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I remember a short story about Heinlein from a few years back. Seems a senator/congressman in modern times was tired of all the money being spent on the space program, and his research pointed to Heinlein's fiction as having been one of the driving forces behind the push to space.

In order to stop this, he sends an operative back in time (through the use of a top secret project) in order to inoculate Heinlein on the Roper so he wouldn't get sick, and wouldn't write his sci-fi.

After the operative returns and reports success, they realize that the space program hasn't been destroyed, but has been strengthened a thousandfold. Orbital colonies, lunar colonies, and heading towards Mars and beyond.

Turns out that without the illness, now Admiral Heinlein stayed in the Navy, and used his imagination and pull to start a space program much earlier than originally, and continued the push into space.

I wish I could remember who wrote it, and the name of it, but I thought it was an excellent story.

"I wish I could remember who wrote it, and the name of it, but I thought it was an excellent story."

I believe it was either written or anthologized by Spider Robinson. The "operative" was none other than William Proxmire (he of "Golden Fleece Award" infamy). Proxmire hated the space program--it took bucks away from his beloved social(ist) programs.

I wish I could remember who wrote it, and the name of it, but I thought it was an excellent story.

It was written by Larry Niven, but I cannot remember the title. He even got Heinlein's permission before writing the story.

The story you're thinking of is "The Return of William Proxmire" by Larry Niven (an SF giant in his own right). First printed in What Might Have Been? Volume I: Alternate Empires (Gregory Benford & Martin H. Greenberg eds., Bantam Spectra, 1989). Also available in the Requiem anthology (Tor, 1992). Nominated for the 1990 Best Short Story Hugo.