NASA itself had already begun to change by the time Thirteen flew, a point that many of its veterans have made. The truly fun parts of the manned space program, so many said, were Mercury and Gemini and the planning years of Apollo, when the centers were still independent and feisty, collaborating when it suited them, sometimes going their own inefficiently separate ways—but also electric with enthusiasm and imagination, prodigiously inventive. Then, for the last half of the 1960s, NASA seemed to be getting the best of both worlds—superb management without bureaucratic paralysis. By 1970, it
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