You got me curious on the creation of NASA. I read through the Executive Order[1] you mentioned (pretty short).

I'm not sure I quite see the "psycho political" parts you indicate. Seems fairly straightforward, with quotes like "A science research agenda", "the exploration of technologies, demonstrations, and strategies, ... that could be used for sustainable human and robotic exploration", "encourage the interest of Americas youth in studying and pursuing careers in mathematics, science, and engineering...", and so-on.

Certainly there was a political context in which that order was given, but ... am I missing something?

[1] https://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/aldridge_executive...

apologies for the rapid appending of non destructive edits to my above comment, but does what I wrote warrant negative moderation? Are any log my stated facts incorrect? I can understand if cursory reading might lead to a inaccurate bias confirmation of anti American sentiment by someone who is (always understandably) biased against criticism of the American system, but I am a ageing hawk in every way, of no liberal leanings in politics or geopolitical views of any kind. Humanly I'm not at all aggressive, but there hasn't been such a shortfall in strategic stance by America in my nearing retirement lifetime. I advocate the separation of military and scientific space endeavour. The current commercial efforts offer just such a opportunity for so doing. For those who have personal or directly informed recollection, NASA and indeed the early moon mission objectives polled most unfavourably across red and blue States for some years.