The Space Shuttle Decision, 1965-1972

by Heppenheimer, T. A.

• ISBN13: 9781588340146
• ISBN10: 1588340147
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2002-05-17
• Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press

Summary

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 program 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.

Author Biography

T. A. Heppenheimer is the author of seven books including 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
Space Stations and Winged Rockets	1	(54)
The Collier's Series	1	(5)
Background to the Space Station	6	(6)
Winged Rockets: The Work of Eugen Sanger	12	(2)
The Navaho and the Main Line of American Liquid Rocketry	14	(11)
The X-15: An Airplane for Hypersonic Research	25	(10)
Lifting Bodies: Wingless Winged Rockets	35	(7)
Solid-Propellant Rockets: Inexpensive Boosters	42	(7)
Dyna-Soar: A Failure in Evolution	49	(6)
NASA's Uncertain Future	55	(50)
Technology Bypasses the Space Station	55	(5)
Apollo Applications: Prelude to a Space Station	60	(6)
Space Station Concepts of the 1960s	66	(7)
Early Studies of Low-Cost Reusable Space Flight	73	(11)
Two Leaders Emerge: Max Hunter and George Mueller	84	(10)
NASA and the Post-Apollo Future	94	(11)
Mars and Other Dream Worlds	105	(46)
Nuclear Rocket Engines	105	(5)
A New Administrator: Thomas Paine	110	(6)
Space Shuttle Studies Continue	116	(3)
Space Shuttle Policy: Opening Gambits	119	(7)
Paine Seeks a Space Station	126	(5)
Space Shuttles Receive New Attention	131	(5)
Space Task Group Members Prepare Plans	136	(8)
Agnew Leads a Push Toward Mars	144	(7)
Winter of Discontent	151	(40)
The Sixties	156	(3)
Mars: The Advance	159	(11)
Mars: The Retreat	170	(7)
The Turn of Congress	177	(9)
Paine Leaves NASA	186	(5)
Shuttle to the Forefront	191	(54)
The Air Force in Space	191	(7)
The Air Force and NASA	198	(8)
A New Shuttle Configuration	206	(17)
Station Fades; Shuttle Advances	223	(12)
The Space Shuttle Main Engine	235	(10)
Economics and the Shuttle	245	(46)
Why People Believed in Low-Cost Space Flight	246	(8)
The Shuttle Faces Questions	254	(13)
Change at NASA and the Bureau of the Budget	267	(7)
The Fall of the Two-Stage Fully-Reusable Shuttle	274	(17)
Aerospace Recession	291	(40)
The Boeing 747	293	(11)
The Supersonic Transport (SST)	304	(14)
The Lockheed L-1011	318	(9)
Aftermaths	327	(4)
A Shuttle to Fit the Budget	331	(58)
The Orbiter: Convergence to a Good Solution	331	(9)
The Booster: Confusion and Doubt	340	(22)
End Game in the Shuttle Debate	362	(10)
TAOS: A New Alternative	372	(8)
A Time to Decide	380	(9)
Nixon's Decision	389	(48)
Nixon and Technology	390	(6)
Space Shuttle: The Last Moves	396	(12)
The Hinge of Decision	408	(7)
Loose Ends I: A Final Configuration	415	(8)
Loose Ends II: NERVA and Cape Canaveral	423	(4)
Awarding the Contracts	427	(10)
Bibliography	437	(10)
Index	447	(20)
The NASA History Series	467