When you imagine spaceflight, do you envision a spacecraft propelled beyond the atmosphere or a journey to global superiority? How do you see the astronauts — in silver spacesuits aboard that spacecraft, or in formal suits in a palace in Warsaw? And their families — their wives, in particular — do they feature as side characters, or as protagonists? 

In John F. Kennedy Jr.’s vision, the space race transcended technological goals of innovation and futurism and symbolized global political dominance and prestige. From the beginning of his presidency in 1961, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency’s (NASA) ‘Moonshot’ era posed American competition to the Soviets’ successes in human spaceflight. That year, the Soviets had already launched cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin in the first ever manned space orbit. For Kennedy, “much depended on the United States going to the moon, beating the Soviet Union, being first, winning the Cold War in the name of democracy and freedom, and planting the American flag on the lunar surface” (Brinkley 2019:xii; emphasis added). He viewed the astronauts of Project Mercury, NASA’s first human spaceflight mission, to be “ultimately fearless public servants” (Brinkley 2019:xviii). The Moonshot era transformed spaceflight into a tactical diplomatic mission championing American democracy over Society communism; astronauts into informal agents of foreign relations; and their wives into the defining cultural and domestic elements which accentuated the ‘soft power’ of space diplomacy.  

The ‘soft power’ concept was popularized in the late Cold War era. It refers to non-military political influence in international affairs, typically by using social and cultural resources and products to foster political change and relationships (Gallarotti 2011; Rothman 2011). These resources spanned everything from art and music to portrayals of domestic life — life at home and at work, houseware, hobbies (Rogers-Cooper 2015). In the democracy vs. communism conflict of the Cold War, soft power was an effective tool to convert ideologies without military intervention (Rothman 2011).  

Spaceflight and the astronauts were packaged into this matrix of diplomatic commodities by Richard Nixon, during his term as President after Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Nixon embarked on a diplomatic tour right after the return of Apollo 11, the first manned spacecraft to land on the moon. On this tour, he leveraged the outpouring of congratulations to meet with the evasive North Vietnamese leadership and discuss resolving the Vietnam War, plant American presence in Romania amidst the Cold War, and reinforce a New Asia policy in Pakistan and the Philippines (Muir-Harmony 2020). He also thanked astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins for “their role in making the world united,” indicating that Apollo 11 was not just a scientific achievement, but a social and global bridge toward lofty humanitarian goals such as peace on Earth and discrete foreign policy goals such as developing respectful relationships (Muir-Harmony 2020:225). The Apollo 11 astronauts embarked on a presidential goodwill tour of their own, called Giantstep, to develop relationships with emerging powers. They visited Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and India, to solidify American recognition of potential Arab, African, and Asian allies (Muir-Harmony 2020).  

Two years later, the crew of Apollo 15 —  Commander David R. Scott, Lunar Module Pilot James B. Irwin, and Command Module Pilot Alfred M. Worden — embarked on a similar goodwill tour to Western Europe, Poland, and Yugoslavia. The Apollo 15 tour to Poland and Yugoslavia is particularly relevant to studies of American soft power diplomacy in the Cold War era, as Poland was a part of the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia was a powerful member of the Non-Aligned Movement. Ostensibly, the tour aimed to kickstart scientific and technological discourse on lunar exploration, rather than “parades and civic affairs” (Scott 1972a:1). Yet, it was orchestrated to immerse both parties — the Americans and their hosts — in political and sociocultural exchange.  

The Apollo 15 astronauts arrived to an official reception in Poland, featuring, among others, Prof. Trzebiatowski, the President of the Polish Academy of Science, and Walter J. Stoessel Jr., the U.S. ambassador to Poland.