USSC Briefing Room | America at 250: Innovation from America’s founding to the space race

24 July 2026

In honour of America’s semiquincentennial, the USSC has published a compilations of essays and recent polling: Reflections on America at 250 and we are releasing a series of podcast episodes with the authors. In the fourth episode in the series we are speaking with Lecturer in American Studies Dr Kathryn Robison to discuss her article: American innovation at 250.

Podcast by

Dr Kathryn Robison

Lecturer in American Studies and Internships CoordinatorUnited States Studies Centre

Mari Koeck

Director of Engagement and ImpactUnited States Studies Centre

When Americans landed on the moon, it was a political statement heard around the world. But the innovation that accelerated the space race didn’t start with the Cold War, it goes back to the founding of America.

What was it about the Declaration of Independence that set the trajectory for American innovation? How has the throughline of innovation played out through American history? What does this mean as we look to the next phase of the space race?

In honour of America’s semiquincentennial, the USSC has published a compilations of essays and recent polling: Reflections on America at 250 and we are releasing a series of podcast episodes with the authors. In the fourth episode in the series we are speaking with Lecturer in American Studies Dr Kathryn Robison to discuss her article: American innovation at 250.

American innovation at 250

The first steps on the Moon were not just an extraordinary act of science and engineering — they were also a deafening statement of political power. And that, at its heart, is what the Founders sought with their own Declaration.

American innovation at 250

The first steps on the Moon were not just an extraordinary act of science and engineering — they were also a deafening statement of political power. And that, at its heart, is what the Founders sought with their own Declaration.