Download or read book The Space Shuttle Decision written by T. A. Heppenheimer and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Upgrading the Space Shuttle written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1999-02-21 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The space shuttle is a unique national resource. One of only two operating vehicles that carries humans into space, the space shuttle functions as a scientific laboratory and as a base for construction, repair, and salvage missions in low Earth orbit. It is also a heavy-lift launch vehicle (able to deliver more than 18,000 kg of payload to low Earth orbit) and the only current means of returning large payloads to Earth. Designed in the 1970s, the shuttle has frequently been upgraded to improve safety, cut operational costs, and add capability. Additional upgrades have been proposed-and some are under way-to combat obsolescence, further reduce operational costs, improve safety, and increase the ability of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to support the space station and other missions. In May 1998, NASA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to examine the agency's plans for further upgrades to the space shuttle system. The NRC was asked to assess NASA's method for evaluating and selecting upgrades and to conduct a top-level technical assessment of proposed upgrades.
Download or read book The Space Shuttle at Work written by Howard Allaway and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Reusable Booster System written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-01-10 with total page 115 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On June 15, 2011, the Air Force Space Command established a new vision, mission, and set of goals to ensure continued U.S. dominance in space and cyberspace mission areas. Subsequently, and in coordination with the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Space and Missile Systems Center, and the 14th and 24th Air Forces, the Air Force Space Command identified four long-term science and technology (S&T) challenges critical to meeting these goals. One of these challenges is to provide full-spectrum launch capability at dramatically lower cost, and a reusable booster system (RBS) has been proposed as an approach to meet this challenge. The Air Force Space Command asked the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council to conduct an independent review and assessment of the RBS concept prior to considering a continuation of RBS-related activities within the Air Force Research Laboratory portfolio and before initiating a more extensive RBS development program. The committee for the Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment was formed in response to that request and charged with reviewing and assessing the criteria and assumptions used in the current RBS plans, the cost model methodologies used to fame [frame?] the RBS business case, and the technical maturity and development plans of key elements critical to RBS implementation. The committee consisted of experts not connected with current RBS activities who have significant expertise in launch vehicle design and operation, research and technology development and implementation, space system operations, and cost analysis. The committee solicited and received input on the Air Force launch requirements, the baseline RBS concept, cost models and assessment, and technology readiness. The committee also received input from industry associated with RBS concept, industry independent of the RBS concept, and propulsion system providers which is summarized in Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment.
Download or read book The Space Shuttle Decision written by T. A. Heppenheimer and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long before the NASA was the throes of planning for the Apollo voyages to the Moon, many people had seen the need for a vehicle that could access space routinely. The idea of a reusable space shuttle dates at least to the theoretical rocketplane studies of the 1930s, but by the 1950s it had become an integral part of a master plan for space exploration. The goal of efficient access to space in a heavy-lift booster prompted NASA's commitment to the space shuttle as the vehicle to continue human space flight. By the mid-1960s, NASA engineers concluded that the necessary technology was within reach to enable the creation of a reusable winged space vehicle that could haul scientific and applications satellites of all types into orbit for all users. President Richard M. Nixon approved the effort to build the shuttle in 1972 and the first orbital flight took place in 1981. Although the development program was risky, a talented group of scientists and engineers worked to create this unique space vehicle and their efforts were largely successful. Since 1981, the various orbiters -Atlantis, Columbia, Discovery, Endeavour, and Challenger (lost in 1986 during the only Space Shuttle accident)- have made early 100 flights into space. Through 1998, the space shuttle has carried more than 800 major scientific and technological payloads into orbit and its astronaut crews have conducted more than 50 extravehicular activities, including repairing satellites and the initial building of the International Space Station. The shuttle remains the only vehicle in the world with the dual ability to deliver and return large payloads to and from orbit, and is also the world's most reliable launch system. The design, now almost three decades old, is still state-of-the-art in many areas, including computerized flight control, airframe design, electrical power systems, thermal protection system, and main engines. This significant new study of the decision to build the space shuttle explains the shuttle's origin and early development. In addition to internal NASA discussions, this work details the debates in the late 1960s and early 1970s among policymakers in Congress, the Air Force, and the Office of Management and Budget over the roles and technical designs of the shuttle. Examining the interplay of these organizations with sometimes conflicting goals, the author not only explains how the world's premier space launch vehicle came into being, but also how politics can interact with science, technology, national security, and economics in national government.
Download or read book The Space Shuttle Decision NASA s Search for a Reusable Space Vehicle written by T. A. Heppenheimer and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2009-11-18 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This significant new study of the decision to build the Space Shuttle explains the Shuttle's origins and early development. In addition to internal NASA discussions, this work details the debates in the late 1960s and early 1970s among policymakers in Congress, the Air Force, and the Office of Management and Budget over the roles and technical designs of the Shuttle. Examining the interplay of these organizations with sometimes conflicting goals, the author not only explains how the world's premier space launch vehicle came into being, but also how politics can interact with science, technology, national security, and economics in national government. The weighty policy decision to build the Shuttle represents the first component of the broader story: future NASA volumes will cover the Shuttle's development and operational histories.
Download or read book Reusable Launch Vehicle written by Committee on Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology and Test Program and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1996-01-22 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book DEVM SPACE SHUTTLE written by Heppenheimer Ta and published by Smithsonian. This book was released on 2002-05-17 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Lyndon B Johnson Space Center written by and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Space Shuttle written by Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Space Shuttle Decision written by National Aeronautics and Space Administration and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-11 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Space Shuttle took shape and won support, and criticism, as part of NASA's search for a post-Apollo future. NASA had grown rapidly during the 1960s and the success of the piloted moon landings brought insistent demands that NASA should shrink considerably. In facing those demands, and in overcoming them to a degree, NASA extended our manned presence in space. Before anyone could speak seriously of a space shuttle, there had to be a widespread awareness that such a craft would be useful and perhaps even worth building. A shuttle would necessarily find its role within an ambitious space program; and while science-fiction writers had been prophesying such wonders since the days of Jules Verne, it was another matter to present such predictions in ways that smacked of realism. This book portrays NASA's search for continued manned space exploration after the success of Apollo. During 1969, with Nixon newly elected and the first astronauts setting foot on the Moon, NASA Administrator Thomas Paine led a push for a future in space that promised to be expansive. He aimed at nothing less than a piloted expedition to Mars, propelled by nuclear rocket engines that were already in development. En route to Mars, he expected to build space stations and large space bases. Almost as an afterthought, he expected to build a space shuttle as well, to provide low-cost flight to these orbiting facilities. Soon after Neil Armstrong made his one small step in the lunar Sea of Tranquillity, Paine received a cold bath in the Sea of Reality. Nixon's budget director, Robert Mayo, chopped a billion dollars from Paine's request. This brought an end to NASA's hopes for a space base and for flight to Mars. It appeared possible, however, to proceed with the space station and the Shuttle, as a joint project. The Shuttle drew particular interest within the Air Force, which saw it as a means to accomplish low-cost launches of reconnaissance satellites and other military spacecraft. Congress, however, was deeply skeptical toward the proposed shuttle/station, as both the House and Senate came close to killing it in 1970. NASA responded to this near-death experience by placing the station on the shelf and bringing the Shuttle to the forefront. Its officials needed political support that could win over doubters in Congress, and they found this support within the Department of Defense. The Air Force now found itself in a most unusual position. Its generals had worked through the 1960s to pursue programs that could put military astronauts in space. These programs had faltered. Yet here was NASA offering the Pentagon a piloted space shuttle. The Air Force gave its political support to the Shuttle, and NASA went on to quell the opposition on Capitol Hill. The OMB was a tougher opponent. These critics forced NASA to abandon plans for a shuttle with two fully reusable liquid-fueled stages, and to set out on a search for a shuttle design that would cost half as much to develop. Budget officials demanded a design that would be smaller and less costly, even though such a shuttle would have significantly less capability than the Air Force wanted. By shrinking the Shuttle, however, NASA won support where it counted. Caspar Weinberger, the OMB's deputy director, gave his endorsement late in 1971. Nixon also decided that the nation should have a shuttle. On the eve of decision, the key player proved to be OMB Director George Shultz. He decided that since the shuttle was to serve the entire nation, it should have the full capability for which NASA hoped and the Air Force demanded. Shultz's decision reinforced Nixon's, putting an end to the OMB's continuing demands to downsize the design. The consequence was the Space Shuttle as we know it today.
Download or read book The Story of the Space Shuttle written by David M. Harland and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2004-07-05 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In spite of the Challenger and Columbia disasters, the US Space Shuttle, which entered service in 1981, remains the most successful spacecraft ever developed. Conceived and designed as a reusable spacecraft to provide cheap access to low Earth orbit, and to supersede expendable launch vehicles, serving as the National Space Transportation System, it now coexists with a new range of commercial rockets. David Harland’s definitive work on the Space Shuttle explains the scientific contribution the Space Shuttle has made to the international space programme, detailing missions to Mir, Hubble and more recently its role in the assembly of the International Space Station. This substantial revision to existing chapters and extension of ‘The Space Shuttle’, following the loss of Columbia, will include a comprehensive account of the run-up to resumption of operations and conclude with a chapter beyond the Shuttle, looking at possible future concepts for a partly or totally reusable space vehicle which are being considered to replace the Shuttle.
Download or read book Space Shuttle written by Dennis R. Jenkins and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History of the US space shuttle programme and its first 100 missions
Download or read book Picturing the Space Shuttle written by John Bisney and published by University of Florida Press. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rare views of the beginnings of a historic space program After the excitement of the first Moon landing, the U.S. space program took an ambitious new direction closer to home: NASA's Space Shuttle program promised frequent access to Earth orbit for medical and scientific breakthroughs; deploying, repairing and maintaining satellites; and assembling a space station. Picturing the Space Shuttle is the first photographic history of the program's early years as the world's first space plane debuted. Showcasing over 450 unpublished and lesser-known images, this book traces the growth of the Space Shuttle from 1965 to 1982, from initial concept through its first four space flights. The photographs offer windows into designing the first reusable space vehicle as well as the construction and testing of the prototype shuttle Enterprise. They also show the factory assembly and delivery of the Space Shuttle Columbia, preparations at the major NASA field centers, and astronaut selection and training. Finally, the book devotes a chapter to each of the first four orbital missions, STS-1 through STS-4, providing an abundance of seldom seen photos for each flight. Mostly selected from J. L. Pickering's personal archive, the world's largest private collection of U.S. human space flight images, the high-quality photographs in this book are paired with veteran journalist John Bisney's detailed descriptions and historical background information. The book also includes images of NASA and Shuttle contractor booklets, manuals, access badges, and press kits, as well as a foreword by Robert Crippen, the pilot of the first Space Shuttle flight. Picturing the Space Shuttle recreates the excitement of an era in which the possibilities of space exploration seemed limitless.
Download or read book Space Shuttle Missions Summary NASA TM 2011 216142 written by Robert D. Legler and published by www.Militarybookshop.CompanyUK. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Full color publication. This document has been produced and updated over a 21-year period. It is intended to be a handy reference document, basically one page per flight, and care has been exercised to make it as error-free as possible. This document is basically "as flown" data and has been compiled from many sources including flight logs, flight rules, flight anomaly logs, mod flight descent summary, post flight analysis of mps propellants, FDRD, FRD, SODB, and the MER shuttle flight data and inflight anomaly list. Orbit distance traveled is taken from the PAO mission statistics.
Download or read book NASA Space Shuttle written by Piers Bizony and published by Motorbooks International. This book was released on 2021-05-25 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rare photography and stunning artworks illustrate the history of NASA’s Space Shuttle program from 1981 to 2011, providing an unprecedented look at the missions, equipment, and astronauts.
Download or read book The Space Shuttle Decision written by National Aeronautics and Space Administration and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-08 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Space Shuttle Decision NASA's search for a reusable space vehicle National Aeronautics and Space Administration T.A. Heppenheimer Before anyone could speak seriously of a space shuttle, there had to be a widespread awareness that such a craft would be useful and perhaps even worth building. A shuttle would necessarily find its role within an ambitious space program; and while science-fiction writers had been prophesying such wonders since the days of Jules Verne, it was another matter to present such predictions in ways that smacked of realism. After World War II, however, the time became ripe. Everyone knew of the dramatic progress in aviation, which had advanced from biplanes to jet planes in less than a quarter-century. Everyone also recalled the sudden and stunning advent of the atomic bomb. Rocketry had brought further surprises as the Germans bombarded London with long-range V-2 missiles late in the war. Then, in 1952, a group of specialists brought space flight clearly into public view. The concept of a space station took root during the 1920s, in an earlier era of technical change that focused on engines. As recently as 1885, the only important prime mover had been the reciprocating steam engine. The advent of the steam turbine yielded dramatic increases in the speed and power of both warships and ocean liners. Internal-combustion engines, powered by gasoline, led to automobiles, trucks, airships, and airplanes. Submarines powered by diesel engines showed their effectiveness during World War I. After that war, two original thinkers envisioned that another new engine, the liquid-fuel rocket, would permit aviation to advance beyond the Earth's atmosphere and allow the exploration and use of outerspace. These inventors were Robert Goddard, a physicist at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Hermann Oberth, a teacher of mathematics in a gymnasium in a German-speaking community in Romania. Goddard experimented much, wrote little, and was known primarily for his substantial number of patents. Oberth contented himself with mathematical studies and writings. His 1923 book, Die Rakete zu den Planetenraumen (The Rocket into Interplanetary Space), laid much of the foundation for the field of astronautics.
