If We Can Go to the Moon…: Innovation Traps in Federal Transportation Research & Development, 1965–1986

• In Event: Innovation Outside Markets: Government and/in Technoscientific Innovation

Abstract

In September 1962, President John F. Kennedy challenged Americans to send and return astronauts to the Moon by the close of the decade. So-called “moon shots” like the Apollo Program of the 1960s became emblematic of a new paradigm in federally-funded research and development: large in scale, ambitious in scope. technologically challenging, and most importantly public facing. The success of the moon landings, in turn, inspired federal policymakers to seek similarly ambitious moon shots in other domains including communications, energy, housing, and transportation. Excepting a few instances, the moon shot paradigm proved to be a poor fit for successfully delivering innovative systems and technological solutions. Drawing upon original archival research, this paper compares two federally-funded projects—high-speed rail along the Northeast Corridor and the Space Transportation System (later known as the Space Shuttle)— conceived and implemented after the Apollo Program. In both instances, the moon shot paradigm saddled these programs in no-win scenarios, encouraging implementing agencies to overstate program benefits, underestimate their costs, and ignore technological complexity and risk. The paper concludes by expanding upon the idea of “innovation traps” in federally-financed research and development programs.

Author

• David Reinecke, Princeton University