Research Library

On July 22, the nation and the world lost a leader who played a critical role in making the Apollo 11 moon landing a reality: Christopher Columbus Kraft. Kraft gained great fame for his creation of the Mission Control Center and as the nation’s first flight director, but this was only the beginning of his many and lasting contributions to the U.S. space program.

As the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 approaches, fellow George W.S. Abbey, former director of the Johnson Space Center, traces America's race to the moon — and describes what it took to be the first ones there.

The mix of good short-term prospects for oil revenues along with long-term market uncertainties has a clear policy implication for oil-dependent Latin American economies: use the larger short-term revenues to diversify their economies, nonresident fellow José Antonio Ocampo writes in a new issue brief.

Comprehensive, reliable, and publicly available data on China’s domestic oil flows and inventory movements are essentially inaccessible. In this report, the authors propose creating a forum to collect and analyze satellite data to shed more light on the inner workings of China's oil sector.

A critical reassessment of NASA’s current programs and future is essential to ensure the nation’s continued leadership role in human spaceflight, writes senior fellow George Abbey.

This compilation of briefs addresses a range of issues the new administration will face in the coming years.  “It is our hope that these Baker Institute studies will prove to be useful starting points for the new administration to develop comprehensive, forward-looking solutions," said Baker Institute Director Edward Djerejian.

George Abbey, the institute’s senior fellow in space policy and the former director of the Johnson Space Center, reflects on the life and legacy of John Glenn, who died Dec. 8 at age 95. Baker Institute Blog: http://bit.ly/2hfRpra

Astronaut Scott Kelly's historic year-long mission at the International Space Station alongside Russian cosmonauts will yield better understanding of the impact of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. But it also serves as an important lesson on how two different nations can work together for the betterment of all humankind, space policy senior fellow George W.S. Abbey writes.

The Science and Technology Policy Program provides an update on the Civic Scientist Lecture Series, as well as recent publications on the current state of stem cell research in the U.S. and NASA's relationship with nanotechnology.

A personal remembrance of an American icon