Download or read book NASA 50th Anniversary Proceedings NASA s First 50 Years Historical Perspectives written by Steven J. Dick and published by U. S. National Aeronautics & Space Administration. This book was released on 2010-07-07 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 29 July 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which became operational on 1 October of that year. Over the next 50 years, NASA achieved a set of spectacular feats, ranging from advancing the well-established field of aeronautics to pioneering the new fields of Earth and space science and human spaceflight. In the midst of the geopolitical context of the Cold War, 12 Americans walked on the Moon, arriving in peace “for all mankind.” Humans saw their home planet from a new perspective, with unforgettable Apollo images of Earthrise and the “Blue Marble,” as well as the “pale blue dot” from the edge of the solar system. A flotilla of spacecraft has studied Earth, while other spacecraft have probed the depths of the solar system and the universe beyond. In the 1980s, the evolution of aeronautics gave us the first winged human spacecraft, the Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station stands as a symbol of human cooperation in space as well as a possible way station to the stars. With the Apollo fire and two Space Shuttle accidents, NASA has also seen the depths of tragedy. In this volume, a wide array of scholars turn a critical eye toward NASA’s first 50 years, probing an institution widely seen as the premier agency for exploration in the world, carrying on a long tradition of exploration by the United States and the human species in general. Fifty years after its founding, NASA finds itself at a crossroads that historical perspectives can only help to illuminate.
Download or read book NASA s First 50 Years Historical Perspectives written by Steven J. Dick and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2010-08-20 with total page 776 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty years after the founding of NASA, from 28 to 29 October 2008, the NASA History Division convened a conference whose purpose was a scholarly analysis of NASA's first 50 years. Over two days at NASA Headquarters, historians and policy analysts discussed NASA's role in aeronautics, human spaceflight, exploration, space science, life science, and Earth science, as well as crosscutting themes ranging from space access to international relations in space and NASA's interaction with the public. The speakers were asked to keep in mind the following questions: What are the lessons learned from the first 50 years? What is NASA's role in American culture and in the history of exploration and discovery? What if there had never been a NASA? Based on the past, does NASA have a future? The results of those papers, elaborated and fully referenced, are found in this 50th anniversary volume. The reader will find here, instantiated in the complex institution that is NASA, echoes of perennial themes elaborated in an earlier volume, Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight. The conference culminated a year of celebrations, beginning with an October 2007 conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Space Age and including a lecture series, future forums, publications, a large presence at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and numerous activities at NASA's 10 Centers and venues around the country. It took place as the Apollo 40th anniversaries began, ironically still the most famous of NASA's achievements, even in the era of the Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), and spacecraft like the Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) and the Hubble Space Telescope. And it took place as NASA found itself at a major crossroads, for the first time in three decades transitioning, under Administrator Michael Griffin, from the Space Shuttle to a new Ares launch vehicle and Orion crew vehicle capable of returning humans to the Moon and proceeding to Mars in a program known as Constellation. The Space Shuttle, NASA's launch system since 1981, was scheduled to wind down in 2010, freeing up funds for the new Ares launch vehicle. But the latter, even if it moved forward at all deliberate speed, would not be ready until 2015, leaving the unsettling possibility that for at least five years the United States would be forced to use the Russian Soyuz launch vehicle and spacecraft as the sole access to the ISS in which the United States was the major partner. The presidential elections a week after the conference presaged an imminent presidential transition, from the Republican administration of George W. Bush to (as it turned out) the Democratic presidency of Barack Obama, with all the uncertainties that such transitions imply for government programs. The uncertainties for NASA were even greater, as Michael Griffin departed with the outgoing administration and as the world found itself in an unprecedented global economic downturn, with the benefits of national space programs questioned more than ever before. There was no doubt that 50 years of the Space Age had altered humanity in numerous ways ranging from applications satellites to philosophical world views. Throughout its 50 years, NASA has been fortunate to have a strong sense of history and a robust, independent, and objective history program to document its achievements and analyze its activities. Among its flagship publications are Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program, of which seven of eight projected volumes were completed at the time of the 50th anniversary. The reader can do no better than to turn to these volumes for an introduction to NASA history as seen through its primary documents. The list of NASA publications at the end of this volume is also a testimony to the tremendous amount of historical research that the NASA History Division has sponsored over the last 50 years, of which this is the latest volume.
Download or read book Remembering the space age Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Conference written by and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book NASA at 50 written by Rebecca Wright and published by NASA History Division. This book was released on 2010 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These interviews capture refections from top decision-makers as the space agency was completing its first 50 years. Based on oral histories, the book offers insights from those responsible for moving NASA through a deep transition - from the end of the Space Shuttle Program, the centerpiece of human spaceflight for three decades, to the goals of the new policy known as the Vision for Space Exploration.
Download or read book Escaping Gravity written by Lori Garver and published by Diversion Books. This book was released on 2022-06-21 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A former NASA deputy administrator recounts how she battled greed and corruption to revolutionize the agency and usher in a new space age. Escaping Gravity is former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver’s firsthand account of how a handful of revolutionaries overcame the political patronage and bureaucracy that threatened the space agency. The success of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, and countless other commercial space efforts were preceded by decades of work by a group of people Garver calls “space pirates.” Their quest to transform NASA put Garver in the crosshairs of Congress, the aerospace industry, and hero-astronauts trying to protect their own profits and mythology within a system that had held power since the 1950s. As the head of the NASA transition team for President-elect Barack Obama and second-in-command of the agency, Garver drove policies and funding that enabled commercial competition just as the capabilities and resources of the private sector began to mature. She was determined to deliver more valuable programs, which required breaking the self-interested space-industrial cycle that, like the military, preferred to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on programs aimed to sustain jobs and contracts in key congressional districts. The result: more efficiency and greater progress. Including insider NASA conversations and insights on how the US space industry has been transformed to become the envy of the world and is ushering in a new space age, Escaping Gravity offers a blueprint for how to drive productive and meaningful change. Praise for Escaping Gravity “Former NASA official Lori Garver offers a front-row seat to the decades-long struggles within and among space bureaucrats and space billionaires. Bring popcorn, as you bear witness to an untold slice of space history.” —Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist and author of Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier “We are living at the most exciting time in space exploration since the Apollo era, in part because the world’s largest space agency, NASA, got around to trying something new, the funding of commercial crews. Lori Garver tells it like it is . . . or was for a woman effecting change at NASA despite men of the military industrial complex—and their cost-plus contracts. It wasn’t rocket science, it was much harder than that. Don’t take my word(s) for it; read this book.” —Bill Nye, CEO, The Planetary Society “A scathing memoir that shows the ugly side of NASA while offering hope for a better future for the space agency.” —Kirkus Reviews
Download or read book Wings in Orbit written by Government Printing Office and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2011-04-08 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOTE: NO FURTHER DISCOUNT FOR THIS PRINT PRODUCT- OVERTOCK SALE -- Significantly reduced list price Wings in Orbit is an authoritative documentation of the many accomplishments of the NASA Space Shuttle Program. Starting with a foreword written by astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen, this compelling book provides accurate, authentic and easily understood accounts from NASA's best subject matter experts and external resources. The book captures the passion of those who devoted their energies to the Program's success for more than three decades. It focuses on their science and engineering accomplishments, the rich history of the program and the shuttle as an icon in U.S. history. No other book on the market has accumulated as many experts and resources on this subject nor broken it down in such easy to understand language with compelling imagery. With the Shuttle Program coming to a close, consumers will be inclined to purchase this book as it provides comprehensive information on this historic program as it ends its 30 year run. The promotions for this book will definitely benefit from the publicity of this historic event. Other related products: NASA's Contributions to Aeronautics, Vols. 1-2 is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/033-000-01334-5 Leadership in Space: Selected Speeches of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, May 2005-October 2008 is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/033-000-01314-1 Dressing for Altitude: U.S. Aviation Pressure Suits, Wiley Post to Space Shuttle --ePub format is available for purchase through the Apple iBookstore-- Please use ISBN: 9780160915604 to search for this title in their platform. Revolutionary Atmosphere: The Story of the Altitude Wind Tunnel and the Space Power Chambers is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/033-000-01342-6 Other products produced by NASA can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/550
Download or read book Psychology of Space Exploration Contemporary Research in Historical Perspective written by Douglas A. Vakoch and published by U.S. Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2011-07-06 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores some of the contributions of psychology to yesterday's great space race, today's orbiter and International Space Station missions, and tomorrow's journeys beyond Erath's orbit. It provides an analysis of the challenges facing future space explorers while at the same time presenting new empirical research on topics ranging from simulation studies of commercial spaceflights to the psychological benefits of viewing Earth from space.
Download or read book Archaeology Anthropology and Interstellar Communication written by Douglas A. Vakoch and published by U. S. National Aeronautics & Space Administration. This book was released on 2014 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are we alone? asks the writeup on the back cover of the dust jacket. The contributors to this collection raise questions that may have been overlooked by physical scientists about the ease of establishing meaningful communication with an extraterrestrial intelligence. By drawing on issues at the core of contemporary archaeology and anthropology, we can be much better prepared for contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, should that day ever come. NASA SP-2013-4413.
Download or read book Wings in Orbit written by Wayne Hale and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2010 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explains how the space shuttle works and describes a shuttle trip from lift-off to touchdown.
Download or read book Cosmos Culture written by Steven J. Dick and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Cosmos Culture Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context written by Steven J. Dick and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2012-01-27 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOTE: NO FURTHER DISCOUNT FOR THIS PRINT PRODUCT--OVERSTOCK SALE -- Significantly reduced list price During the last 50 years, coincident with the Space Age, cosmic evolution has been recognized as the master narrative of the universe, history writ large. Cosmic evolution includes physical, biological, and cultural evolution, and of these the latter is by far the most rapid. In this volume, authors with diverse backgrounds in science, history, anthropology, and more, consider culture in the context of the cosmos. How does our knowledge of cosmic evolution affect terrestrial culture? Conversely, how does our knowledge of cultural evolution affect our thinking about possible cultures in the cosmos? Are life, mind, and culture of fundamental significance to the grand story of the cosmos that has generated its own self-understanding through science, rational reasoning, and mathematics? Might this lead to cultural evolution on a large enough scale to allow the universe to both create and steer itself toward its own destiny? Related products: NASA's First 50 Years: Historical Perspectives; NASA 50 Anniversary Proceedings can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/033-000-01336-1 Bringing the Future Within Reach: Celebrating 75 Years of the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center, 1941-2016 can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/033-000-01377-9 Other products produced by National Aerounautics and Space Administration (NASA) can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/550
Download or read book Fairing Well written by Christian Gelzer and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Space Time and Aliens written by Steven J. Dick and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-05-11 with total page 795 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive and interdisciplinary volume, former NASA Chief Historian Steven Dick reflects on the exploration of space, astrobiology and its implications, cosmic evolution, astronomical institutions, discovering and classifying the cosmos, and the philosophy of astronomy. The unifying theme of the book is the connection between cosmos and culture, or what Carl Sagan many years ago called the “cosmic connection.” As both an astronomer and historian of science, Dr. Dick has been both a witness to and a participant in many of the astronomical events of the last half century. This collection of papers presents his reflections over the last forty years in a way accessible to historians, philosophers, and scientists alike. From the search for alien life to ongoing space exploration efforts, readers will find this volume full of engaging topics relevant to science, society, and our collective future on planet Earth and beyond.
Download or read book The Spoken Word II written by Curtis Peebles and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Remembering the Space Age written by Steven J. Dick and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Publisher: Proceedings of October 2007 conference, sponsored by the NASA History Division and the National Air and Space Museum, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik 1 launch in October 1957 and the dawn of the space age.
Download or read book When Biospheres Collide written by Michael Meltzer and published by U. S. National Aeronautics & Space Administration. This book was released on 2010 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOTE: NO FURTHER DISCOUNT FOR THIS PRINT PRODUCT- OVERSTOCK SALE-- Significantly reduced list price This new book from the NASA History Series tackles an interesting duo of biological problems that will be familiar to anybody who has seen photos of Apollo astronauts quarantined after their return to Earth.Namely, how do we avoid contaminating celestial bodies with Earthly germs when we send spacecraft to study these bodies, and how do we avoid spreading foreign biological matter from space when our robotic and human spacefarers return to Earth?Biological matter from an external system could potentially cause an unchecked epidemic either on Earth or in space so strict precautions are necessary. Each time a space vehicle visits another world it runs the risk of forever changing that extraterrestrial environment. We are surrounded on Earth by a melange of different microorganisms, and if some of these hitchhike onboard a space mission, they could contaminate and start colonies on a different planet. Such an occurrence would irrevocably alter the nature of that world, compromise all future scientific exploration of the body, and possibly damage any extant life on it.By inadvertently carrying exotic organisms back to Earth on our spacecraft, we also risk the release of biohazardous materials into our own ecosystem. Such concerns were recognized by scientists even before the 1957 launch of Sputnik. This book presents the history of planetary protection by tracing the responses to the above concerns on NASA s missions to the Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and many smaller bodies of our solar system. The book relates the extensive efforts put forth by NASA to plan operations and prepare space vehicles that return exemplary science without contaminating the biospheres of other worlds or our own. To protect irreplaceable environments, NASA has committed to conducting space exploration in a manner that is protective of the bodies visited, as well as of our own planet."
Download or read book Apollo Expeditions to the Moon written by Edgar M. Cortright and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here men from the planet earth. First set foot upon the moon - July 1969 A.D. We Came in peace for all mankind. From the plaque on the Eagle, Apollo 11, which landed on the moon on July 20, 1969.
