The NASA History Program was first established in 1959 (a year after NASA itself was formed) and has continued to document and preserve the agency's remarkable history through a variety of products. The NASA History Division serves two key functions: fulfilling the mandate of the 1958 "Space Act" calling for NASA to disseminate aerospace information as widely as possible, and helping NASA managers understand and thus benefit from the study of past accomplishment and difficulties. NASA publishes documents on topics such as: Documentary History, Memoirs, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President, and many more. This is one of those documents.
Mark Bowles has authored and co-authored eight books on the history of science, education, and medicine.
Science in Flux won the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' 2005 History Manuscript Award, which is presented each year for the best historical manuscript dealing with the impact of aeronautics and astronautics on society. He earned his Ph.D. in the History of Technology and Science from Case Western Reserve University (1999) and an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Phoenix (2005).