To the End of the Solar System: The Story of the Nuclear Rocket - Hardcover

James A. Dewar

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813122678 ISBN 13: 9780813122670

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 2003

Synopsis

Chemically propelled rockets can lift less than 5 percent of their take-off weight into orbit, a fact that could forever limit the space program. Nuclear-powered rockets, however, with their superior thrusting power and speed, are radically different. So argues James A. Dewar in the only comprehensive history ever written of the nuclear rocket project. It is a story of political battles over the space program's future, involving Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, and a readable account of its technical successes, a story perhaps more interesting and certainly more important, Dewar believes, than the history of atomic and H-bomb development. Dewar maintains that only by reestablishing a nuclear rocket project can the nation have a space program worthy of the 21st century, one that makes reality of the hopes and dreams of science fiction.

About this title

About the Author:

James A. Dewar worked exclusively on nuclear affairs in the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies, the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Atomic Energy Commission. He lives in Oxford, Maryland.

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0813122678
• ISBN 13: 9780813122670
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 438