Dyna-Soar
Dyna-Soar

Author: Robert Godwin

Publisher: Burlington, Ont. : Apogee Books

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 484

ISBN-13: 9781896522951

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It was a Space Shuttle with a mission - to drop a weaponpayload anywhere on Earth and to do so while approachingits target at hypersonic velocity - 18,000 miles perhour. Between 1957 and 1963 the Dyna-Soar programconsumed $430 million of the US taxpayer's money.However, it never flew. Cancelled less than two weeksafter President ......

US Hypersonic Research and Development
US Hypersonic Research and Development

Author: Roy F. Houchin II

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-09-27

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 1134230265

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An essential new account of some of the most valuable research and development in international military history. Roy F. Houchin II shows how the roots of US Air Force hypersonic research and development are grounded in Army Air Force General Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold's identification of the need for advanced airpower weapon systems to meet the anticipated postwar enemy threat. The technology for a smooth transition to military spaceflight seemed within reach when Bell Aircraft Corporation executive Walter Dornberger (the former commander of Nazi Germany's V-2 rocket research) made an unsolicited proposal to William E. Lamar (the chief of Wright Aeronautical Development Center's New Development Office of the Bomber Aircraft Division at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH) for a hypersonic boost-glide weapon system. Visionaries like Arnold, Dornberger, and Lamar believed a hypersonic boost-glider would represent the ultimate expression of the US Air Force's doctrine by performing strategic bombardment and reconnaissance more successfully any other type of vehicle. As this aspiration reached maturity in Dyna-Soar, the service's leadership never gave up their beliefs. This book shows how the struggle to persuade the secretary of defence and his advisors, who did not share the Air Force's vision for a military spaceplane, illustrates the ebb and flow of an advanced technology program and its powerful legacy within American society.

The Other Space Race
The Other Space Race

Author: Nicholas Michael Sambaluk

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2015-12-15

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1612518877

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The Other Space Race is a unique look at the early U.S. space program and how it both shaped and was shaped by politics during the Cold War. Eisenhower’s “New Look” expanded the role of the Air Force in national security, and ultimately allowed ambitious aerospace projects, namely the “Dyna-Soar,” a bomber equipped with nuclear weapons that would operate in space. Eisenhower’s space policy was purely practical, creating a strong deterrent against the use of nuclear arms against the United States. With the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, the political climate changed, and space travel became part of the United States’ national discourse. Sambaluk explores what followed, including the scuttling of the “Dyna-Soar” program and the transition from Eisenhower’s space policy to John Kennedy’s. This well-argued, well-researched book gives much needed perspective on the Cold War’s influence on space travel and it’s relation to the formation of public policy.

Astronaut Maker
Astronaut Maker

Author: Michael Cassutt

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

Published: 2018-08-01

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 1613737033

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One of the most elusive and controversial figures in NASA's history, George W. S. Abbey was called "the Dark Lord," "the Godfather," and "UNO" (unidentified NASA official) by those within NASA. From young pilot and wannabe astronaut to engineer, bureaucrat, and finally director of the Johnson Space Center ("mission control"), Abbey's story has never been fully told—until now. This fascinating account takes readers inside NASA to learn the real story of how Abbey rose to power and wielded it out of the spotlight. Informed by countless hours of interviews with Abbey and his family, friends, adversaries, and former colleagues, The Astronaut Maker is the ultimate insider's account of ambition and power politics at NASA.

At the Edge of Space
At the Edge of Space

Author: Milton O. Thompson

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution

Published: 2013-08-06

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 1588343863

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In At the Edge of Space, Milton O. Thompson tells the dramatic story of one of the most successful research aircraft ever flown. The first full-length account of the X-15 program, the book profiles the twelve test pilots (Neil Armstrong, Joe Engle, Scott Crossfield, and the author among them) chosen for the program. Thompson has translated a highly technical subject into readable accounts of each pilot's participation, including many heroic and humorous anecdotes and highlighting the pilots' careers after the program ended in 1968.