Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
767
result(s) for
"Astronautics History."
Sort by:
Ten of the best adventures in space
Profiles ten important events in the history of space exploration.
Book
Rockets and Revolution
Rockets and Revolutionoffers a multifaceted study of the race toward space in the first half of the twentieth century, examining how the Russian, European, and American pioneers competed against one another in the early years to acquire the fundamentals of rocket science, engineer simple rockets, and ultimately prepare the path for human spaceflight.
Between 1903 and 1953, Russia matured in radical and dramatic ways as the tensions and expectations of the Russian revolution drew it both westward and spaceward. European and American industrial capacities became the models to imitate and to surpass. The burden was always on Soviet Russia to catch up-enough to achieve a number of remarkable \"firsts\" in these years, from the first national rocket society to the first comprehensive surveys of spaceflight. Russia rose to the challenges of its Western rivals time and again, transcending the arenas of science and technology and adapting rocket science to popular culture, science fiction, political ideology, and military programs.While that race seemed well on its way to achieving the goal of space travel and exploring life on other planets, during the second half of the twentieth century these scientific advances turned back on humankind with the development of the intercontinental ballistic missile and the coming of the Cold War.
eBook
The race to the moon chronicled in stamps, postcards, and postmarks : a story of puffery vs. the pragmatic
The story of the famed race to the Moon between the US and the USSR has been told countless times. The strategies of these two superpowers have often been paralleled in a way that highlights their fight for dominance and efforts to develop needed new technologies. This book will show how beneath these surface similarities, the two competing nations employed very different core tactics. It provides a new perspective of the history of the space race by analyzing that history through philately - that is, from the images on postage stamps, post cards, and letters in circulation at that time. Through this fascinating historical visual record, the author shows how the propaganda-heavy approach of the USSR eventually lost out to the more pragmatic approach of the United States. - from the publisher
Book
Into the Cosmos
The launch of the Sputnik satellite in October 1957 changed the course of human history. In the span of a few years, Soviets sent the first animal into space, the first man, and the first woman. These events were a direct challenge to the United States and the capitalist model that claimed ownership of scientific aspiration and achievement.The success of the space program captured the hopes and dreams of nearly every Soviet citizen and became a critical cultural vehicle in the country's emergence from Stalinism and the devastation of World War II. It also proved to be an invaluable tool in a worldwide propaganda campaign for socialism, a political system that could now seemingly accomplish anything it set its mind to.Into the Cosmosshows us the fascinating interplay of Soviet politics, science, and culture during the Khrushchev era, and how the space program became a binding force between these elements. The chapters examine the ill-fitted use of cosmonauts as propaganda props, the manipulation of gender politics after Valentina Tereshkova's flight, and the use of public interest in cosmology as a tool for promoting atheism. Other chapters explore the dichotomy of promoting the space program while maintaining extreme secrecy over its operations, space animals as media darlings, the history of Russian space culture, and the popularity of space-themed memorabilia that celebrated Soviet achievement and planted the seeds of consumerism.
eBook
Spies and Shuttles
In this real life spy saga, James E. David reveals the extensive and largely hidden interactions between NASA and U.S. defense and intelligence departments. The story begins with the establishment of NASA in 1958 and follows the agency through its growth, not only in scope but also in complexity.
In Spies and Shuttles, David digs through newly declassified documents to ultimately reveal how NASA became a strange bedfellow to the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He tracks NASA's early cooperation-supplying cover stories for covert missions, analyzing the Soviet space program, providing weather and other scientific data from its satellites, and monitoring missile tests-that eventually devolved into NASA's reliance on DoD for political and financial support for the Shuttle. David also examines the restrictions imposed on such activities as photographing the Earth from space and the intrusive review mechanisms to ensure compliance.
The ties between NASA and the intelligence community have historically remained unexplored, and David's riveting book is the first to investigate the twists and turns of this labyrinthine relationship.
eBook
The space race
\"Get ready to blast back to the past and learn all about the Space Race!...[This book] covers everything from the Cold War to the moon landing, and more. Find out interesting, little-known facts such as how the moon has an unpleasant odor and how a prototype of the ballpoint pen was invented by NASA for astronauts to use in zero-gravity conditions!\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Other Space Race
The Other Space Race is a unique look at the early U.S. space program and how it both shaped and was shaped by politics during the Cold War. Eisenhower's New Look\" expanded the role of the Air Force in national security, and ultimately allowed ambitious aerospace projects, namely the Dyna-Soar,\" a bomber equipped with nuclear weapons that would operate in space. Eisenhower's space policy was purely practical, creating a strong deterrent against the use of nuclear arms against the United States.With the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, the political climate changed, and space travel became part of the United States' national discourse. Sambaluk explores what followed, including the scuttling of the Dyna-Soar\" program and the transition from Eisenhower's space policy to John Kennedy's. This well-argued, well-researched book gives much needed perspective on the Cold War's influence on space travel and it's relation to the formation of public policy.
eBook
To touch the face of God : the sacred, the profane, and the American space program, 1957-1975
Was the space program the signature project of secular modernity or a symbol of humankind's perpetual quest for communion with God?
\"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...\"
In 1968 the world watched as Earth rose over the moonscape, televised from the orbiting Apollo 8 mission capsule. Radioing back to Houston on Christmas Eve, astronauts recited the first ten verses from the book of Genesis. In fact, many of the astronauts found space flight to be a religious experience. To Touch the Face of God is the first book-length historical study of the relationship between religion and the U.S. space program.
Kendrick Oliver explores the role played by religious motivations in the formation of the space program and discusses the responses of religious thinkers such as Paul Tillich and C. S. Lewis. Examining the attitudes of religious Americans, Oliver finds that the space program was a source of anxiety as well as inspiration. It was not always easy for them to tell whether it was a godly or godless venture.
Grounded in original archival research and the study of participant testimonies, this book also explores one of the largest petition campaigns of the post-war era. Between 1969 and 1975, more than eight million Americans wrote to NASA expressing support for prayer and bible-reading in space. Oliver's study is rigorous and detailed but also contemplative in its approach, examining the larger meanings of mankind's first adventures in \"the heavens.\"
eBook