This official NASA history chronicles the behind-the-scenes conflicts and cooperation during the Apollo expeditions. It shows how the space agency's scientists, who were primarily interested in the Moon itself, worked out their differences with the engineers, who were charged with the astronauts' safe landing and return. The close collaboration between the scientists and engineers ensured the success of a program that remains a major achievement for both fields.The first half of the...

The official record of America's first space station, this thorough and highly readable book from the NASA History Series chronicles the Skylab program from its planning during the 1960s through its 1973 launch and its conclusion in 1979. Its definitive accounts examine the project's goals and achievements as well as the use of discoveries and technology developed during the Apollo program.This three-part survey begins with the background against which post-Apollo planning unfolded,...

The incredible story of how human pilots and automated systems worked together to achieve the ultimate achievement in flight—the lunar landings of NASA’s Apollo programAs Apollo 11’s Lunar Module descended toward the moon under automatic control, a program alarm in the guidance computer’s software nearly caused a mission abort. Neil Armstrong responded by switching off the automatic mode and taking direct control. He stopped monitoring the computer and began flying...

A history of exploration through eleven objects from the Air and Space Museum: "Takes you behind the scenes with firsthand stories and rare photos." —William F. Readdy, former NASA astronaut and Space Shuttle commanderThroughout human history, across cultures and landscapes, countless individuals have gazed with wonder in the same direction: upward. Getting to space was no easy task, and our quest to further explore the universe, to understand the impossibly vast he...

While the Moon was once thought to hold the key to space exploration, in recent decades, the U.S. has largely turned its sights toward Mars and other celestial bodies instead. In The Value of the Moon, lunar scientist Paul Spudis argues that the U.S. can and should return to the moon in order to remain a world leader in space utilization and development and a participant in and beneficiary of a new lunar economy.Spudis explores three reasons for returning to the Moon: it i...

The moon landing of 1969 stands as an iconic moment for both the United States and humankind. The familiar story focuses on the journey of the brave astronauts, who brought home Moon rocks and startling photographs. But Apollo's full account includes the earthbound engineers, mounds of their crumpled paper, and smoldering metal shards of exploded engines. How exactly did the nation, step by difficult step, take men to the Moon and back? In The Apollo Chronicles, fifty years after ...

Getting to Mars required engineering genius, scientific strategy, and the drive to persevere in the face of failure.Although the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has become synonymous with the United States’ planetary exploration during the past half century, its most recent focus has been on Mars. Beginning in the 1990s and continuing through the Mars Phoenix mission of 2007, JPL led the way in engineering an impressive, rapidly evolving successi...

A captivating history of NASA’s Space Transportation System—the space shuttle—chronicling the inevitable failures of a doomed design.In Dark Star, Matthew Hersch challenges the existing narrative of the most significant human space program of the last 50 years, NASA’s space shuttle. He begins with the origins of the space shuttle: a century-long effort to develop a low-cost, reusable, rocket-powered airplane to militarize and commercialize space travel, wh...

Spacecraft takes a long look at humankind's attempts and advances in leaving Earth through incredible illustrations and authoritatively written profiles on Sputnik, the International Space Station, and beyond.In 1957, the world looked on with both uncertainty and amazement as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first man-made orbiter. Sputnik 1 would spend three months circling Earth every 98 minutes and covering 71 million miles in the process. The w...

Space travel is a familiar concept. Such was not the case in the early 20th century, when the United States and the former Soviet Union were locked in a race to send humans into orbit. This book details the history of manned spaceflight, from the development of rockets to the advent of space tourism. Readers also are introduced to the men and women who have been willing to soar into the great unknown.

The Red Planet has been a subject of fascination for humanity for thousands of years, becoming part of our folklore and popular culture. The most Earthlike of the planets in our solar system, Mars may have harbored some form of life in the past and may still possess an ecosystem in some underground refuge. The mysteries of this fourth planet from our Sun make it of central importance to NASA and its science goals for the twenty-first century.In the wake of the very public failures ...

Humankind's venture into the final frontier began with stargazing and continues to this day. But the greatest achievements have been recent. Readers will discover how the scientific theories of figures like Isaac Newton inspired the advancements of Hermann Oberth, a founder of modern astronautics, and Robert Hutchings Goddard, the father of modern rocketry. Mathematical equations and physics lessons that fit well into Common Core standards explain the principles these pioneers shaped. Allu...