Richard Nixon

=== Space policy ===
{{further|Space policy of the United States}}
[[File:President Nixon welcomes the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the U.S.S. Hornet.jpg|thumb|Nixon visiting the [[Apollo 11]] astronauts in quarantine aboard the aircraft carrier [[USS Hornet (CV-12)|USS ''Hornet'']]]]
After a [[Apollo program|nearly decade-long national effort]], the United States won the race to land astronauts on the Moon on July 20, 1969, with the flight of [[Apollo 11]]. Nixon spoke with [[Neil Armstrong]] and [[Buzz Aldrin]] during their moonwalk. He called the conversation "the most historic phone call ever made from the White House".{{sfn|Parmet|p=563}}

Nixon was unwilling to keep funding for the [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA) at the high level seen during the 1960s as NASA prepared to send men to the Moon. NASA Administrator [[Thomas O. Paine]] drew up ambitious plans for the establishment of a permanent base on the Moon by the end of the 1970s and the launch of a crewed expedition to Mars as early as 1981. Nixon rejected both proposals due to the expense.{{sfn|Handlin}} Nixon also canceled the Air Force [[Manned Orbital Laboratory]] program in 1969, because uncrewed [[spy satellite]]s were a more cost-effective way to achieve the same reconnaissance objective.{{sfn|Hepplewhite|pp=204–205|loc=ch. 5}} NASA cancelled the last three planned Apollo lunar missions to place [[Skylab]] in orbit more efficiently and free money up for the design and construction of the [[Space Shuttle]].<ref name="MIT_notes">{{cite web | url=http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-2005/video-lectures/logsdn_lec_notes.pdf | title=MIT lecture notes in "Aircraft Systems Engineering," fall 2005, on early Space Shuttle policy | publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology | date=Fall 2005 | pages=7 | access-date=August 22, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826120157/http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-2005/video-lectures/logsdn_lec_notes.pdf | archive-date=August 26, 2014 | url-status=live }}</ref>

On May 24, 1972, Nixon approved a five-year cooperative program between NASA and the [[Soviet space program]], culminating in the 1975 [[Apollo–Soyuz Test Project|joint mission of an American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft]] linking in space.{{sfn|Ezell|p=192|loc=ch. 6–11}}