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One of the requests from Congress was that this Study of Alternatives prioritize the 26 Man in Space sites for permanent preservation, display, and interpretation based on historic significance, ease of public access, amount of visitation, and immediate and long-term costs. The following analysis ranks the sites according to their interpretive/visitor use potential based on the information presented in the "Resource Description" section and in the resource evaluation table in appendix E. The preservation potential of the sites is discussed in the next section.
For the purposes of this study, the Man in Space theme has been defined to include the events and technological developments from 1915 to 1972 that contributed to early manned spaceflight, the first manned moon landing, and subsequent lunar explorations as well as unmanned scientific exploration of the earth, planets, and solar system. As indicated in the overview of the "Resource Description" section, there were several significant and identifiable periods in the early American space program. To indicate what aspects of the program each site represents, the Man in Space theme has been divided into subthemes that correspond to the significant periods in the program. In addition, a series of key components have been defined that reflect the steps essential in any successful space launch and manned or unmanned flight. Together, these subthemes and components provided the basis for evaluating the interpretive potential of the sites and their installations. The subthemes are as follows:
The following key components reflect the steps essential in any successful space launch and manned or unmanned flight:
Table 1 displays and ranks the 26 sites and their installations according to their interpretive potential (as indicated by the number of subthemes and components of the Man in Space theme that each site represents) and their visitor use potential (as defined by the ease of access and the level of visitation). This table ranks the sites and their installations based on their ability to represent the Man in Space theme and to accommodate visitor use.
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