Space Exploration
1 primary work • 19 total works
Book 158
The first chapter explains how human spaceflight has approached the different challenges of exploring space and provided the hardware to meet those challenges. This chapter also describes the various attempts to reach orbital flight and the often confusing distinction between ballistic, sub-orbital, and so-called 'astro-flights' of the X-15 rocket research aircraft program. Chapter 2 recalls key historic moments and missions across five decades of human spaceflight. Each decade has provided useful lessons for the next and a foundation for future achievement. The new mission entries are collected in the third section in chronological order. A review of the next steps in human spaceflight, including plans to occupy the International Space Station well into the 2020s and the growth of the Chinese manned space program including a large space station and planned base on the Moon, is discussed in Chapter 4. The tables provide a complete up-to-date overview of human spaceflight operations and experience from April 1961 to September 2012 and a selected chronology of important milestones from those years. Completing the book is a comprehensive bibliography that lists all the major Springer-Praxis human spaceflight titles and other important works that provide the reader with a resource to continue further research.
This book provides unique access to the story of how scientists were accepted into the American Space Programme, and reveals how, after four difficult decades, the role of the heroic test pilot astronaut has been replaced by men and women who are science orientated space explorers.
Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 19612006
by Michael D Shayler and Tim Furniss
This flagship work charts a complete chronological log of orbital manned spaceflight. Included are the X-15 "astroflights" of the 1960s, and the two 1961 Mercury and Redstone missions which were non-orbital. There is an image depicting each manned spaceflight, and data boxes containing brief biographies of all the space travelers. The main text is a narrative of each mission, its highlights and accomplishments, including the strange facts and humorous stories connected to every mission. The resulting book is a handy reference to all manned spaceflights, the names of astronauts and cosmonauts who flew on each mission, their roles and accomplishments.
Docking technologies had to constantly evolve as the designs of the early space stations changed. It was hoped the shuttle would make missions to the Russian Salyut and American Skylab stations, but thesewere postponed until the Mir station became available, while plans for getting a new U. S. space station underway were stalled.
In Linking the Space Shuttle and Space Stations, the author delves into the rich history of the Space Shuttle and its connection to these early space stations, culminating in the nine missions to dock the shuttle toMir. By 1998, after nearly three decades of planning and operations, shuttle missions to Mir had resulted in:
• A proven system to link up the space shuttle to a space station• Equipment and hands-on experience in handling tons of materials• An infrastructure to support space station assembly and resupply
Each of these played a pivotal role in developing the skills and procedures crucial to the creation of the later, much larger and far more complex International Space Station, as described in the companionvolume Assembling and Supplying the ISS: The Space Shuttle Fulfills Its Mission.
The Last of NASA's Original Pilot Astronauts
by David J Shayler and Colin Burgess
Resulting from the authors’ deep research into these two pre-Shuttle astronaut groups, many intriguing and untold stories behind the selection process are revealed in the book. The often extraordinary backgrounds and personal ambitions of these skilled pilots, chosen to continue NASA’s exploration and knowledge of the space frontier, are also examined.
In April 1966 NASA selected 19 pilot astronauts whose training was specifically targeted to the Apollo lunar landing missions and the Earth-orbiting Skylab space station. Three years later, following the sudden cancellation of the USAF’s highly classified Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) project, seven military astronauts were also co-opted into NASA’s space program.
This book represents the final chapter by the authors in the story of American astronaut selections prior to the era of the Space Shuttle. Through personal interviews and original NASA documentation, readers will also gain a true insight into a remarkable age of space travel as it unfolded in the late 1960s, and the men who flew those historic missions.
In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy committed the United States to landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. With just a handful of years to pull it off, NASA authorized the Project Gemini space program, which gathered vital knowledge needed to achieve the nation’s goal. This book introduces the crucial three-step test program employed by the Gemini system, covering:
- The short unmanned orbital flight of Gemini 1 that tested the compatibility of launch vehicle, spacecraft and ground systems.
- The unmanned suborbital flight of Gemini 2 to establish the integrity of the reentry system and protective heat shield.
- The three-orbit manned evaluation flight of Gemini 3, christened ‘Molly Brown’ by her crew. A mission recalled orbit by orbit, using mission transcripts, post-flight reports and the astronauts’ own account of their historic journey.
Fulfilling an objective it had been designed to complete decades before, 37 Shuttle missions carried the majority of the hardware needed to build the ISS and then acted as a ferry and supply train for early resident crews to the station. Building upon the decades of development and experience described in the companion volume Linking the Space Shuttle and Space Stations: Early Docking Technologies from Concept to Implementation, this book explores
• a purpose-built hardware processing facility • challenging spacewalking objectives • extensive robotic operations • undocking a unmanned orbiter
The experience and expertise gained through these missions allows space planners to improve space construction skills in advance of even more ambitious plans in the future.
NASA's First Space Shuttle Astronaut Selection
by David J Shayler and Colin Burgess
Unofficially they called themselves the TFNG, or the Thirty-Five New Guys. Officially, they were NASA’s Group 8 astronauts, selected in January 1978 to train for orbital missions aboard the Space Shuttle. Prior to this time only pilots or scientists trained as pilots had been assigned to fly on America’s spacecraft, but with the advent of the innovative winged spacecraft the door was finally opened to non-pilots, including women and minorities. In all, 15 of those selected were categorised as Pilot Astronauts, while the other 20 would train under the new designation of Mission Specialist. Altogether, the Group 8 astronauts would be launched on a total of 103 space missions; some flying only once, while others flew into orbit as many as five times. Sadly, four of their number would perish in the Challenger tragedy in January 1986.
In their latest collaborative effort, the authors bring to life the amazing story behind the selection of the first group of Space Shuttle astronauts, examining their varied backgrounds and many accomplishments in a fresh and accessible way through deep research and revealing interviews. Throughout its remarkable 30-year history as the workhorse of NASA’s human spaceflight exploration, twice halted through tragedy, the Shuttle fleet performed with magnificence. So too did these 35 men and women, swept up in the dynamic thrust and ongoing development of America’s Space Shuttle program.
"This book on the Group 8 Astronauts, the TFNGs, is an excellent summation of the individuals first selected for the new Space Shuttle Program. It provides insight into what it took to first get the Space Shuttle flying. For any space enthusiast it is a must read."
- Robert L. Crippen PLT on STS-1“As a reader, I had many moments where long, lost memories of the triumph and tragedy of the space shuttle program were brilliantly reawakened at the turn of a page. Loved it! This is a must-have book for every space enthusiast’s library.”
- TFNG Mission Specialist Astronaut Richard ‘Mike’ Mullane, author of Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut
“Many of the anecdotes in the book brought back memories of challenges, opportunities, and a team of men and women who were committed not just to the space program, but to one another...I've gone back to it several times as a reference source.”
- TFNG Steve Hawley, 5-time Space Shuttle Mission Specialist Astronaut
"The TFNG book is incredible and amazingly thorough! The detail in the book is awesome! It is my go-to book for any of the details I’ve forgotten."
- TFNG Dr. Rhea Seddon, 3-time Space Shuttle Mission Specialist Astronaut.
"I can't believe how detailed and complete it is!!! FANTASTIC work!!!"
- TFNG Robert L."Hoot" Gibson, 5-time Space Shuttle Pilot & Commander and former Chief of the NASA Astronaut Office
The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team will relate who these men were and offer far more extensive background stories, in addition to those of the more familiar names of early Soviet space explorers from that group. Many previously-unpublished photographs of these “missing” candidates will also be included for the first time in this book. It will be a detailed, but highly readable and balanced account of the history, training and experiences of the first group of twenty cosmonauts of the USSR. A covert recruitment and selection process was set in motion throughout the Soviet military in August 1959, just prior to the naming of America’s Mercury astronauts. Those selected were ordered to report for training at a special camp outside of Moscow in the spring of 1960. Just a year later, Senior Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Air Force (promoted in flight to the rank of major) was launched aboard a Vostok spacecraft and became the first person ever to achieve space flight and orbit the Earth.
This book draws on interviews to tell the astronauts' personal stories and recreate the drama of that time. It describes the process by which they were selected as astronauts and explains how the criteria had changed since the first group. "Moon Bound" is divided into two parts, recounting the biographies relating to the nine astronauts from NASA's Group 2 in the first part, and the fourteen finalists in Group 3 in the second part.
The stories of both selection groups are narrated through the experiences of four finalists with interesting backgrounds. One of these men is Al Rupp of the USAF who, as a West Point cadet, cheekily helped to steal the Navy mascot goat prior to the annual Army versus Navy game in 1953, thus achieving legendary status in the game's history. Rupp was killed in a plane crash just two years after being named as a finalist for Group 3. The service career of naval aviator John Yamnicky was also very much the equal of other finalists, but he was killed on September 11, 2001, as he was a passenger on hijacked Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon.
At the end of the work there are several chapters on how these candidates were prepped for their missions.
This book celebrates the final spaceflight in the Mercury series, flown by NASA astronaut Gordon Cooper, who led an adventurous life in the cockpit of airplanes and spacecraft alike, and on his Mercury mission he became the last American ever to rocket into space alone. He flew in the Mercury and Gemini programs and served as head of flight crew operations in both the Apollo and Skylab programs.
Based on extensive research and first-person interviews, this is a complete history of the Faith 7 flight and its astronaut. Cooper later gained notoriety following the release of the movie, The Right Stuff, in which he was depicted by Dennis Quaid, but Burgess discovers there was even more drama to his story. It completes the "Pioneers in Early Spaceflight" subseries in fitting fashion.
TO A NATION enthralled by the heroic exploits of the Mercury astronauts, the launch of Lt. Cmdr. Scott Carpenter on NASA’s second orbital space flight was a renewed cause for pride, jubilation and celebration. Within hours, that excitement had given way to stunned disbelief and anxiety as shaken broadcasters began preparing the American public for the very real possibility that an American astronaut and his spacecraft may have been lost at sea.
In fact, it had been a very close call. Completely out of fuel and forced to manually guide Aurora 7 through the frightening inferno of re-entry, Carpenter brought the Mercury spacecraft down to a safe splashdown in the ocean. In doing so, he controversially overshot the intended landing zone. Despite his efforts, Carpenter’s performance on the MA-7 mission was later derided by powerful figures within NASA. He would never fly into space again.
Taking temporary leave of NASA, Carpenter participated in the U.S. Navy’s pioneering Sealab program. For a record 30 days he lived and worked aboard a pressurized habitat resting on the floor of the ocean, becoming the nation’s first astronaut/aquanaut explorer.
Following extensive research conducted by noted spaceflight historian Colin Burgess, the drama-filled flight of Aurora 7 is faithfully recounted in this engrossing book, along with the personal recollections of Scott Carpenter and those closest to the actual events.
Inevitably, there are times in a nation's history when its hopes, fears and confidence in its own destiny appear to hinge on the fate of a single person. One of these pivotal moments occurred on the early morning of May 5, 1961, when a 37-year-old test pilot squeezed himself into the confines of the tiny Mercury spacecraft that he had named Freedom 7. On that historic day, U.S. Navy Commander Alan Shepard carried with him the hopes, prayers, and anxieties of a nation as his Redstone rocket blasted free of the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, hurling him upwards on a 15-minute suborbital flight that also propelled the United States into the bold new frontier of human space exploration.
This book tells the enthralling story of that pioeering flight as recalled by many of the participants in the Freedom 7 story, including Shepard himself, with anecdotal details and tales never before revealed in print.
Although beaten into space just three weeks earlier by the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, Alan Shepard's history-making mission aboard Freedom 7 nevertheless provided America's first tentative step into space that would one day see its Apollo astronauts - including Alan Shepard - walk on the Moon.
This book is as a detailed, but highly readable and balanced account of the history of animal space flights carried out by all nations, but principally the United States and the Soviet Union. It explores the ways in which animal high-altitude and space flight research impacted on space flight biomedicine and technology, and how the results - both successful and disappointing - allowed human beings to then undertake that same hazardous journey with far greater understanding and confidence. This complete and authoritative book will undoubtedly become the ultimate authority on animal space flights.
This book focuses on the Interkosmos program, which was formed in 1967, marking a fundamentally new era of cooperation by socialist countries, led by the Soviet Union, in the study and exploration of space. The chapters shed light on the space program that was at that time a prime outlet for the Soviet Union's aims at becoming a world power.
Interkosmos was a highly publicized Russian space program that rapidly became a significant propaganda tool for the Soviet Union in the waning years of communism. Billed as an international “research-cosmonaut” imperative, it was also a high-profile means of displaying solidarity with the nine participating Eastern bloc countries. Those countries contributed pilots who were trained in Moscow for week-long “guest” missions on orbiting Salyut stations. They did a little subsidiary science and were permitted only the most basic mechanical maneuvers.
In this enthralling new book, and following extensive international research, the authors fully explore the background, accomplishments and political legacy of the Interkosmos program. Through personal and often highly revealing interviews with many of the participants they relate the very human story behind this extraordinary but controversial space venture..
Colin Burgess offers a comprehensive yet personal look at the 1962 orbital mission of Wally Schirra aboard the spacecraft Sigma 7, the first book about this popular pioneering astronaut which explores his entire life and accomplishments. This continues the Pioneers in Early Spaceflight series, the volumes of which form an excellent record of Project Mercury's pioneering early phase of the Space Age.
Schirra’s pre-NASA life is examined, as well as his training as a NASA astronaut and for his Mercury MA-8 flight. The 6-orbit flight of Sigma 7 is fully covered from its origins through to the spacecraft’s safe recovery from the ocean after a highly successful Mercury mission. Schirra’s participation on the Gemini 6 and Apollo 7 missions is also told, but in brief, and the book also relates his post-NASA life and activities through to his passing in 2007. The Mercury Seven occupy a unique spot in the history of human spaceflight, and Schirra is atlast given his due as one of the contributing astronauts in this painstakingly researched book.
the development and operations of the Soyuz family of spacecraft. This
includes the lesser-known military and unmanned versions of this reliable
spacecraft.
While most works on Soviet/Russian space operations focus on space station
activities, the story of the Soyuz spacecraft has been largely neglected.
An integral element of Salyut and Mir space station operations, the small
ferry has been the mainstay of cosmonaut transportation since 1967. In
addition, since 1978 the unmanned freighter version called Progress has
provided a means in which to regularly re-supply a space station and so
prolong its orbital lifetime.
Using authentic Soviet and Russian sources this book is the first known
work in the west dedicated to revealing the full story of the Soyuz
series, including a complete listing of vehicle production numbers.
In this spellbinding account of an historic but troubled orbital mission, noted space historian Colin Burgess takes us back to an electrifying time in American history, when intrepid pioneers were launched atop notoriously unreliable rockets at the very dawn of human space exploration.
A nation proudly and collectively came to a standstill on the day this mission flew; a day that will be forever enshrined in American spaceflight history. On the morning of February 20, 1962, following months of frustrating delays, a Marine Corps war hero and test pilot named John Glenn finally blazed a path into orbit aboard a compact capsule named Friendship 7.
The book's tension-filled narrative faithfully unfolds through contemporary reports and the personal recollections of astronaut John Glenn, along with those closest to the Friendship 7 story, revealing previously unknown facts behind one of America's most ambitious and memorable pioneering space missions.
Friendship 7.
The book's tension-filled narrative faithfully unfolds through contemporary reports and the personal recollections of astronaut John Glenn, along with those closest to the Friendship 7 story, revealing previously unknown facts behind one of America's most ambitious and memorable pioneering space missions.
Friendship 7 story, revealing previously unknown facts behind one of America's most ambitious and memorable pioneering space missions.