Countdown : a history of space flight

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Countdown : a history of space flight

T.A. Heppenheimer

John Wiley & Sons, 1997

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Note

Includes bibliographical references(p.363-376)and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

This text takes a historian's view of the space age and places the major achievements of the space age, such as Apollo, in the context of concurrent political and social developments. It juxtaposes the Soviet space programme versus the US programme, providing insights into the "space race". It explains why the two most powerful nations in the world became embroiled in a very costly and politically charged race for space. The book shows how the vast expenditures for space development over the last four decades have left only modest achievements and put the future of NASA in question. It goes on to propose that NASA can find a valid and valuable future in the market for unmanned space craft for commercial use.

Table of Contents

  • Wonder-Weapons and Prison Camps: Rocketry Under Stalin and Hitler
  • Ingenious Yankees: The Rise of America's Rocket Industry
  • Racing to Armageddon: The Superpowers Begin Their Missile Programs
  • The Mid-1950s: Spacecraft, Planned and Imagined
  • The Russians Are Ahead of Us! : The Space Race Begins
  • A Promise of Moonglow: Space in the Wake of Sputnik
  • Afternoon in May: Kennedy Commits to the Moon
  • High-Water Mark: The Manned Moon Race
  • Lunar Aftermath: Space Stations and the Shuttle
  • Electrons in the Void: The Unmanned Space Programs
  • Space in the Eighties: The Efforts Falter
  • Renewal and Outlook: Commerce and Cooperation in Space
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index.

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