In the history of space exploration, there have been many leaps for humankind. From the foremost experts at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, here is a complete visual narrative of our journey from Earth to the stars. . . .
Although the momentous October 4, 1957, launch of Sputnik 1 was not the beginning of humanity's adventure toward space—our curiosity about the skies has been one of the few constants in history—it was the first true venture into orbit. And when future generations think of the twentieth century, they will undoubtedly judge our movement into space, with both machines and people, as a crowning achievement. As we progress in the new millennium, space exploration is vital to managing our global future, as well as to understanding our past and the creation of Earth.
The Atlas of Space Exploration depicts the ever-fascinating history of the space age and humanity's progress in exploring new frontiers. Incredible images from NASA and other sources, visual conceptions of Moon bases, and newly commissioned maps reveal a visual history spanning the earliest eras of the universe, the dawn of the space age, the launch of Sputnik, missions to the Moon, robot landings on the terrestrial planets, and the exploration of the outer solar system. These developments in technology are illuminated by a rich historical context, highlighting how space exploration has changed and expanded our vision of the universe.

Smithsonian Atlas of Space Exploration

Engineering & Transportation

Launius, Roger D.

Johnston, Andrew K.

Transportation

Smithsonian

NOTE; NO FURTHER DISCOUNT ON THIS PRINT PRODUCT-- OVERSTOCK SALE -- Signficantly reduced list price This study represents a means of highlighting the myriad of technological developments that made possible the safe reentry and return from space and the landing on Earth. This story extends back at least to the work of Walter Hohmann and Eugen Sänger in Germany in the 1920s and involved numerous aerospace engineers at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)/NASA Langley and the Lewis (now the John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field) and Ames Research Centers. For example, researchers such as H. Julian Allen and Alfred J. Eggers, Jr., at Ames pioneered blunt-body reentry techniques and ablative thermal protection systems in the 1950s, while Francis M. Rogallo at Langley developed creative parasail concepts that informed the development of the recovery systems of numerous reentry vehicles.The chapters that follow relate in a chronological manner the way in which NASA has approached the challenge of reentering the atmosphere after a space mission and the technologies associated with safely dealing with the friction of this encounter and the methods used for landing safely on Earth.
The first chapter explores the conceptual efforts to understand the nature of flight to and from space and the major developments in the technologies of reentry and landing that took place before the beginning of the space age in 1957.
Chapter 2 also investigates the methods of landing once a spacecraft reaches subsonic speeds. Once the orbital energy is converted and the heat of reentry dissipated, the spacecraft must still be landed gently in the ocean or on land. Virtually all of the early concepts for human space flight involve spaceplanes that flew on wings to a runway landing; Sänger’s antipodal bomber of the 1940s did so as did von Braun’s popular concepts. However, these proved impractical for launch vehicles available during the 1950s, and capsule concepts that returned to Earth via parachute proliferated largely because they represented the “art of the possible” at the time.
Chapter 3 tells the story of reentry from space and landing on Earth from the beginning of the space age through the end of the Apollo program. During that period, NASA and other agencies concerned with the subject developed capsules with blunt-body ablative heat shields and recovery systems that relied on parachutes. The Department of Defense (DOD) tested this reentry concept publicly with Project SCORE (Signal Communication by Orbiting Relay Equipment) in 1958 and employed it throughout the CORONA satellite reconnaissance program of the 1960s, snatching in midair return capsules containing unprocessed surveillance footage dangling beneath parachutes. With the Mercury program, astronauts rode a blunt-body capsule with an ablative heat shield to a water landing, where the Navy rescued them. Project Gemini eventually used a similar approach, but NASA engineers experimented with a Rogallo wing and a proposed landing at the Flight Research Center (now Dryden Flight Research Center) on skids similar to those employed on the X-15. When the Rogallo wing failed to make the rapid progress required, NASA returned to the parachute concept used in Mercury and essentially used the same approach in Apollo, although with greatly improved ablative heat shields.
 At the same time, the DOD pursued a spaceplane concept with the X-20 Dyna-Soar orbital vehicle that would have replaced the ablative heat shield with
a reusable metallic heat shield and a lifting reentry that allowed the pilot to fly the vehicle to a runway landing. This is also the general approach pursued by the
DOD with its Aerothermodynamic Elastic Structural Systems Environmental Tests (ASSET) and Martin X-23A Precision Reentry Including Maneuvering
reEntry (PRIME) vehicles. NASA and DOD also experimented with lifting body concepts. Engineers were able to make both of those approaches to reentry and landing work, making tradeoffs on various other capabilities in the process. The eventual direction of these programs was influenced more by technological choices than by obvious decisions.
Even as Apollo was reaching fruition in the late 1960s, NASA made the decision to abandon blunt-body capsules with ablative heat shields and recovery systems that relied on parachutes for its human space flight program. Instead, as shown in chapters 4 and 5, it chose to build the Space Shuttle, a winged reusable vehicle that still had a blunt-body configuration but used a new ceramic tile and reinforced carbon-carbon for its thermal protection system. Parachutes were also jettisoned in favor of a delta-wing aerodynamic concept that allowed runway landings. Despite many challenges and the loss of one vehicle and its crew due to a failure with the thermal protection system, this approach has worked relatively effectively since first flown in 1981. Although NASA engineers debated the necessity of including jet engines on the Shuttle, it employed the unpowered landing concept demonstrated by the X-15 and lifting body programs at the Flight Research Center during the 1960s. These chapters lay out that effort and what it has meant for returning from space and landing on Earth.
The concluding chapter explores efforts to develop new reentry and landing concepts in the 1990s and beyond. During this period, a series of ideas
emerged on reentry and landing concepts, including the return of a metallic heat shield for the National Aero-Space Plane and the X-33, the Roton rotary
rocket, the DC-X powered landing concept, and the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) of the Constellation program between 2005 and 2009. In every case,
these projects proved too technologically difficult and the funding was too sparse for success. Even the CEV, a program that returns to a capsule concept
with a blunt-body ablative heat shield and parachutes (or perhaps a Rogallo wing) to return to Earth (or, perhaps, the ocean), proved a challenge for engineers. The recovery of scientific sample return missions to Earth, both with the loss of Genesis and the successful return of Stardust, suggests that these issues are not exclusive to the human space flight community. As this work is completed, NASA has embarked on the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program in which four firms are competing for funding to complete work on their vehicles:
• Blue Origin, Kent, WA—a biconic capsule that could be launched on an Atlas rocket.
• Sierra Nevada Corporation, Louisville, CO—Dream Chaser lifting body, which could be deployed from the Virgin Galactic
• White Knight Two carrier aircraft for flight tests.
• Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Hawthorne, CA—
• Dragon capsule spacecraft; also a partial lifting body concept to be launched on the Falcon 9 heavy lifter.
• The Boeing Company, Houston, TX—a 7-person spacecraft, including both personnel and cargo configurations designed to be launched by several different rockets, and to be reusable up to 10 times.
These new ideas and a broad set of actions stimulated through the CCDev program suggest that reentry and recovery from space remains an unsettled issue in space flight. This book’s concluding chapter suggests that our understanding of the longstanding complexities associated with returning to Earth safely has benefited from changes in technology and deeper knowledge of the process; however, these issues are still hotly debated and disagreement remains about how best to accomplish these challenging tasks. Engineers have had success with several different approaches to resolving the challenges of reentry and landing.
Discovering the optimal, most elegant solutions requires diligence and creativity. This history seeks to tell this complex story in a compelling, sophisticated, and technically sound manner for an audience that understands little about the evolution of flight technology. Bits and pieces of this history exist in other publications, but often overlooked is the critical role these concepts played in making a safe return to Earth possible. Moreover, the challenges, mysteries, and outcomes that these programs’ members wrestled with offer object lessons in how earlier generations of engineers sought optimal solutions and made tradeoffs.
With the CCDev program—a multiphase program intended to stimulate the development of privately operated crew vehicles to low-Earth orbit currently underway—NASA is returning to a capsule concept for space flight. This may prove a significant development, and this history could help enlighten the NASA team about past efforts and the lessons learned from those efforts. 
Other related products:
NASA Historical Data Book, V. 7: NASA Launch Systems, Space Transportation/Human Spaceflight, and Space Science can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/033-000-01309-4
Revolutionary Atmosphere: The Story of the Altitude Wind Tunnel and the Space Power Chambers can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/033-000-01342-6
Spinoff: Innovative Partnerships Program 2009 can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/033-000-01331-1
Spinoff 2010: NASA Technologies Benefit Society can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/033-000-01343-4
Spinoff 2015: Technology Transfer Program can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/033-000-01372-8
Aerospace, Astronomy &amp; Space Exploration resources collection can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/science-technology/aerospace-astronomy...
Other products produced by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/550

Coming Home: Reentry and Recovery from Space (NASA/Sp)

Science & Math

Jenkins, Dennis R.

Astronomy & Space Science

US National Aeronautics and Space Admin

From Publishers Weekly\nThis interesting, well-researched biography of the founder of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints covers the 54 years of his presidency, a tenure marked by Mormon factionalism that he succeeded in controlling. The son of the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith III at first resisted succeeding his father as leader and prophet but, as his biographer underscores, his governance from 1860 until his death in 1914 was fiercely committed to the religious legacy of his parent. Differing in style from the elder Smith's "sometimes disastrous impracticality," his son exemplified rugged individualism with a secular pragmatism that sprang from his legal education. An opponent of polygamy, as proclaimed by Brigham Young, the younger Smith established a viable bureaucracy and a style of leadership that characterizes the Mormon community today, notes the author, a military historian. Illustrations not seen by PW. 
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.\nFrom Library Journal\nThis is an important appraisal of the man who guided the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for more than a half century. "Young Joseph" took his brand of Mormonism in a direction completely different from that of the Utah-based followers of Brigham Young. Smith, who was 12 years old when his father was murdered, "experienced first hand the hardships and triumphs" of Mormonism's early years. Though he resembled his father in some ways, the son was a "practical man, not a visionary and dreamer" who sought to "purify" church doctrinesespecially regarding plural marriageand functioned as a "manager, planner, promoter, master politician and superb organizer." Well written and well researched; for all academic libraries. John R. Sillito, Weber State Coll. Lib., Ogden, Ut . 
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Joseph Smith III: Pragmatic Prophet

Biographies & Memoirs

University of Illinois Press

This masterful study charts the extensive common ground and telling differences between two widely separated coal-mining communities: Lanarkshire, in the Clyde Valley of southwest Scotland, and the northern Illinois coalfield that became a prime destination for skilled Scottish migrant miners in the mid-nineteenth century. Challenging the prevailing exceptionalist paradigm of labor history, John Laslett examines the social, economic, and political context of each of these communities in generous detail. He traces the progressive heightening of class consciousness as the coal industry evolved from skilled hand labor to an increasingly mechanized extraction process and the escalating hostility between miners and mineowners as their interests split along class lines. Examining the rise of militant industrial unionism in both areas, Laslett provides a sophisticated explanation of the American and Scottish miners' divergent approaches to collectivist solutions. Based on a profound knowledge of both communities, Colliers across the Sea tells a compelling story of industrial transformation's human costs, of conflict and greed, and of democratic aspirations and community.

Joseph Smith III: PRAGMATIC PROPHET

Fifty years after the Moon landing, a new history of the space race explores the lives of both Soviet and American engineers At the dawn of the space age, technological breakthroughs in Earth orbit flight were both breathtaking feats of ingenuity and disturbances to a delicate global balance of power. In this short book, aerospace historian Roger D. Launius concisely and engagingly explores the driving force of this era: the race to the Moon. Beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957 and closing with the end of the Apollo program in 1972, Launius examines how early space exploration blurred the lines between military and civilian activities, and how key actions led to space firsts as well as crushing failures. Launius places American and Soviet programs on equal footing—following American aerospace engineers Wernher von Braun and Robert Gilruth, their Soviet counterparts Sergei Korolev and Valentin Glushko, and astronaut Buzz Aldrin and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov—to highlight key actions that led to various successes, failures, and ultimately the American Moon landing.

Reaching for the Moon: A Short History of the Space Race

History

Americas

Yale University Press

From the first experimentation with rocket technology in the early 20th century to the Mir space station and the Mars Pathfinder mission of 1997, this one-stop guide to space exploration provides a wealth of information for student researchers. Combining narrative description, analytical essays, a timeline, biographical profiles, and the text of key primary documents, Roger D. Launius, Chief Historian of NASA, provides the latest information and analysis on all aspects of space exploration. Four essays give a historical overview of space exploration and up-to-date examinations of the race to the moon, exploration of the solar system, space stations and space shuttles, and U.S.-Soviet cooperative ventures. Ready reference features include: a timeline of key events; biographical profiles of 24 American and Soviet space pioneers; the text of 20 key primary documents relating to space exploration initiatives; a table of American space flight since 1961; and an annotated bibliography of works on space history.
The essays are designed to be understandable and to capture the human drama as well as the scientific accomplishments of space exploration. Biographical profiles include not only astronauts and cosmonauts, but also American and Soviet pioneers in the science of space exploration, NASA leaders, and the Challenger crew. Key documents include presidential speeches and directives on the creation of the space program and the decision to go to the moon, official statements on U.S.-Soviet cooperation in space, the text of the Apollo crew's radio broadcast from space on the first moon landing, recollections of Apollo astronauts who first landed on the moon, policy directives on the decision to build the space shuttle, the radio transcript of the last words from the space shuttle Challenger disaster, and a speech from Robert Zubrin, member of the National Space Society Board of Directors, addressing the promise of space exploration in the 21st century. A selection of photos complements the text.

Frontiers of Space Exploration

World

Greenwood

Since the first rocket-technology experiments of the early 20th century, space exploration has captivated the world. Recent advances and setbacks have included the new discoveries from the Galileo mission, the Mars Global Surveyor's revelation that water once existed on the Red Planet, the International Space Station, the advent of space tourism, and the devastating Space Shuttle disasters. This one-stop guide to space exploration provides a wealth of information for student researchers.
A substantial 'Chronology of Events' and a narrative history outline the key events and people in the progression of space research and activity. Five topical essays―including a look at the Space Shuttle―examine several significant issues related to the politics and technology of space exploration from an international perspective. These chapters elucidate several sets of documents that give shape and substance to the larger story. Primary documents in this volume are organized by theme and represent the variety of materials available to anyone seeking a better understanding of the rise of space exploration. Also included are biographical sketches of key people associated with space flight, a listing of the human space flight missions undertaken since 1961, and an annotated bibliography of additional reading.

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 seemingly fanciful questions with rigorous scholarship and disciplined imagination, jumping comfortably among the worlds of rocketry, engineering, public policy, and science fantasy to expound upon the possibilities and improbabilities involved in trekking across the Milky Way and beyond. They survey the literature—fictional as well as academic studies; outline the progress of space programs in the United States and other nations; and assess the current state of affairs to offer a conclusion startling only to those who haven’t spent time with Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke: to traverse the cosmos, humans must embrace and entwine themselves with advanced robotic technologies.
Their discussion is as entertaining as it is edifying and their assertions are as sound as they are fantastical. Rather than asking us to suspend disbelief, Robots in Space demands that we accept facts as they evolve.

Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel (New Series in NASA History)

Computers & Technology

McCurdy, Howard E.

Computer Science

Johns Hopkins University Press

Before the "Bronx Zoo" of George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin, there were the Oakland Athletics of the early 1970s, one of the most successful, most colorful―and most chaotic―baseball teams of all time. They were all of those things because of Charlie Finley. Not only the A's owner, he was also the general manager, personally assembling his team, deciding his players' salaries, and making player moves during the season―a level of involvement no other owner, not even Steinbrenner, engaged in. Drawing on interviews with dozens of Finley's players, family members, and colleagues, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius present "Baseball's Super Showman" (Time magazine's description of Finley on the cover of an August 1975 issue) in all his contradictions: generous yet vengeful, inventive yet destructive. The stories surrounding him are as colorful as the life he led, the chronicle of which fills an important gap in baseball's literature.

Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman

Green, G. Michael

Walker Books

Alexander William Doniphan (1808-1887)--Missouri attorney, military figure, politician, and businessman--is one of the most significant figures in antebellum Missouri. From the 1830s to the 1880s, Doniphan was active in a variety of affairs in Missouri and held firm to several underlying principles, including loyalty, hard work, the sanctity of the republic, and commitment to Christian charity. However, the key to Doniphan's importance was his persistent moderation on the critical issues of his day.Doniphan became a household name when he served as the commanding officer of the famed First Missouri Mounted Volunteers during the Mexican-American War. It was during this time that he won two battles, established an Anglo-American-based democracy in New Mexico, and paved the way for the annexation of the territory that became New Mexico and Arizona. He is also recognized by the Mormons for his assistance to their beleaguered church during Missouri's "Mormon War" and for his refusal to execute Joseph Smith when ordered to do so by his commanding officer.Although Doniphan was a slaveholding unionist, he sought a middle ground to stave off war in the 1850s and early 1860s and served as a delegate to the Washington Peace Conference in 1861. When conflict escalated along the western border of Missouri in 1862, Doniphan moved to St. Louis, where he worked as a lawyer with the Missouri Claims Commission, seeking pensions for refugees.Doniphan early adopted the Whig ideal of the "positive liberal state" and sought to use the power of government to remake society into something better. Once he saw the heavy-handed use of state power during Reconstruction, however, Doniphan reversed his views on the role of the government in society. For the rest of his life, he resisted government incursions into the lives of the people and sought to restore a healthy Union.Alexander William Doniphan will be of interest to academic specialists and general readers alike, especially those interested in Mormon studies, Missouri history, military history, and Western history.

Alexander William Doniphan: Portrait of a Missouri Moderate (Missouri Biography Series) (Volume 1)

Historical

University of Missouri

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Launius, Roger D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Launius, Roger D.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Launius, Roger D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Smithsonian Atlas of Space Exploration

Coming Home: Reentry and Recovery from Space (NASA/Sp)

Joseph Smith III: Pragmatic Prophet

Joseph Smith III: PRAGMATIC PROPHET

Reaching for the Moon: A Short History of the Space Race

Frontiers of Space Exploration

Frontiers of Space Exploration

Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel (New Series in NASA History)

Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman

Alexander William Doniphan: Portrait of a Missouri Moderate (Missouri Biography Series) (Volume 1)