Realizing Tomorrow

by Dubbs, Chris; Paat-dahlstrom, Emeline; Walker, Charles D.

• ISBN13: 9780803216105
• ISBN10: 0803216106
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

Nearly forty years passed between the Apollo moon landings, the grandest accomplishment of a government-run space program, and the Ansari X PRIZE-winning flights of SpaceShipOne, the greatest achievement of a private space program. Now, as we hover on the threshold of commercial spaceflight, authors Chris Dubbs and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom look back at how we got to this point. Their book traces the lives of the individuals who shared the dream that private individuals and private enterprise belong in space.Realizing Tomorrowprovides a behind-the-scenes look at the visionaries, the crackpots, the financial schemes, the legal wrangling, the turf battles, and--underpinning the entire drama--the overwhelming desire of ordinary people to visit outer space. A compelling story of the pioneers of commercial spaceflight--both American and Soviet/Russian--and their efforts to open the final frontier to everyone, this book traces the path to private spaceflight even as it offers an instructive, entertaining, and cautionary note about its future.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Prologue	p. I
The Entire Population of the Earth in Orbit	p. 9
The Birth of Private Rocker Companies	p. 32
Private Citizens Get Their Chance in Space	p. 61
Russia Commercializes Space	p. 87
Citizen Explorers	p. 114
The Quest for a Reusable Spaceship	p. 141
The Ansari X PRIZE Launches an Industry	p. 167
Private Manned Spaceflight Makes History	p. 192
Space Tourism Goes Mainstream	p. 218
It Takes More Than a Spaceship to Build an Industry	p. 269
Sources	p. 269
Index	p. 285
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.