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Narrates the belief in alien visitors to the earth since the 1940s, when their spacecraft began to be described consistently as saucer shaped. Discusses the various divisions and feuds within the movement, its evolution through the decades, and its relation to believers' beliefs about the government, military, and other aspects of society. A debunking rather than a sociological study. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This extraordinary history of the nation's top-secret military aircraft spans from World War II to the Gulf War, and chronicles how these planes--called "Dark Eagles" because they were painted black--were developed, tested, and operated in secrecy.
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In the early 1960s, when the United States and the Soviet Union faced each other in a nuclear standoff, a small band of engineers, designers, and intelligence officers secretly set out to do the impossible. Armed with little more than a few ideas and drawings of the payload, they created America's first reconnaissance satellite program - the Corona project - which for decades remained one of the nation's most closely guarded secrets. This is the story of their extraordinary efforts, from the first desperate requests for intelligence on the USSR, throuqh a series of heartbreaking failures, to Corona's ultimate success. This book focuses not only on the Corona project's great technical achievements but also on the remarkable human side of the story - on the engineers who built the satellites but could not divulge what they did even to their own families, and on the recovery pilots who competed to see who would be the first ace. Their stories appear for the first time in this book along with previously classified details of their recovery unit and a list of the ace pilots.
Asteroid science is a fundamental topic in planetary science and is key to furthering our understanding of planetary formation and the evolution of the Solar System. Ground-based observations and missions have provided a wealth of new data in recent years, and forthcoming missions promise further exciting results. This accessible book presents a comprehensive introduction to asteroid science, summarising the astronomical and geological characteristics of asteroids. The interdisciplinary nature of asteroid science is reflected in the broad range of topics covered, including asteroid and meteorite classification, chemical and physical properties of asteroids, observational techniques, cratering, and the discovery of asteroids and how they are named. Other chapters discuss past, present and future space missions and the threat that these bodies pose for Earth. Based on an upper-level course on asteroids and meteorites taught by the author, this book is ideal for students, researchers and professional scientists looking for an overview of asteroid science.
Written by a a pilot/engineer participant of NASA's lifting body program, this book documents the adventures, triumphs, setbacks, and fun of pioneering a technology that allowed astronauts to accomplish lifting reentries and precise runway landings.
This is the first full-length test-flight history of the X-43 project, written by the project historian at Dryden Flight Research Center. The project achieved the first in-flight testing of a scramjet engine, at speeds of nearly Mach 7 and Mach 10.
The United States military space program began at the end of World War II when a few people realized that space flight was now achievable and could be employed to military advantage. Science and technology in the form of advanced radar, jet propulsion, ballistic rockets such as the V-2, and nuclear energy had dramatically altered the nature of war. Army Air Forces Commanding General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold wrote in November 1945 that a space ship "is all but practicable today" and could be built "within the foreseeable future." The following month the Air Force Scientific Advisory Group concluded that long-range rockets were technically feasible and that satellites were a "definite possibility." The U.S. Navy also expressed interest in space flight. In November 1945 the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics produced a satellite report, and, on March 7, 1946 proposed an interservice space program. The idea was presented to the joint Army-Navy Aeronautical Board on April 9. Major General Curtis E. LeMay, the Director of Research and Development for the Army Air Forces, however, viewed space operations as an exclusive Air Force domain, and he ordered an independent study.
Historian Peebles draws on previously top secret documents from both countries and the recollections of participants on both sides to recount the US spy plane program against the Soviet Union after World War II. The lid was blown off and the program ended with the downing of Francis Gary Powers in his U-2 spyplane. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR