioneering, the frontier, freedom, innovation, leadership, success. President John F. Kennedy notably placed spaceflight in this frontier tradition, and pioneering the space frontier became NASA’s signature theme. Establishing the origins, influences, and communication of that matrix of meaning sets up the shift into the shuttle era.
