To Reach the High Frontier; A History of U.S. Launch Vehicles

Launius, Roger D. (Editor), and Jenkins, Dennis R. (Editor)

ISBN 10: 0813122457 / ISBN 13: 9780813122458

Published by The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 2002

About this Item

[8], 519, [1] pages. Illustrations. Figures. Tables. Chapter notes. Notes on Contributors. Index. Some edge discoloration. A collection of case studies in the history of all the major rockets built by the United States; each study has been written by a specialist knowledgeable about the vehicle described and places each system in the larger context of the history of space flight. Among the launch vehicles discussed are the Atlas, Titan, and Delta launchers, as well as NASA's Saturn and Space Shuttle systems. Roger D. Launius (born May 15, 1954) is an American historian and author of Lithuanian descent, a former chief historian of NASA. From 1982 to 1990, Launius held several positions as a civilian historian with the United States Air Force. Between 1990 and 2002, he was the chief historian for NASA. In 2001, he held the Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History at the Smithsonian. From 2002-2006 he was Chair of the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. From 2006-2013 he was Senior Curator, and from 2013-2016 Launius was Associate Director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs at the same institution. Launius contributed space policy analysis in the wake of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board 2003 report. He has been a regular commentator on space-related issues for the news media. Launius is a consulting historian in air and space history. He has written many books on space flight. Dennis R. Jenkins worked as a contractor to NASA for 33 years, mostly on the Space Shuttle Program in a variety of engineering and management roles. After supporting the first few space shuttle launches at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), he spent five years activating the Vandenberg Launch Site in California before the facility was closed following the Challenger accident. Returning to KSC, he supported recovering from the accident and a variety of special projects. During the late 1990s Jenkins was the ground systems lead for the X-33 program. Afterward, he managed a variety of upgrade projects at KSC. Jenkins spent 2003 on the staff of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), 2004 as staff to the President s Commission on the Future of Human Spaceflight and as technical staff to the Return-to-Flight Task Group evaluating the readiness of space shuttle to support STS-114, 2005 as the Verville Fellow at the National Air and Space Museum, and then returned to KSC as a consultant to United Space Alliance. In 2010 he became the USA project manager for the Orbiters on Display Working Group that delivered the space shuttle orbiters to the National Air and Space Museum, Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, California Science Center, and the KSC Visitor Complex. Afterward Jenkins became the project director for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center that will ultimately display Endeavour as a full launch stack. A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, supported by a launch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling. Launch vehicles are engineered with advanced aerodynamics and technologies, which contribute to high operating costs. An orbital launch vehicle must lift its payload at least to the boundary of space, approximately 93 miles and accelerate it to a horizontal velocity of at least 17,480 mph. Suborbital vehicles launch their payloads to lower velocity or are launched at elevation angles greater than horizontal. Practical orbital launch vehicles use chemical propellants such as solid fuel, liquid hydrogen, kerosene, liquid oxygen, or hypergolic propellants. Launch vehicles are classified by their orbital payload capacity, ranging from s.

Seller Inventory # 56471

Bibliographic Details

• Title: To Reach the High Frontier; A History of U.S. Launch Vehicles
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813122457
• ISBN 13: 9780813122458
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Printing [Stated].
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Space Shuttle
  • NASA
  • Astronautics

About this title

Synopsis

Access -- no single word better describes the primary concern of the exploration and development of space. Every participant in space activities -- civil, military, scientific, or commercial -- needs affordable, reliable, frequent, and flexible access to space. To Reach the High Frontier details the histories of the various space access vehicles developed in the United States since the birth of the space age in 1957. Each case study has been written by a specialist knowledgeable about the vehicle described and places each system in the larger context of the history of spaceflight. The technical challenge of reaching space with chemical rockets, the high costs associated with space launch, the long lead times necessary for scheduling flights, and the poor reliability of the rockets themselves show launch vehicles to be the space program's most difficult challenge.

About the Author

Roger D. Launius, chief historian of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C., has written or edited more than twenty books, most recently Imagining Space: Achievements, Predictions, Possibilities, 1950-2050. Dennis R. Jenkins, a consulting engineer in Cape Canaveral, Florida, has written over thirty works on aerospace history, including Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System - The First 100 Flights.