To a Distant Day
University of Nebraska Press (Verlag)
978-0-8032-4521-1 (ISBN)
Although the dream of flying is as old as the human imagination, the notion of rocketing into space may have originated with Chinese gunpowder experiments during the Middle Ages. Rockets as both weapons and entertainment are examined in this engaging history of how human beings acquired the ability to catapult themselves into space.
Chris Gainor’s irresistible narrative introduces us to pioneers such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard, and Hermann Oberth, who pointed the way to the cosmos by generating the earliest wave of international enthusiasm for space exploration. It shows us German engineer Wernher von Braun creating the V-2, the first large rocket, which, though opening the door to space, failed utterly as the “wonder weapon” it was meant to be. From there Gainor follows the space race to the Soviet Union and the United States, giving us a close look at the competitive hysteria that led to Sputnik, satellites, space probes, and—finally—human flight into space in 1961.
As much a story of cultural ambition and personal destiny as of scientific progress and technological history, To a Distant Day offers a complete and thoroughly compelling account of humanity’s determined efforts—sometimes poignant, sometimes amazing, sometimes mad—to leave the earth behind.
Chris Gainor, a historian of technology, is the author of Arrows to the Moon: Avro’s Engineers and the Space Race, Who Killed the Avro Arrow?, and Canada in Space: The People and Stories behind Canada’s Role in the Exploration of Space. Alfred Worden was an Apollo 15 astronaut.
Acknowledgements
Foreword from Col. Alfred Worden
Acronyms
Chapter 1 Space Dreams and War Drums
Chapter 2 Tsiolkovsky and the Birth of Soviet Astronautics
Chapter 3 Robert Goddard’s Solitary Trail
Chapter 4 Hermann Oberth and Early German Rocketry
Chapter 5 Von Braun, Dornberger and World War II
Chapter 6 Rockets, Balloons and the Right Stuff
Chapter 7 Korolev and the First ICBM
Chapter 8 The Military Industrial Complex
Chapter 9 Sputniks and Muttniks
Chapter 10 The Birth of NASA
Chapter 11 Man In Space Soonest
Epilog: July 6, 1969
Sources
Index
Erscheint lt. Verlag | 1.7.2013 |
---|---|
Reihe/Serie | Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Spaceflight |
Vorwort | Alfred Worden |
Zusatzinfo | 29 photographs, 1 illustration |
Verlagsort | Lincoln |
Sprache | englisch |
Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
Themenwelt | Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Weltraum / Astronomie |
Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918) | |
Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik | |
Technik ► Luft- / Raumfahrttechnik | |
ISBN-10 | 0-8032-4521-1 / 0803245211 |
ISBN-13 | 978-0-8032-4521-1 / 9780803245211 |
Zustand | Neuware |
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