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Overview"The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics - forerunner of today's NASA - emerged in 1915, when airplanes were curiosities made of wood and canvas and held together with yards of baling wire. At the time an unusual example of government intrusion (and foresight, given the importance of aviation to national military concerns), the committee oversaw the development of wind tunnels, metal fabrication, propeller design and powerful new high-speed aircraft during the 1920s and '30s. In this illustrated account, historian of aviation Roger E. Bilstein combines the story of NACA and NASA to provide a fresh look at the agencies, the problems they faced and the hard work as well as inventive genius of the men and women who found the solutions. NACA research during World War II led to critical advances in US fighter and bomber design and, Bilstein explains, contributed to engineering standards for helicopters. After 1945 the agency's test pilots experimented with jet-powered aircraft, testing both human and technical limits in trying to break the so-called ""sound barrier"". In October 1958, when the launch of the Soviet Sputnik signalled the beginning of the space race, NACA formed the nucleus of the new National Aeronautics and Space Agency. The new agency's efforts to meet President Kennedy's challenge - safely landing a man on the Moon and returning him to Earth before the end of the 1960s - is one of the great adventure stories of all time. Bilstein goes on to describe NASA's recent planetary and extraplanetary exploration, as well as its less well-known research into the future of aeronautical design." Full Product DetailsAuthor: Roger E. BilsteinPublisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press Dimensions: Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 23.50cm Weight: 0.499kg ISBN: 9780801871580ISBN 10: 0801871581 Pages: 256 Publication Date: 04 July 2003 Recommended Age: From 18 Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , General , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: To order  Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us. Table of ContentsContents: Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1. Foundations for Flight, 1915-1930 2. Aeronautics in Peace and War, 1930-1945 3. Jets, Sonic Speed, and Satellites, 1945-1958 4. On the Fringes of Space, 1958-1964 5. Dress Rehearsals, 1964-1969 6. Aerospace Dividends, 1969-1973 7. International Ventures, 1973-1980 8. Aircraft and Aerospace Craft, 1980-1989 9. The Post-Challenger Years, 1989-1990's 10. Toward Century 21 11. Retrospect and Prospect Notes on Reading Chronology IndexReviewsNo better introductory history of NACA and NASA exists. Choice <p> No better introductory history of NACA and NASA exists. -- Choice Author InformationRoger E. Bilstein is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Houston, Clear Lake. He is the author of Flight Patterns: Trends of Aeronautical Development in the United States, 1918-1929; Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles; and Flight in America: From the Wrights to the Astronauts, the last available from Johns Hopkins. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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