Lance K. Erickson - Space Flight: History, Technology, and Operations

Space Flight

History, Technology,
and Operations

LANCE K. ERICKSON

Published in the United States of America

by Government Institutes, an imprint of The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

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Copyright 2010 by Government Institutes

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The reader should not rely on this publication to address specific questions that apply to a particular set of facts. The author and the publisher make no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the completeness, correctness, or utility of the information in this publication. In addition, the author and the publisher assume no liability of any kind whatsoever resulting from the use of or reliance upon the contents of this book.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Erickson, Lance K., 1946

Space flight : history, technology, and operations / Lance K. Erickson.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-86587-419-0 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-60590-685-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-60590-684-3 (electronic)

1. AstronauticsHistory. I. Title.

TL788.5.E68 2010

629.4'1dc22

2010008262

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

The rigors of space flight are easy to spot in any undergraduate text book on spacecraft engineering and space flight dynamics. At the other extreme are descriptive works that cover space flight applications and exploration operations, but rarely touch on the basic mathematics and operational principles of spacecraft systems and instruments. Nearly all of these books and those in between fail to discuss the development process and the historical foundation of even the most important space exploration programs. My objective in writing this book was to provide a general review using a historical format to weave together the spacecraft, the exploration programs, and the science gleaned from those programs. Several chapters also furnish sketches of our current knowledge on the solar system and the universe to underscore the importance of space exploration in understanding the world around us, and the influence these programs have on virtually every aspect of our lives.

One of the unfortunate omissions in most books on space flight and space technology is the influence that military weapons projects and military space programs had on the early space race. Spurred by the Cold War, the development of long-range military launchers and surveillance satellites were intimately linked to the first space launchers and the first manned missions. These early military and civil space projects that are still close relatives changed the direction of science, and together opened the door to human exploration of space, which had long been the dream of early space pioneers. A chapter on military space hardware and programs is included because of their historical importance, but also to emphasize the connection between the civil and military projects from the beginning. It is not by accident that the same designers responsible for the military long-range missiles and space projects for both superpowers during the early Cold War were also responsible for putting the first satellites, the first animals, and the first humans in space.

Another neglected subject in most books on space flight is the record of Russia and the Soviet Union, which makes up nearly half of space flight history logged since the space race began in 1957. Ignoring the details of the Soviet successes and failures leaves significant gaps in the complete picture of space exploration. I added a lengthy chapter on the Russian space flight history to help fill the voids, created in part by the secretive Stalinist Soviet Union, and because the difficulty in reaching the original materials favors published experts like Asif Siddiqi and James Oberg and their sublime summaries. Without insight into the competitive and antagonistic influence of the Soviet Union, the American race into space appears to be a mysterious blend of impulse and intuitive success, when, in fact, it was a battle of technology and political will over five decades that has recently culminated in the greatest cooperative effort in history between two Cold War enemies.

I have emphasized three major American space programs because of their colossal successes and even greater program management achievements, and because of their far-reaching influence on later space projects. The Mercury program instituted many of the operational procedures and hardware standards that are still used a half century later. In two years, the Mercury project was taken from its infancy to a new level of institutional, industrial, and military cooperation unrealized even in the two preceding World Wars. Astronaut selection and training were constructed from a loose framework of military pilot experience and psycho-social profiling that became the foundation used for selecting and training todays astronauts. Like Mercury, the Gemini project evolved from primitive hardware into advanced space flight systems and refined manufacturing skills that paved the way to the Moon for the Apollo astronauts. Although Gemini missions never reached beyond Earth orbit, the program engineers, scientists, and managers forged the hardware and drafted the operational details to reach the surface of the Moon with a guaranteed safe return. NASAs Apollo project was one of if not the most ambitious and spectacular program on record. The space shuttle and the International Space Station have rivaled Apollos Moon landings in scale, even though the science returned, the challenges in perfecting entirely new hardware, and the collaboration between the federal agencies, the military branches, the aerospace industry, and the educational institutions involved with the Apollo program remain unmatched.

Space exploration has undergone many changes in many ways since Apollo, and it is no longer centered on grand programs or spectacular feats with small crews. Today, the space agencies around the world, including NASA, the Russian Space Agency (RSA), the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and a host of other nations are engaged in even greater collaboration in space science and engineering, continually advancing our understanding of the physical world on virtually very scale. Apollo was perhaps the greatest achievement in space led by a single nation, but the journey continues in many new directions, and with many new partners. Join the author in a study of the remarkable space exploration programs that bring us closer to our origins, and offer a closer look at the universe that surrounds us.