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The Birth of NASA

2016-03-23
The Birth of NASA

Author: Manfred "Dutch" von Ehrenfried

Publisher: Springer

ISBN: 9783319284286

Category: Science

Page: 358

View: 280

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This is the story of the work of the original NASA space pioneers; men and women who were suddenly organized in 1958 from the then National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) into the Space Task Group. A relatively small group, they developed the initial mission concept plans and procedures for the U. S. space program. Then they boldly built hardware and facilities to accomplish those missions. The group existed only three years before they were transferred to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, in 1962, but their organization left a large mark on what would follow.Von Ehrenfried's personal experience with the STG at Langley uniquely positions him to describe the way the group was structured and how it reacted to the new demands of a post-Sputnik era. He artfully analyzes how the growing space program was managed and what techniques enabled it to develop so quickly from an operations perspective. The result is a fascinating window into history, amply backed up by first person documentation and interviews.

The Birth of NASA

1993
The Birth of NASA

Author: Thomas Keith Glennan

Publisher: U. S. National Aeronautics & Space Administration

ISBN: UOM:39015029111450

Category: Space sciences

Page: 440

View: 528

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The Birth of NASA--The Diary of T. Keith Glennan tells the story of the critical formative months of the new agency. The Introduction describes the background of T. Keith Glennan, the first NASA Administrator. After the Introduction, the book continues with Glennan's recollections of NASA from his appointment until the end of 1959. The 13 chapters are written in a diary format covering month-by-months his activities until he left the position in 1961. A Postscript, written in 1963, gives his views on the space program after he left office. A Biographical Appendix gives short sketches of about 400 individuals active in the space program during this period. Throughout the diary numerous explanatory footnotes by the editor clarify events an provide references for further details. Although Glennan's stay at NASA was short, his contributions are most significant, as he built the organization that would send men to the moon and serve the nation to the present time.

NASA and the Space Industry

2000-11-24
NASA and the Space Industry

Author: Joan Lisa Bromberg

Publisher: JHU Press

ISBN: 0801865328

Category: Science

Page: 270

View: 828

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Few federal agencies have more extensive ties to the private sector than NASA. NASA's relationships with its many aerospace industry suppliers of rocket engines, computers, electronics, gauges, valves, O-rings, and other materials have often been described as "partnerships." These have produced a few memorable catastrophes, but mostly technical achievements of the highest order. Until now, no one has written extensively about them. In NASA and the Space Industry, Joan Lisa Bromberg explores how NASA's relationship with the private sector developed and how it works. She outlines the various kinds of expertise public and private sectors brought to the tasks NASA took on, describing how this division of labor changed over time. She explains why NASA sometimes encouraged and sometimes thwarted the privatization of space projects and describes the agency's role in the rise of such new space industries as launch vehicles and communications satellites.

The Apollo Chronicles

2019-05-08
The Apollo Chronicles

Author: Brandon R. Brown

Publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780190681357

Category: Science

Page: 288

View: 816

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The moon landing of 1969 stands as an iconic moment for both the United States and humankind. The familiar story focuses on the journey of the brave astronauts, who brought home Moon rocks and startling photographs. But Apollo's full account includes the earthbound engineers, mounds of their crumpled paper, and smoldering metal shards of exploded engines. How exactly did the nation, step by difficult step, take men to the Moon and back? In The Apollo Chronicles, fifty years after the moon landing, author Brandon R. Brown, himself the son of an Apollo engineer, revisits the men and women who toiled behind the lights. He relays the defining twentieth-century project from its roots, bringing the engineers' work and personalities to bright life on the page. Set against the backdrop of a turbulent American decade, the narrative whisks audiences through tense deadlines and technical miracles, from President John F. Kennedy's 1961 challenge to NASA's 1969 lunar triumph, as engineers confronted wave after wave of previously unthinkable challenges. Brown immerses readers in key physical hurdles--from building the world's most powerful rockets to keeping humans alive in the hostile void of space--using language free of acronyms and technical jargon. The book also pulls back from the detailed tasks and asks larger questions. What did we learn about the Moon? And what can this uniquely innovative project teach us today?

Historical Guide to NASA and the Space Program

2016-09-09
Historical Guide to NASA and the Space Program

Author: Ann Beardsley

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

ISBN: 9781442262874

Category: Science

Page: 422

View: 759

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NASA—the National Aeronautics and Space Administration created in the wake of the Space Act—has and continues to accomplish those precepts every day. With many hundreds of satellites launched into space and close to 200 human spaceflights, NASA is a proven leader in space exploration. Most of the US space exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo moon-landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the Space Launch System and Commercial Crew vehicles. NASA is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. The Historical Guide to NASA and the Space Program contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on space missions, astronauts, technical terms, space shuttles, satellites and the international space station. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about NASA and space exploration.

Beyond Sputnik and the Space Race

2022-02-08
Beyond Sputnik and the Space Race

Author: Hugh R. Slotten

Publisher: JHU Press

ISBN: 9781421441238

Category: Technology & Engineering

Page: 256

View: 163

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One of the few works to analyze the establishment of a major global infrastructure project, this book provides an outstanding analytical overview of the history of global electronic communications from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.

T-Minus AI

2020-08-25
T-Minus AI

Author: Michael Kanaan

Publisher: BenBella Books

ISBN: 9781950665136

Category: Science

Page: 304

View: 326

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Late in 2017, the global significance of the conversation about artificial intelligence (AI) changed forever. China put the world on alert when it released a plan to dominate all aspects of AI across the planet. Only weeks later, Vladimir Putin raised a Russian red flag in response by declaring AI the future for all humankind, and proclaiming that, "Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world." The race was on. Consistent with their unique national agendas, countries throughout the world began plotting their paths and hurrying their pace. Now, not long after, the race has become a sprint. Despite everything at stake, to most of us AI remains shrouded by a cloud of mystery and misunderstanding. Hidden behind complicated and technical jargon and confused by fantastical depictions of science fiction, the modern realities of AI and its profound implications are hard to decipher, but crucial to recognize. In T-Minus AI: Humanity's Countdown to Artificial Intelligence and the New Pursuit of Global Power, author Michael Kanaan explains AI from a human-oriented perspective we can all finally understand. A recognized national expert and the U.S. Air Force's first Chairperson for Artificial Intelligence, Kanaan weaves a compelling new view on our history of innovation and technology to masterfully explain what each of us should know about modern computing, AI, and machine learning. Kanaan also dives into the global implications of AI by illuminating the cultural and national vulnerabilities already exposed and the pressing issues now squarely on the table. AI has already become China's all-purpose tool to impose its authoritarian influence around the world. Russia, playing catch up, is weaponizing AI through its military systems and now infamous, aggressive efforts to disrupt democracy by whatever disinformation means possible. America and like-minded nations are awakening to these new realities—and the paths they're electing to follow echo loudly the political foundations and, in most cases, the moral imperatives upon which they were formed. As we march toward a future far different than ever imagined, T-Minus AI is fascinating and crucially well-timed. It leaves the fiction behind, paints the alarming implications of AI for what they actually are, and calls for unified action to protect fundamental human rights and dignities for all.

Handbook of Space Engineering, Archaeology, and Heritage

2009-06-26
Handbook of Space Engineering, Archaeology, and Heritage

Author: Ann Darrin

Publisher: CRC Press

ISBN: 1420084321

Category: Technology & Engineering

Page: 1035

View: 833

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Some might think that the 27 thousand tons of material launched by earthlings into outer space is nothing more than floating piles of debris. However, when looking at these artifacts through the eyes of historians and anthropologists, instead of celestial pollution, they are seen as links to human history and heritage. Space: The New Frontier for Archeologists Handbook of Space Engineering, Archaeology and Heritage, published this month by CRC Press Taylor and Francis Group, brings together 43 anthropologists, historians, physicists, and engineers, a scientific team as culturally diverse as the crew of any science fiction cruiser. They offer a range of novel historical and technological perspectives on humankind’s experience in space. This ambitious work presents an informative, thought-provoking, and educational text that discusses the evolution of space engineering, spacecraft reliability and forensics, field techniques, and mission planning, as well as space programs for the future. The book is edited by a pair of scientists from different sides of the campus: Ann Garrison Darrin, aerospace engineer and NASA veteran and Beth Laura O’Leary, anthropologist and member of the World Archaeological Congress Space Heritage Task Force. The handbook delves into the evolution of space archaeology and heritage, including the emerging fields of Archaeoastronomy, Ethnoastronomy, and Cultural Astronomy. It also covers space basics and the history of the space age from Sputnik to modern day satellites. It discusses the cultural landscape of space, including orbital artifacts in space, as well as objects left on planetary surfaces and includes a look at the culture of Apollo as a catalog of manned exploration of the moon. It also considers the application of forensic investigation to the solving of cold case mysteries including failed Mars mission landing sites and lost spacecraft, and even investigates the archaeology of the putative Roswell UFO crash site and appraises material culture in science fiction.