To Orbit and Back Again

Author: Davide Sivolella
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461409837
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 523

Book Description
The Space Shuttle has been the dominant machine in the U.S. space program for thirty years and has generated a great deal of interest among space enthusiasts and engineers. This book enables readers to understand its technical systems in greater depth than they have been able to do so before. The author describes the structures and systems of the Space Shuttle, and then follows a typical mission, explaining how the structures and systems were used in the launch, orbital operations and the return to Earth. Details of how anomalous events were dealt with on individual missions are also provided, as are the recollections of those who built and flew the Shuttle. Many photographs and technical drawings illustrate how the Space Shuttle functions, avoiding the use of complicated technical jargon. The book is divided into two sections: Part 1 describes each subsystem in a technical style, supported by diagrams, technical drawings, and photographs to enable a better understanding of the concepts. Part 2 examines different flight phases, from liftoff to landing. Technical material has been obtained from NASA as well as from other forums and specialists. Author Davide Sivolella is an aerospace engineer with a life-long interest in space and is ideally qualified to interpret technical manuals for a wider audience. This book provides comprehensive coverage of the topic including the evolution of given subsystems, reviewing the different configurations, and focusing on the solutions implemented.

To Orbit and Back Again : #b how the Space Shuttle Flew in Space

Author: Davide Sivolella
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Space flight
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description

The Space Shuttle Program

Author: Davide Sivolella
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319549464
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
This book tells the story of the Space Shuttle in its many different roles as orbital launch platform, orbital workshop, and science and technology laboratory. It focuses on the technology designed and developed to support the missions of the Space Shuttle program. Each mission is examined, from both the technical and managerial viewpoints. Although outwardly identical, the capabilities of the orbiters in the late years of the program were quite different from those in 1981. Sivolella traces the various improvements and modifications made to the shuttle over the years as part of each mission story. Technically accurate but with a pleasing narrative style and simple explanations of complex engineering concepts, the book provides details of many lesser known concepts, some developed but never flown, and commemorates the ingenuity of NASA and its partners in making each Space Shuttle mission push the boundaries of what we can accomplish in space.Using press kits, original papers, newspaper and magazine articles, memoirs and interviews, this book provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive account available of the shuttle’s many missions and will refocus interest on a remarkable flying machine and space program that is often pushed to the background.

Single Stage to Orbit

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

Bringing Columbia Home

Author: Michael D. Leinbach
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1628728523
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 454

Book Description
Voted the Best Space Book of 2018 by the Space Hipsters The dramatic inside story of the epic search and recovery operation after the Columbia space shuttle disaster. On February 1, 2003, Columbia disintegrated on reentry before the nation’s eyes, and all seven astronauts aboard were lost. Author Mike Leinbach, Launch Director of the space shuttle program at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center was a key leader in the search and recovery effort as NASA, FEMA, the FBI, the US Forest Service, and dozens more federal, state, and local agencies combed an area of rural east Texas the size of Rhode Island for every piece of the shuttle and her crew they could find. Assisted by hundreds of volunteers, it would become the largest ground search operation in US history. This comprehensive account is told in four parts: Parallel Confusion Courage, Compassion, and Commitment Picking Up the Pieces A Bittersweet Victory For the first time, here is the definitive inside story of the Columbia disaster and recovery and the inspiring message it ultimately holds. In the aftermath of tragedy, people and communities came together to help bring home the remains of the crew and nearly 40 percent of shuttle, an effort that was instrumental in piecing together what happened so the shuttle program could return to flight and complete the International Space Station. Bringing Columbia Home shares the deeply personal stories that emerged as NASA employees looked for lost colleagues and searchers overcame immense physical, logistical, and emotional challenges and worked together to accomplish the impossible. Featuring a foreword and epilogue by astronauts Robert Crippen and Eileen Collins, and dedicated to the astronauts and recovery search persons who lost their lives, this is an incredible, compelling narrative about the best of humanity in the darkest of times and about how a failure at the pinnacle of human achievement became a story of cooperation and hope.

Floating to Space

Author: John M. Powell
Publisher: Collectors Guide Pub
ISBN: 9781894959735
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Book Description
Book & DVD. From the Space Shuttle, to Soyuz, to Spaceship One, riding the explosion at the bottom of a rocket has historically been the only path to space. Is there another way? "Floating to Space" in an overview of the new technology of space-bound airships. What, the Goodyear blimp goes to Mars? Yes! The technology called ATO, "Airship to Orbit" is being developed right now. Hypersonic airships and cities floating at the edge of space are all part of this seemingly impossible idea. Beyond describing the concept, this book shows the amazing adventure of those who are building these giant craft and throwing them into the sky. Not just a fantasy, this book shows photographs and details from the nearly one hundred development flights conducted so far. . . Included are descriptions of the environment where these craft fly to the edge of space. New findings such as life twenty miles up and mile high plasma volcanoes are introduced for the first time outside of scientific journals. This book shows you how ATO is to be accomplished from a project and economic prospective. It also details the progress so far and lays out a blueprint of what is to come. Includes a DVD of remarkable footage taken during the many test flights of JP Aerospace's unique experiments floating to space.

Reflections from Earth Orbit

Author: Winston E. Scott
Publisher: Apogee Books
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
In spite of the recent loss of the space shuttle Columbia, there are those who believe in the seemingly routine nature of space flight. The author's experiences however confirm the tremendous curiosity and overall fascination the world maintains for flying in space. As a public speaker, he talks regularly to thousands of people of all ages and from every walk of life. These audience members universally are inquisitive about life in space and the makeup of the individuals who form the corps of con-temporary space explorers. Reflections From Earth Orbit is not your typical 'how do you go to the bathroom in space' book. It is a book about life as told through the memories, or reflections, of the author navy Captain Winston Scott. These reflections were prompted by events that occurred during two space shuttle missions as a NASA astronaut aboard the space shuttles Endeavour and Columbia. It has been written that Captain Scott's journey to the stars is a testament to perseverance and vision. Reflections is his attempt to share some of the experiences that drove him to overcome his life's obstacles and become one of a select few who journeyed beyond the bonds of earth into outer space. Through Reflections the author takes the reader into space. He gives vivid descriptions of life in space emphasising the everyday aspects of living with which the average, everyday person is curious and to which he or she can relate. As his memory is jogged by an event in space, Captain Scott relates a fascinating story with lessons learned from his past. He has succeeded in capturing the essence of life in space and sharing the space flight experience with the reader. Although not every chapter follows this exact format, e.g. Where Have You Gone Sky King, Reflections will entertain, educate, and inspire a general audience. In other words, one does not have to be a space enthusiast to enjoy 'Reflections'.

See You In Orbit? Our Dream Of Spaceflight

Author: Alan Ladwig
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781733265706
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 500

Book Description
For centuries, a journey to space has been a shared dream of millions around the world. We have patiently, and impatiently, anticipated Sunday afternoon drives down celestial freeways. Yet, since 1961 when human space travel began, fewer than 560 professional astronauts, cosmonauts, taikonauts and a-half dozen millionaires have seen Earth from a vantage point in space. Given so few orbiting travelers, what made so many ordinary people think they had the slightest chance to fulfill their dream? Because for decades, visionaries, government officials, space companies, and the media told us our ticket to ride was just a rocket away. All we had to do was "keep the dream alive." With so much optimism, shouldn't we all be there by now? See You In Orbit? Our Dream of Spaceflight will be the first non-fiction book to take a historical, personal, irreverent, and often-humorous look at the promises, expectations, principal personalities, and milestones regarding the goal and dream we have to fly in space.

Back to Earth

Author: NICOLE. STOTT
Publisher: Seal Press
ISBN: 9781541675049
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Book Description
Inspired by insights gained in spaceflight, a NASA astronaut offers key lessons to empower Earthbound readers to fight climate change When Nicole Stott first saw Earth from space, she realized how interconnected we are and knew she had to help protect our planetary home. In Back to Earth, Stott imparts essential lessons in problem-solving, survival, and crisis response that each of us can practice to make change. She knows we can overcome differences to address global issues, because she saw this every day on the International Space Station. Stott shares stories from her spaceflight and insights from scientists, activists, and changemakers working to solve our greatest environmental challenges. She learns about the complexities of Earth's biodiversity from NASA engineers working to enable life in space and from scientists protecting life on Earth for future generations. Ultimately, Stott reveals how we each have the power to respect our planetary home and one another by living our lives like crewmates, not passengers, on an inspiring shared mission

Space Mining and Manufacturing

Author: Davide Sivolella
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030308812
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Book Description
This book produces convincing evidence that exploiting the potential of space could help solve many environmental and social issues affecting our planet, such as pollution, overcrowding, resource depletion and conflicts, economic inequality, social unrest, economic instability and unemployment. It also touches on the legal problems that will be encountered with the implementation of the new technologies and new laws that will need to be enacted and new organizations that will need to be formed to deal with these changes. This proposition for a space economy is not science fiction, but well within the remit of current or under development technologies. Numerous technologies are described and put together to form a coherent and feasible road map that, if implemented, could lead humankind towards a brighter future.