Yes, started as military with direct military apps -- flying higher and faster was the goal. Kennedy began to force a serious split between civilian and military space apps. But if you look at the majority of early astronauts, they were all military, just detailed to NASA. I don't know the present-day stats but I'll bet astronauts are still half military. Lots of the aeronautical research is still military or quasi-military in it's applications.

If you look at it in a cynical light NASA is a cheap cover for military and intelligence development. You give them a mars rover in one hand and then tell everybody that's what NASA is about. Forget "Mission Earth" -- observation of the Earth. It's all science, right?

B