The Space Shuttle Decision, 1965-1972

by T. A. Heppenheimer

Overview

Heppenheimer looks back at the shuttle's technical antecedents such as the X-15 rocket plane and rocket booster technologies, and illuminates the principal personalities involved in the space shuttle decision and their motivations. He traces NASA's evolving programme goals, the technical calculations, political maneuvering, and fiscal constraints, and explains the myriad designs that preceded the shuttle concept. In closing, he looks in detail at the circumstances leading to the politically charged development decision of 1972.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781588340146
Publisher:	Smithsonian Institution Press
Publication date:	05/17/2002
Series:	History of the Space Shuttle
Pages:	484
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

T. A. Heppenheimer is the author of seven books including The Space Shuttle Decision, 1965-1972: History of the Space Shuttle, Volume 1 (Smithsonian Books, 2002) and Countdown: A History of the Space Program (1995). He is a freelance writer and has written cover stories for many magazines, including American Heritage, Popular Science, and Science Digest.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	v
	Introduction	ix
	Abbreviations and Acronyms	xi
Chapter 1.	Space Stations and Winged Rockets	1
	The Collier's Series	1
	Background to the Space Station	6
	Winged Rockets: The Work of Eugen Sanger	12
	The Navaho and the Main Line of American Liquid Rocketry	14
	The X-15: An Airplane for Hypersonic Research	25
	Lifting Bodies: Wingless Winged Rockets	35
	Solid-Propellant Rockets: Inexpensive Boosters	42
	Dyna-Soar: A Failure in Evolution	49
Chapter 2.	NASA's Uncertain Future	55
	Technology Bypasses the Space Station	55
	Apollo Applications: Prelude to a Space Station	60
	Space Station Concepts of the 1960s	66
	Early Studies of Low-Cost Reusable Space Flight	73
	Two Leaders Emerge: Max Hunter and George Mueller	84
	NASA and the Post-Apollo Future	94
Chapter 3.	Mars and Other Dream Worlds	105
	Nuclear Rocket Engines	105
	A New Administrator: Thomas Paine	110
	Space Shuttle Studies Continue	116
	Space Shuttle Policy: Opening Gambits	119
	Paine Seeks a Space Station	126
	Space Shuttles Receive New Attention	131
	Space Task Group Members Prepare Plans	136
	Agnew Leads a Push Toward Mars	144
Chapter 4.	Winter of Discontent	151
	The Sixties	152
	Mars: The Advance	159
	Mars: The Retreat	170
	The Turn of Congress	177
	Paine Leaves NASA	186
Chapter 5.	Shuttle to the Forefront	191
	The Air Force in Space	191
	The Air Force and NASA	198
	A New Shuttle Configuration	206
	Station Fades; Shuttle Advances	223
	The Space Shuttle Main Engine	235
Chapter 6.	Economics and the Shuttle	245
	Why People Believed in Low-Cost Space Flight	246
	The Shuttle Faces Questions	254
	Change at NASA and the Bureau of the Budget	267
	The Fall of the Two-Stage Fully-Reusable Shuttle	274
Chapter 7.	Aerospace Recession	291
	The Boeing 747	293
	The Supersonic Transport (SST)	304
	The Lockheed L-1011	318
	Aftermaths	327
Chapter 8.	A Shuttle to Fit the Budget	331
	The Orbiter: Convergence to a Good Solution	331
	The Booster: Confusion and Doubt	346
	End Game in the Shuttle Debate	362
	TAOS: A New Alternative	372
	A Time to Decide	380
Chapter 9.	Nixon's Decision	389
	Nixon and Technology	390
	Space Shuttle: The Last Moves	396
	The Hinge of Decision	408
	Loose Ends I: A Final Configuration	415
	Loose Ends II: NERVA and Cape Canaveral	423
	Awarding the Contracts	427
	Bibliography	437
	Index	447
	The NASA History Series	467