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Breaking the Chains of Gravity
The Story of Spaceflight before NASA
Breaking the Chains of Gravity
The Story of Spaceflight before NASA
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Description
The revealing backstory of spaceflight before the establishment of NASA.
NASA's history is a familiar story, culminating with the agency successfully landing men on the moon in 1969, but its prehistory is an important and rarely told tale. Breaking the Chains of Gravity looks at the evolving roots of America's space program--the scientific advances, the personalities, and the rivalries between the various arms of the United States military.
America's space agency drew together some of the best minds the non-Soviet world had to offer. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the U.S. Air Force, meanwhile, brought rocket technology into the world of manned flight.
The road to NASA and successful spaceflight was paved by fascinating stories and characters. At the end of World War II, Wernher von Braun escaped Nazi Germany and came to America where he began developing missiles for the United States Army. Ten years after he created the V-2 missile, his Jupiter rocket was the only one capable of launching a satellite into orbit. NACA test pilots like Neil Armstrong flew cutting-edge aircraft in the thin upper atmosphere while Air Force pilots rode to the fringes of space in balloons to see how humans handled radiation at high altitude. After the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, getting a man in space suddenly became a national imperative, leading President Dwight D. Eisenhower to pull various pieces together to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Hobby Rocketeers
Chapter 2: The Rocket Loophole
Chapter 3: The Turning Tide of War
Chapter 4: Escape and Surrender
Chapter 5: Nazi Rockets in New Mexico
Chapter 6: Rockets Meet Airplanes
Chapter 7: A New War, a New Missile, and a New Leader
Chapter 8: Higher and Faster
Chapter 9: Edging into Hypersonics
Chapter 10: The Floating Astronaut
Chapter 11: Space Becomes an Option
Chapter 12: The First Satellite Race
Chapter 13: One Little Ball's Big Impact
Chapter 14: The Fight to Control Space
Epilogue: America Finds Its Footing in Space
Glossary of People
Glossary of Places and Organizations
Glossary of Rockets
Selected Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
Product details
| Published | Jan 30 2018 |
|---|---|
| Format | Paperback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 304 |
| ISBN | 9781472911247 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Sigma |
| Illustrations | 8-page colour section |
| Dimensions | 198 x 129 mm |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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