Synopses & Reviews
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.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Episodes in the evolution of launch vehicle technology / Roger D. Launius -- Rocketry and the origins of space flight / Ray A. Williamson and Roger D. Launius -- Stage-and-a-half: the atlas launch vehicle / Dennis R. Jenkins -- Delta: the ultimate Thor / Kevin S. Forsyth -- Titan: some heavy lifting required / Roger D. Launius -- History and development of U. S. small launch vehicles / Matt Bille, Pat Johnson, Robyn Kane,...et al. -- Minuteman and the development of solid rocket launch technology / J. D. Hunley -- The biggest of them all: reconsidering the Saturn V / Ray A. Williamson -- Taming liquid hydrogen: the Centaur saga / Virginia P. Dawson -- Broken in midstride: Space Shuttle as a launch vehicle / Dennis R. Jenkins -- Eclipsed by tragedy: the fated mating of the Shuttle and Centaur / Mark D. Bowles -- The quest for usability / Andrew J. Butrica -- Epilogue: "To the very limit of our ability" : reflections on forty years of military-civil partnership in space launch / David N. Spires and Rick W. Sturdevant.