Author: Andrew J. Butrica Publisher: JHU Press ISBN: 9780801873386 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 294
Book Description
While the glories and tragedies of the space shuttle make headlines and move the nation, the story of the shuttle forms an inseparabe part of a lesser-known but no less important drama—the search for a reusable single-stage-to-orbit rocket. Here an award-winning student of space science, Andrew J. Butrica, examines the long and tangled history of this ambitious concept, from it first glimmerings in the 1920s, when technicians dismissed it as unfeasible, to its highly expensive heyday in the midst of the Cold War, when conservative-backed government programs struggled to produce an operational flight vehicle. Butrica finds a blending of far-sighted engineering and heavy-handed politics. To the first and oldest idea—that of the reusable rocket-powered single-stage-to-orbit vehicle—planners who belonged to what President Eisenhower referred to as the military-industrial complex.added experimental ("X"), "aircraft-like" capabilties and, eventually, a "faster, cheaper, smaller" managerial approach. Single Stage to Orbit traces the interplay of technology, corporate interest, and politics, a combination that well served the conservative space agenda and ultimately triumphed—not in the realization of inexpensive, reliable space transport—but in a vision of space militarization and commercialization that would appear settled United States policy in the early twenty-first century. -- D. M. Ashford
Author: Andrew J. Butrica Publisher: JHU Press ISBN: 080188134X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 285
Book Description
Winner of the Michael C. Robinson Prize for Historical Analysis given by the National Council on Public History While the glories and tragedies of the space shuttle make headlines and move the nation, the story of the shuttle forms an inseparabe part of a lesser-known but no less important drama—the search for a reusable single-stage-to-orbit rocket. Here an award-winning student of space science, Andrew J. Butrica, examines the long and tangled history of this ambitious concept, from it first glimmerings in the 1920s, when technicians dismissed it as unfeasible, to its highly expensive heyday in the midst of the Cold War, when conservative-backed government programs struggled to produce an operational flight vehicle. Butrica finds a blending of far-sighted engineering and heavy-handed politics. To the first and oldest idea—that of the reusable rocket-powered single-stage-to-orbit vehicle—planners who belonged to what President Eisenhower referred to as the military-industrial complex.added experimental ("X"), "aircraft-like" capabilties and, eventually, a "faster, cheaper, smaller" managerial approach. Single Stage to Orbit traces the interplay of technology, corporate interest, and politics, a combination that well served the conservative space agenda and ultimately triumphed—not in the realization of inexpensive, reliable space transport—but in a vision of space militarization and commercialization that would appear settled United States policy in the early twenty-first century.
Author: Committee on Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology and Test Program Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309588960 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 99
Book Description
The key to opening the use of space to private enterprise and to broader public uses lies in reducing the cost of the transportation to space. More routine, affordable access to space will entail aircraft-like quick turnaround and reliable operations. Currently, the space Shuttle is the only reusable launch vehicle, and even parts of it are expendable while other parts require frequent and extensive refurbishment. NASA's highest priority new activity, the Reusable Launch Vehicle program, is directed toward developing technologies to enable a new generation of space launchers, perhaps but not necessarily with single stage to orbit capability. This book assesses whether the technology development, test and analysis programs in propulsion and materials-related technologies are properly constituted to provide the information required to support a December 1996 decision to build the X-33, a technology demonstrator vehicle; and suggest, as appropriate, necessary changes in these programs to ensure that they will support vehicle feasibility goals.
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Subcommittee on Space Publisher: ISBN: Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 80
Book Description
Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.
Author: Patrick J. G. Stiennon Publisher: AIAA ISBN: 9781563476969 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 292
Book Description
"A fictionalized account of the challenges faced by a group of seven investors and their engineering team in developing a low-cost, reusable, Earth-to orbit launch vehicle. The marketing, regulatory, and technical problems are explored ... "cover p. [4].
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309047269 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 102
Book Description
If the United States hopes to continue as a leader in space, it must invest now in better earth-to-orbit technology by replacing obsolete launch facilities while also developing a new class of more robust and reliable vehicles. From Earth to Orbit provides strategies to reduce launch costs while increasing the reliability and resiliency of vehicles. It also recommends continued improvements for the Space Shuttle Orbiter and its subsystems and the development of a Space Transportation Main Engine (STME).
Author: Andrew J. Butrica
Author: Andrew J. Butrica
Author: 
Author: Committee on Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology and Test Program
Author: 
Author: 
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Subcommittee on Space
Author: Delma C. Freeman
Author: Patrick J. G. Stiennon
Author: National Research Council