alternatehistory.com

Related to the "How to improve the Shuttle" thread, here is a "how to improve it better" thread (or, if as most people prefer, you want to do away with it altogether, a "how to do away with the Shuttle better" thread")

It is well known that James Webb, the administrator of NASA through almost the whole 1960s, greatly disliked post-Apollo (11) planning, and prevented significant planning and funding of post-Apollo programs during his tenure. This led to unfortunate results when less space-friendly Congresses and Administrations entered office and subsequently cut budgets to the bone at the very time NASA was attempting to sell a large new program (though that was partially because of the idiot Paine--a True Visionary if there ever was one).

So...the question is...how could NASA start planning for "post-Apollo" programs sooner, say with at least a few Phase A/B-type studies in the works by the mid-60s, and what results would that most likely have? The constraints in place are that you are working with the historical background of non-NASA programs and politics--so the Soviets will do what they did IOTL up to when they started to react to NASA post-Apollo planning, American domestic politics will be unchanged, and--most importantly--you will still have to deal with the Great Society and the Vietnam War.

EDIT: You may also want to consider possible managerial changes in the system--the NASA bureaucracy rather rapidly became rather remarkably sclerotic after Apollo was wrapped up. Here is what appears to be a good source on their actual management practices in the '60s (and to some extent their success, or rather lack thereof, in adapting to later periods).
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