Overview

Aiming for the Stars explores the motivations, goals, trials, and triumphs of the people who pioneered space exploration from the sixteenth century to the modern era. Tom D. Crouch describes space travel's emergence from the pages of science fiction into the laboratories of twentieth-century rocketeers such as Wernher von Braun, who masterminded Nazi rocket development and later became a key figure in the U.S. space program, and Sergei Korolev, an engineer whose successful launches became the foundation of Soviet Cold War policy. The book also explains the goals nad missions of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs and describes the 1986 Challenge disaster, the spacefaring adventurs of astronaut Shannon Lucid, and the fortunes of the Mir space station in the wake of glasnost. Linking individual obsessions and achievements with the political events and social currents that surrounded them, the book offers a wide-ranging view of the attempt to explore the final frontier.

Full Product Details

Author:   Tom D. Crouch
Publisher:   Smithsonian Books
Imprint:   Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.00cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.60cm
Weight:   0.510kg
ISBN:  

9781560988335

ISBN 10:   1560988339
Pages:   338
Publication Date:   17 August 2000
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Part One: Going to Sea: 1 A taste of the Sea: Artisanal Fishing Communities in the Philippines by Nelson Turgo.- 2 Recruiting and Managing Labour for the Global Shipping Industry in China by Zhiwei Zhao.- 3 Can the UK Tonnage Tax Maritime Training Obligation Address Declining Cadet Recruitment and Training in the UK? by Victor Oyaro Gekara.- 4 Careers at Sea: Exploring Seafarer Motivations and Aspirations by Polina Baum-Talmor.- 5 Women Seafarers: An Analysis of Barriers for Their Employment by Momoko Kitada.- Part Two: Being at Sea: 6 Transitions and Adjustments Made by Seafarers Whilst at Sea by Helen Devereux.- 7 The Rhythms of Shipboard Life: Work, Hierarchy, Occupational Culture and Multinational Crews by Helen Sampson.- 8 The Experience of Being a Filipino Seafarer on a Multinationally Crewed Ship by Iris Acejo.- 9 Environmental Management at Sea, What Being 'Green' Means for Seafarers by Ngwatung Akamangwa.- 10 Safety Aboard Chinese Vessels by Conghua Xue.- 11 Multiple Roles and Role Conflict: Seafarers as Economic, Humanitarian and Security Actors by Amaha Senu.- Part Three: Support for Seafarers and Their Families: 12 Union Organising in the Context of Regional Labour Market Decline: The Case of Nautilus International by Victor Oyaro Gekara.- 13 Trade Union Representation in the Philippines by Ralph Buiser.- 14 On-line Support Groups for Families in China by Lijun Tang.

Reviews

Aiming for the Stars is much more than an informative guide to the past, present, and future of the space program. It is also an inspiring personal account of the men and women who sacrificed so much for all of us along the pathways to space. If you have only one book on your shelf about space history, make it this one. Even the most avid space-flight junkie will find something new on every page. -- Homer H. Hickam Jr., author of October Sky.

Subtitled 'The Dreamers and Doers of the Space Age', Crouch's fascinating volume is the kind of book we need today, as the first rush of exhilaration caused by space exploration is re-kindled after a period of stasis. Crouch aims at providing considerably more than a comprehensive guide to space programs of the past, present and future: he is also strong at conveying the personalities of the men and women behind the most astonishing endeavour of the human race - our faltering steps beyond the confines of this planet. Of course, that adventure is marked out in human lives as much as in the amazing moments we all remember (such as a man standing on the moon), and the author deals with all the dramas of the space race with equal intelligence. And he's also aware that many of us owe our enthusiasm for the subject to the galaxy-spanning imaginative leaps of science fiction books and films, treating these enthusiasms with just the required leavening of reality. If there is a caveat, it's the rather penny-plain black-and-white photos throughout, but Crouch is sufficiently acute a writer to conjure up this greatest of adventure with words alone. (Kirkus UK)

Aiming for the Stars is much more than an informative guide to the past, present, and future of the space program. It is also an inspiring personal account of the men and women who sacrificed so much for all of us along the pathways to space. If you have only one book on your shelf about space history, make it this one. Even the most avid space-flight junkie will find something new on every page.--Homer H. Hickam Jr.

Author Information

Tom D. Crouch is senior curator of aeronautics at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and the author of numerous award-winning books on aerospace history.

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