In this volume of essays, the top experts and major players behind the United States's recently renewed push to the moon fuel a growing debate over lunar exploration. The announcement in 2004 that the U.S. would be revamping its moon program inspired both excitement about the possibilities and concern over cost and safety issues. This book takes the controversy out of the realm of pure science and into the mainstream of national debate. Lunar experts Alan Binder, Andy Chaikin, Yoji Kondo, Courtney Stadd, Frank White, and many others weigh in on the case for a return, point out the best way to do it, and speculate on what could be done with this newly obtained real estate. The essays are accompanied by illustrations of what life on the moon might look like. Contributions come from different perspectives and styles, offering a broad take on the very real possibility that humans will again walk-- and work, live, and play-- on the lunar landscape. From telescopes and tourism, to training for Mars, to building a new branch of humanity and saving the Earth, this compendium makes the case for sending people back to the moon.

This book looks at the inside deliberations that led to President George W Bush's space exploration initiative. The author team has been granted unprecedented access to senior policy makers as the plan was assembled during 2003 and 2004. Sietzen and Cowing will give exclusive details on the meetings between President George Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, and senior members of the White House staff as the planning process began. In addition Sietzen and Cowing will examine how policy was translated from paper into hardware designs including the first outline of the plan's new space vehicle and how the inspiration behind the architecture once used in the Apollo program was summoned back to guide 21st century space planners. Sietzen and Cowing will describe how the Columbia accident and the political outcry for a new central goal for the US space program gave rise to what would become the most far reaching change in US space policy in a generation. Readers will have the most comprehensive look available on what this new space vision will do for human exploration of the Solar System - and how nearly everything NASA does will change as a result.;New Moon Rising: The Making of America's Space Vision and the Remaking of NASA, by Frank Sietzen, Jr. and Keith L. Cowing, to be published July 2004. The team broke the story on the space plan in the pages of the Washington Times and in the United Press International wire service. Portions of the book were serialised in the Times in a multi-part background article called "Why Some Said the Moon: The Exclusive Inside Story of the Bush Space Vision" published in January 2004.

'Just read it.' Elon Musk The dramatic inside story of the first four historic flights that launched SpaceX-and Elon Musk-from a shaky startup into the world's leading edge rocket company. SpaceX has enjoyed a miraculous decade. Less than 20 years after its founding, it boasts the largest constellation of commercial satellites in orbit, has pioneered reusable rockets, and in 2020 became the first private company to launch human beings into orbit. Half a century after the space race SpaceX is pushing forward into the cosmos, laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds. But before it became one of the most powerful players in the aerospace industry, SpaceX was a fledgling startup, scrambling to develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was immense; numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX succeeded, they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of $100 million in the bank. In Liftoff, Eric Berger takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company's first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

There are all kinds of cool careers in space exploration! Astronauts are the superstars of space, but there are thousands of other women and men behind the scenes who make space exploration possible. This book is for girls, young women, and anyone else interested in learning about exciting careers in space exploration. Take a ride with Laura S Woodmansee and find out what it's like to be a woman of space. Would you like to know what it's like to be a space scientist searching for life beyond Earth? An engineer designing a spacecraft to send to Mars? Or an artist who creates beautiful space paintings and illustrations? Find out about these careers and more. You can be an accountant, a security officer, a pilot, a doctor, a biologist, a mission control worker, outreach educator, a teacher, a science writer, or anything else. They are all needed in space exploration. You don't have to be an astronaut to work in space. You can do anything you want! Read about how you can get involved in space exploration today. Join the club of cool space explorers who love what they are doing and wouldn't trade their career for a million pounds!;For the next generation of explorers, this book is more than just career advice. It is packed with interesting stories from women all over the planet who are doing what they love! The CD-ROM features: Exclusive video interviews with Mars Pathfinder Engineer Donna Shirley, Astro-Mom Lori Garver, and Aerospace Engineer Leslie Wickman; Listen to the music of the galaxies: an exclusive audio interview with Astrophysicist & Celestial Musician Fiorella Terenzi; "Women in Science: Mentors at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab" (NASA video); Brochures on various space careers (Adobe Acrobat format).

Some fifty years ago as a cub reporter, Barbree caught space fever the night that Sputnik passed over Albany, Georgia. On a double date where the couples actually did some star gazing, Barbree recognized that exploring space would become one of the most important stories of the century. Convinced that one day astronauts would walk on the moon, Barbree moved to the then sleepy ocean-side community of Cocoa Beach, right outside Cape Canaveral, and began reporting on rockets that soared, exploded, and fizzled. In the decades to come he witnessed a parade of history as space pioneers, hucksters, groupies and politicians participated in the greatest show of technology the world had ever seen. In "Live from Cape Canaveral", Barbree offers his unique perspective on the space program. Warm and perceptive, he reminds us just how thrilling the great moments of the space race were and why America fell in love with its heroic, sometimes larger-than-life astronauts.

It is within the means of many nations to conduct or participate in cost-effective Earth observation missions. This study provides a definition of cost-effective Earth observation missions and information about background material and organizational support. It discusses cost drivers and provides advice on achieving cost-effective missions and discusses training and education. The conclusions and recommendations range from more general factors, which drive the small satellite mission activities, to visions of future cost-effective Earth observation missions. Complementary to large complex missions, small satellite missions have specific advantages: more frequent missions opportunities and therefore faster return of science and application data, a larger variety of missions and greater diversification of potential users; more rapid expansion of the technical and/or scientific knowledge base; greater involvement of local and small industry. This volume will prove to be a useful source of information to governments, space agencies, academia, and industry.

Winner of the Nebraska Book Award What’s it like to travel at more than 850 MPH, riding in a supersonic T-38 twin turbojet engine airplane? What happens when the space station toilet breaks? How do astronauts “take out the trash� on a spacewalk, tightly encapsulated in a space suit with just a few layers of fabric and Kevlar between them and the unforgiving vacuum of outer space? The Ordinary Spaceman puts you in the flight suit of U.S. astronaut Clayton C. Anderson and takes you on the journey of this small-town boy from Nebraska who spent 167 days living and working on the International Space Station, including nearly forty hours of space walks. Having applied to NASA fifteen times over fifteen years to become an astronaut before his ultimate selection, Anderson offers a unique perspective on his life as a veteran space flier, one characterized by humility and perseverance.  From the application process to launch aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, from serving as a family escort for the ill-fated Columbia crew in 2003 to his own daily struggles—family separation, competitive battles to win coveted flight assignments, the stress of a highly visible job, and the ever-present risk of having to make the ultimate sacrifice—Anderson shares the full range of his experiences. With a mix of levity and gravitas, Anderson gives an authentic view of the highs and the lows, the triumphs and the tragedies of life as a NASA astronaut.  

Featuring more than 600 photos, Photographing America's First Astronauts: Project Mercury Through the Lens of Bill Taub is the most complete photographic account of Project Mercury ever published. Previous Project Mercury books largely have relied on the relatively limited number of photos released by NASA. This book, however, showcases hundreds of never-before-seen images of America's first manned space program by NASA's first staff photographer, Bill Taub. Taub went everywhere with the Mercury astronauts, capturing their daily activities from 1959 to 1963. As a result, his photos provide a unique and intimate behind-the-scenes look at the people and operations of Project Mercury in real time.Drawing on Taub's recently discovered archive of thousands of black-and-white and color prints, slides, and transparencies, this is the first book to comprehensively visually document Project Mercury. No previous book has devoted as many images to each of the Mercury Seven astronauts and their pioneering spaceflights. Other chapters cover astronaut selection and training, NASA management, and facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Each image is accompanied by a detailed caption. The foreword is by legendary NASA Flight Director Eugene Kranz.

A History Today Book of the Year A world-renowned astronomer and an esteemed science writer make the provocative argument for space exploration without astronauts. Human journeys into space fill us with wonder. But the thrill of space travel for astronauts comes at enormous expense and is fraught with peril. As our robot explorers grow more competent, governments and corporations must ask, does our desire to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars justify the cost and danger? Donald Goldsmith and Martin Rees believe that beyond low-Earth orbit, space exploration should proceed without humans. In The End of Astronauts, Goldsmith and Rees weigh the benefits and risks of human exploration across the solar system. In space humans require air, food, and water, along with protection from potentially deadly radiation and high-energy particles, at a cost of more than ten times that of robotic exploration. Meanwhile, automated explorers have demonstrated the ability to investigate planetary surfaces efficiently and effectively, operating autonomously or under direction from Earth. Although Goldsmith and Rees are alert to the limits of artificial intelligence, they know that our robots steadily improve, while our bodies do not. Today a robot cannot equal a geologist's expertise, but by the time we land a geologist on Mars, this advantage will diminish significantly. Decades of research and experience, together with interviews with scientific authorities and former astronauts, offer convincing arguments that robots represent the future of space exploration. The End of Astronauts also examines how spacefaring AI might be regulated as corporations race to privatize the stars. We may eventually decide that humans belong in space despite the dangers and expense, but their paths will follow routes set by robots.

Forty years ago, Buzz Aldrin became the second human, minutes after Neil Armstrong, to set foot on a celestial body other than the Earth. The event remains one of mankind's greatest achievements and was witnessed by the largest worldwide television audience in history. In the years since, millions more have had their Earth-centric perspective unalterably changed by the iconic photograph of Aldrin standing on the surface of the moon, the blackness of space behind him and his fellow explorer and the Eagle reflected in his visor. Describing the alien world he was walking upon, he uttered the words "magnificent desolation." And as the astronauts later sat in the Eagle, waiting to begin their journey back home, knowing that they were doomed unless every system and part on board worked flawlessly, it was Aldrin who responded to Mission Control's clearance to take off with the quip, "Roger. Understand. We're number one on the runway."
The flight of Apollo 11 made Aldrin one of the most famous persons on our planet, yet few people know the rest of this true American hero's story. In "Magnificent Desolation," Aldrin not only gives us a harrowing first-person account of the lunar landing that came within seconds of failure and the ultimate insider's view of life as one of the superstars of America's space program, he also opens up with remarkable candor about his more personal trials-and eventual triumphs-back on Earth. From the glory of being part of the mission that fulfilled President Kennedy's challenge to reach the moon before the decade was out, Aldrin returned home to an Air Force career stripped of purpose or direction, other than as a public relations tool that NASA put to relentless use in a seemingly nonstop world tour. The twin demons of depression and alcoholism emerged-the first of which Aldrin confronted early and publicly, and the second of which he met with denial until it nearly killed him. He burned through two marriages, his Air Force career came to an inglorious end, and he found himself selling cars for a living when he wasn't drunkenly wrecking them. Redemption came when he finally embraced sobriety, gained the love of a woman, Lois, who would become the great joy of his life, and dedicated himself to being a tireless advocate for the future of space exploration-not only as a scientific endeavor but also as a thriving commercial enterprise.
These days Buzz Aldrin is enjoying life with an enthusiasm that reminds us how far it is possible for a person to travel, literally and figuratively. As an adventure story, a searing memoir of self-destruction and self-renewal, and as a visionary rallying cry to once again set our course for Mars and beyond, "Magnificent Desolation" is the thoroughly human story of a genuine hero.

"From the Hardcover edition."

Space agencies are now realizing that much of what has previously been achieved using hugely complex and costly single platform projects-large unmanned and manned satellites (including the present International Space Station)-can be replaced by a number of smaller satellites networked together. The key challenge of this approach, namely ensuring the proper formation flying of multiple craft, is the topic of this second volume in Elsevier s Astrodynamics Series, Spacecraft Formation Flying: Dynamics, control and navigation.

In this unique text, authors Alfriend et al. provide a coherent discussion of spacecraft relative motion, both in the unperturbed and perturbed settings, explain the main control approaches for regulating relative satellite dynamics, using both impulsive and continuous maneuvers, and present the main constituents required for relative navigation. The early chapters provide a foundation upon which later discussions are built, making this a complete, standalone offering.

Intended for graduate students, professors and academic researchers in the fields of aerospace and mechanical engineering, mathematics, astronomy and astrophysics, Spacecraft Formation Flying is a technical yet accessible, forward-thinking guide to this critical area of astrodynamics.
The first book dedicated to spacecraft formation flying, written by leading researchers and professors in the fieldDevelops the theory from an astrodynamical viewpoint, emphasizing modeling, control and navigation of formation flying satellites on Earth orbitsExamples used to illustrate the main developments, with a sample simulation of a formation flying mission included to illustrate high fidelity modeling, control and relative navigation"

Among the most interesting fields in research are the emerging possibilities to interface the human brain directly with machines, e.g. with computers and robotic interfaces. The European Space Agency's Advanced Concept team as a multidisciplinary team from engineering, artificial intelligence, and neural engineering has been working on the cutting edge of exploring brain machine interfaces for application in space as solutions to limitations astronauts face in space, and this book for the first time presents the state-of-the-art-cohesively.
* A pioneering book for a pioneering field
* Presents the application of cutting-edge brain machine interface technologies and concepts to support astronauts in space
* Of great interest to space scientists, neuroscientists, and biomedical engineers alike

A noted space expert explains the current revolution in spaceflight, where it leads, and why we need it.A new space race has begun. But the rivals in this case are not superpowers but competing entrepreneurs. These daring pioneers are creating a revolution in spaceflight that promises to transform the near future. Astronautical engineer Robert Zubrin spells out the potential of these new developments in an engrossing narrative that is visionary yet grounded by a deep understanding of the practical challenges.Fueled by the combined expertise of the old aerospace industry and the talents of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, spaceflight is becoming cheaper. The new generation of space explorers has already achieved a major breakthrough by creating reusable rockets. Zubrin foresees more rapid innovation, including global travel from any point on Earth to another in an hour or less; orbital hotels; moon bases with incredible space observatories; human settlements on Mars, the asteroids, and the moons of the outer planets; and then, breaking all limits, pushing onward to the stars.Zubrin shows how projects that sound like science fiction can actually become reality. But beyond the how, he makes an even more compelling case for why we need to do this--to increase our knowledge of the universe, to make unforeseen discoveries on new frontiers, to harness the natural resources of other planets, to safeguard Earth from stray asteroids, to ensure the future of humanity by expanding beyond its home base, and to protect us from being catastrophically set against each other by the false belief that there isn't enough for all.

In recent years scientists have investigated a series of new methods for non-rocket space launch, which promise to revolutionize space launches and flight. Particularly in the current political climate new, cheaper, and more fuel efficient methods are being investigated. Such new methods include the gas tube method, cable accelerators, tether launch systems, space elevators, solar and magnetic sails, circle launcher space keepers and more.
The author brings a vast amount of experience to the topic, having worked as a engineer, designer, project director and researcher at key institutes including NASA and the US Air Force.
Explores all the new non-rocket space launch methods, and compares them with each other and traditional rockets.
Investigates the unifying principles of the different systems and shows how to select the best design suited to the mission.
Author brings together technical and theoretical expertise from both industry and academia

Written with students of aerospace or aeronautical engineering firmly in mind, this is a practical and wide-ranging book that draws together the various theoretical elements of aircraft design - structures, aerodynamics, propulsion, control and others - and guides the reader in applying them in practice. Based on a range of detailed real-life aircraft design projects, including military training, commercial and concept aircraft, the experienced UK and US based authors present engineering students with an essential toolkit and reference to support their own project work. All aircraft projects are unique and it is impossible to provide a template for the work involved in the design process. However, with the knowledge of the steps in the initial design process and of previous experience from similar projects, students will be freer to concentrate on the innovative and analytical aspects of their course project. The authors bring a unique combination of perspectives and experience to this text. It reflects both British and American academic practices in teaching aircraft design. Lloyd Jenkinson has taught aircraft design at both Loughborough and Southampton universities in the UK and Jim Marchman has taught both aircraft and spacecraft design at Virginia Tech in the US.

This is a long-overdue volume dedicated to space trajectory optimization. Interest in the subject has grown, as space missions of increasing levels of sophistication, complexity, and scientific return - hardly imaginable in the 1960s - have been designed and flown. Although the basic tools of optimization theory remain an accepted canon, there has been a revolution in the manner in which they are applied and in the development of numerical optimization. This volume purposely includes a variety of both analytical and numerical approaches to trajectory optimization. The choice of authors has been guided by the editor's intention to assemble the most expert and active researchers in the various specialities presented. The authors were given considerable freedom to choose their subjects, and although this may yield a somewhat eclectic volume, it also yields chapters written with palpable enthusiasm and relevance to contemporary problems.

The New York Times bestselling, "meticulously researched and absorbingly written" (The Washington Post) story of the trailblazers and the ordinary Americans on the front lines of the epic Apollo 11 moon mission. President John F. Kennedy astonished the world on May 25, 1961, when he announced to Congress that the United States should land a man on the Moon by 1970. No group was more surprised than the scientists and engineers at NASA, who suddenly had less than a decade to invent space travel. When Kennedy announced that goal, no one knew how to navigate to the Moon. No one knew how to build a rocket big enough to reach the Moon, or how to build a computer small enough (and powerful enough) to fly a spaceship there. No one knew what the surface of the Moon was like, or what astronauts could eat as they flew there. On the day of Kennedy's historic speech, America had a total of fifteen minutes of spaceflight experience-with just five of those minutes outside the atmosphere. Russian dogs had more time in space than US astronauts. Over the next decade, more than 400,000 scientists, engineers, and factory workers would send twenty-four astronauts to the Moon. Each hour of space flight would require one million hours of work back on Earth to get America to the Moon on July 20, 1969. "A veteran space reporter with a vibrant touch-nearly every sentence has a fact, an insight, a colorful quote or part of a piquant anecdote" (The Wall Street Journal) and in One Giant Leap, Fishman has written the sweeping, definitive behind-the-scenes account of the furious race to complete one of mankind's greatest achievements. It's a story filled with surprises-from the item the astronauts almost forgot to take with them (the American flag), to the extraordinary impact Apollo would have back on Earth, and on the way we live today. From the research labs of MIT, where the eccentric and legendary pioneer Charles Draper created the tools to fly the Apollo spaceships, to the factories where dozens of women sewed spacesuits, parachutes, and even computer hardware by hand, Fishman captures the exceptional feats of these ordinary Americans. "It's been 50 years since Neil Armstrong took that one small step. Fishman explains in dazzling form just how unbelievable it actually was" (Newsweek).

This book discusses all spacecraft attitude control-related topics: spacecraft (including attitude measurements, actuator, and disturbance torques), modeling, spacecraft attitude determination and estimation, and spacecraft attitude controls. Unlike other books addressing these topics, this book focuses on quaternion-based methods because of its many merits. The book lays a brief, but necessary background on rotation sequence representations and frequently used reference frames that form the foundation of spacecraft attitude description. It then discusses the fundamentals of attitude determination using vector measurements, various efficient (including very recently developed) attitude determination algorithms, and the instruments and methods of popular vector measurements. With available attitude measurements, attitude control designs for inertial point and nadir pointing are presented in terms of required torques which are independent of actuators in use. Given the required control torques, some actuators are not able to generate the accurate control torques, therefore, spacecraft attitude control design methods with achievable torques for these actuators (for example, magnetic torque bars and control moment gyros) are provided. Some rigorous controllability results are provided. The book also includes attitude control in some special maneuvers, such as orbital-raising, docking and rendezvous, that are normally not discussed in similar books. Almost all design methods are based on state-spaced modern control approaches, such as linear quadratic optimal control, robust pole assignment control, model predictive control, and gain scheduling control. Applications of these methods to spacecraft attitude control problems are provided. Appendices are provided for readers who are not familiar with these topics.

This book explores the privatization of space and its global impact on the future of commerce, peace and conflict. As space becomes more congested, contested, and competitive in the government and the private arenas, the talk around space research moves past NASA's monopoly on academic and cultural imaginations to discuss how Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is making space "cool" again. This volume addresses the new rhetoric of space race and weaponization, with a focus on how the costs of potential conflict in space would discourage open conflict and enable global cooperation. It highlights the increasing dependence of the global economy on space research, its democratization, plunging costs of access, and growing economic potential of space-based assets. Thoughtful, nuanced, well-documented, this book is a must read for scholars and researchers of science and technology studies, space studies, political studies, sociology, environmental studies, and political economy. It will also be of much interest to policymakers, bureaucrats, think tanks, as well as the interested general reader looking for fresh perspectives on the future of space.

This book explores the privatization of space and its global impact on the future of commerce, peace and conflict. As space becomes more congested, contested, and competitive in the government and the private arenas, the talk around space research moves past NASA's monopoly on academic and cultural imaginations to discuss how Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is making space "cool" again. This volume addresses the new rhetoric of space race and weaponization, with a focus on how the costs of potential conflict in space would discourage open conflict and enable global cooperation. It highlights the increasing dependence of the global economy on space research, its democratization, plunging costs of access, and growing economic potential of space-based assets. Thoughtful, nuanced, well-documented, this book is a must read for scholars and researchers of science and technology studies, space studies, political studies, sociology, environmental studies, and political economy. It will also be of much interest to policymakers, bureaucrats, think tanks, as well as the interested general reader looking for fresh perspectives on the future of space.

This textbook provides students and the broader aviation community with a complete, accessible guide to the subject of human factors in aviation. It covers the history of the field before breaking down the physical and psychological factors, organizational levels, technology, training, and other pivotal components of a pilot and crew's routine work in the field. The information is organized into easy-to-digest chapters with summaries and exercises based on key concepts covered, and it is supported by more than 100 full-color illustrations and photographs. All knowledge of human factors required in aviation university studies is conveyed in a concise and casual manner, through the use of helpful margin notes and anecdotes that appear throughout the text.

Offering a compelling look inside the Space Shuttle missions that helped lay the groundwork for the Space Age from the perspective of those tasked with making them happen, Shuttle, Houston explores the determined personalities, technological miracles, and eleventh-hour saves that have made human spaceflight possible.Relaying stories of missions (and their grueling training) in vivid detail, Paul Dye, NASA's longest-serving Flight Director, examines some of the highest-stakes split-second decisions that the directors and astronauts were forced to make in a field where mistakes are unthinkable, where errors lead to the loss of national resources -- and more importantly one's crew. Dye's stories from inside Mission Control explain the mysteries of flying the Shuttle -- from the powerful fiery ascent to the majesty of on-orbit operations to the high-speed and critical re-entry and landing of a hundred-ton glider.The Space Shuttles flew 135 missions -- surviving initial test flights and the early days of deploying satellites as well as enabling the assembly and servicing of the International Space Station. Astronauts conducted space walks, captured satellites, and docked with the Mir Space Station, bringing space into our everyday life, from GPS to satellite TV. Putting readers in the shoes of Mission Control, the hub that made humanity's leap into a new frontier possible, Dye gives readers his own front-row seat on the missions that changed our world.

Reissued with a new preface by the author on the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 journey to the moon The years that have passed since Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins piloted the Apollo 11 spacecraft to the moon in July 1969 have done nothing to alter the fundamental wonder of the event: man reaching the moon remains one of the great events--technical and spiritual--of our lifetime. In Carrying the Fire, Collins conveys, in a very personal way, the drama, beauty, and humor of that adventure. He also traces his development from his first flight experiences in the Air Force, through his days as a test pilot, to his Apollo 11 space walk, presenting an evocative picture of the joys of flight as well as a new perspective on time, light, and movement from someone who has seen the fragile earth from the other side of the moon.