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The incredible story of how human pilots and automated systems worked together to achieve the ultimate achievement in flight—the lunar landings of NASA’s Apollo program As Apollo 11’s Lunar Module descended toward the moon under automatic control, a program alarm in the guidance computer’s software nearly caused a mission abort. Neil Armstrong responded by switching off the automatic mode and taking direct control. He stopped monitoring the computer and began flying the spacecraft, relying on skill to land it and earning praise for a triumph of human over machine. In Digital Apollo, engineer-historian David Mindell takes this famous moment as a starting point for an exploration of th...
A revised and updated edition of the classic work to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the first moon landing 'It left me spellbound ... belongs to the same tradition as Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff' Sunday Times 'Fascinating. A wonderful book' David Bowie Spellbinding ... A wonderful collective biography written with deftness, compassion and humour' Observer ________________________ The Apollo Moon Programme has been called the last optimistic act of the twentieth century. In Moondust, Andrew Smith set out to find and interview the nine remaining Moonwalkers in order to learn how their lives, and ours, were irrevocably changed by this surreal expedition. On the fiftieth anniversary of ...
On July 20, 1969, the world stood still to watch American astronaut Neil A. Armstrong become the first person ever to step on the surface of another heavenly body. Upon his return to Earth, Armstrong was celebrated for his monumental achievement. He was also--as NASA historian Hansen reveals in this authorized biography--misunderstood. Armstrong's accomplishments as an engineer, a test pilot, and an astronaut have long been a matter of record, but Hansen's access to private documents and unpublished sources and his interviews with more than 125 subjects (including more than fifty hours with Armstrong himself) yield the first in-depth analysis of this elusive, reluctant hero.
Looks forward to the completion of the ISS, possibility of return to the moon, manned flights to Mars, and the prospect of safety and rescue far beyond. Describes the role of Mission Control and recovery forces in ensuring the support from the ground to the crew in space. Provides a unique range of historic archive of material on the Russian programme. Presents a review of the Columbia accident, its investigation and various proposed rescue scenarios. Details escape systems devised for rocket research aircraft, early manned spacecraft, abort and recovery options from Earth orbit, and from lunar distance. Demonstrates that crew safety has been a factor in planning and mounting on all manned spaceflights.
Dark Skies provides the first comprehensive and balanced assessment of the space enterprise, past, present and future. It demolishes widely-held optimistic assumptions about the desirability of many major space activities, actual and prospective. Most consequentially, the hiding-in-plain-sight use of outer space as a corridor for long-range bombardment has increased the probability of catastrophic nuclear war. Contrary to the widespread claim that sustainable colonies on other celestial bodies are necessary for human survival from large-scale disasters on Earth, Dark Skies shows that colonization itself poses many severe threats and should be avoided. Instead an Earth-oriented space program should be pursued.
Unlike other American astronauts, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom never had the chance to publish his memoirs—save for an account of his role in the Gemini program—before the tragic launch pad fire on January 27, 1967, which took his life and those of Edward White and Roger Chaffee. The international prestige of winning the Moon Race cannot be understated, and Grissom played a pivotal and enduring role in securing that legacy for the United States. Indeed, Grissom was first and foremost a Cold Warrior, a member of the first group of Mercury astronauts whose goal it was to beat the Soviet Union to the moon. Drawing on extensive interviews with fellow astronauts, NASA engineers, family members, and friends of Gus Grissom, George Leopold delivers a comprehensive survey of Grissom’s life that places his career in the context of the Cold War and the history of human spaceflight. Calculated Risk: The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom adds significantly to our understanding of that tumultuous period in American history. --Publisher
When United Airlines workers reported a UFO at O'Hare Airport in November 2006, it was met with the typical denials and hush-up that usually accompany such sightings. But when a related story broke the record for hits at the Chicago Tribune's website, it was clear that such unexplained objects continued to occupy the minds of fascinated readers. Why, wonders Thomas Bullard, don't such persistent sightings command more urgent attention from scientists, scholars, and mainstream journalists? The answer, in part, lies in Bullard's wide-ranging magisterial survey of the mysterious, frustrating, and ever-evolving phenomenon that refuses to go away and our collective efforts to understand it. In hi...
A look into the history of space exploration and its possible future, and just where exactly robotics fit into it all. Given the near incomprehensible enormity of the universe, it appears almost inevitable that humankind will one day find a planet that appears to be much like the Earth. This discovery will no doubt reignite the lure of interplanetary travel. Will we be up to the task? And, given our limited resources, biological constraints, and the general hostility of space, what shape should we expect such expeditions to take? In Robots in Space, Roger Launius and Howard McCurdy tackle these questions with rigorous scholarship and disciplined imagination, jumping comfortably among the wor...
This book analyses the decisions of nations to develop indigenous space programs in order to become a leading world power.