NASA, Post-Apollo and the Rise of the Space Shuttle: a Glance at the Definition of a Launch Vehicle
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Victor Or Villain? Wernher Von Braun and the Space Race
The Social Studies (2011) 102, 59–64 Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0037-7996 print / 2152-405X online DOI: 10.1080/00377996.2010.484444 Victor or Villain? Wernher von Braun and the Space Race JASON L. O’BRIEN1 and CHRISTINE E. SEARS2 1Education Department, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA 2History Department, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama, USA Set during the Cold War and space race, this historical role-play focuses on Wernher von Braun’s involvement in and culpability for the use of slave laborers to produce V-2 rockets for Nazi Germany. Students will grapple with two central questions. Should von Braun have been allowed to emigrate to the United States given his affiliation with the Nazis and use of slave laborers? Should the U.S. government and military have put Braun in powerful positions in NASA and military programs? This activity encourages students to hone their critical thinking skills as they consider and debate a complex, multi-layered historical scenario. Students also have opportunity to articulate persuasive arguments either for or against von Braun. Each character sketch includes basic information, but additional references are included for teachers and students who want a more in depth background. Keywords: role-play, Wernher von Braun, Space Race, active learning Victor or Villain? Wernher von Braun and the Space Role-Playing as an Instructional Strategy Race By engaging in historical role-plays, students can explore In 2009, the United States celebrated the fortieth anniver- different viewpoints regarding controversial topics (Clegg sary of the Apollo 11 crew’s landing on the moon. -
How Doc Draper Became the Father of Inertial Guidance
(Preprint) AAS 18-121 HOW DOC DRAPER BECAME THE FATHER OF INERTIAL GUIDANCE Philip D. Hattis* With Missouri roots, a Stanford Psychology degree, and a variety of MIT de- grees, Charles Stark “Doc” Draper formulated the basis for reliable and accurate gyro-based sensing technology that enabled the first and many subsequent iner- tial navigation systems. Working with colleagues and students, he created an Instrumentation Laboratory that developed bombsights that changed the balance of World War II in the Pacific. His engineering teams then went on to develop ever smaller and more accurate inertial navigation for aircraft, submarines, stra- tegic missiles, and spaceflight. The resulting inertial navigation systems enable national security, took humans to the Moon, and continue to find new applica- tions. This paper discusses the history of Draper’s path to becoming known as the “Father of Inertial Guidance.” FROM DRAPER’S MISSOURI ROOTS TO MIT ENGINEERING Charles Stark Draper was born in 1901 in Windsor Missouri. His father was a dentist and his mother (nee Stark) was a school teacher. The Stark family developed the Stark apple that was popular in the Midwest and raised the family to prominence1 including a cousin, Lloyd Stark, who became governor of Missouri in 1937. Draper was known to his family and friends as Stark (Figure 1), and later in life was known by colleagues as Doc. During his teenage years, Draper enjoyed tinkering with automobiles. He also worked as an electric linesman (Figure 2), and at age 15 began a liberal arts education at the University of Mis- souri in Rolla. -
Book Tribute to George Low –“The Ultimate Engineer”
Book Tribute to George Low –“The Ultimate Engineer” The Ultimate Engineer: The Remarkable Life of NASA's Visionary Leader George M. Low by Richard Jurek Foreword by Gerald D. Griffin From the late 1950s to 1976 the U.S. manned spaceflight program advanced as it did largely due to the extraordinary efforts of Austrian immigrant George M. Low. Described as the "ultimate engineer" during his career at NASA, Low was a visionary architect and leader from the agency's inception in 1958 to his retirement in 1976. As chief of manned spaceflight at NASA, Low was instrumental in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Low's pioneering work paved the way for President Kennedy's decision to make a lunar landing NASA's primary goal in the 1960s. After the tragic 1967 Apollo I fire that took the lives of three astronauts and almost crippled the program, Low took charge of the redesign of the Apollo spacecraft, and helped lead the program from disaster and toward the moon. In 1968, Low made the bold decision to go for lunar orbit on Apollo 8 before the lunar module was ready for flight and after only one Earth orbit test flight of the Command and Service modules. Under Low there were five manned missions, including Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing. Low's clandestine negotiations with the Soviet Union resulted in a historic joint mission in 1975 that was the precursor to the Shuttle-MIR and International Space Station programs. At the end of his NASA career, Low was one of the leading figures in the development of the Space Shuttle in the early1970s, and was instrumental in NASA's transition into a post-Apollo world. -
AIAA Fellows
AIAA Fellows The first 23 Fellows of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences (I) were elected on 31 January 1934. They were: Joseph S. Ames, Karl Arnstein, Lyman J. Briggs, Charles H. Chatfield, Walter S. Diehl, Donald W. Douglas, Hugh L. Dryden, C.L. Egtvedt, Alexander Klemin, Isaac Laddon, George Lewis, Glenn L. Martin, Lessiter C. Milburn, Max Munk, John K. Northrop, Arthur Nutt, Sylvanus Albert Reed, Holden C. Richardson, Igor I. Sikorsky, Charles F. Taylor, Theodore von Kármán, Fred Weick, Albert Zahm. Dr. von Kármán also had the distinction of being the first Fellow of the American Rocket Society (A) when it instituted the grade of Fellow member in 1949. The following year the ARS elected as Fellows: C.M. Bolster, Louis Dunn, G. Edward Pendray, Maurice J. Zucrow, and Fritz Zwicky. Fellows are persons of distinction in aeronautics or astronautics who have made notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology thereof. A special Fellow Grade Committee reviews Associate Fellow nominees from the membership and makes recommendations to the Board of Directors, which makes the final selections. One Fellow for every 1000 voting members is elected each year. There have been 1980 distinguished persons elected since the inception of this Honor. AIAA Fellows include: A Arnold D. Aldrich 1990 A.L. Antonio 1959 (A) James A. Abrahamson 1997 E.C. “Pete” Aldridge, Jr. 1991 Winfield H. Arata, Jr. 1991 H. Norman Abramson 1970 Buzz Aldrin 1968 Johann Arbocz 2002 Frederick Abbink 2007 Kyle T. Alfriend 1988 Mark Ardema 2006 Ira H. Abbott 1947 (I) Douglas Allen 2010 Brian Argrow 2016 Malcolm J. -
Chapter 6.Qxd
CHAPTER 6: The NASA Family The melding of all of the NASA centers, contractors, universities, and often strong personalities associated with each of them into the productive and efficient organization necessary to complete NASA’s space missions became both more critical and more difficult as NASA turned its attention from Gemini to Apollo. The approach and style and, indeed, the personality of each NASA center differed sharply. The Manned Spacecraft Center was distinctive among all the rest. Fortune magazine suggested in 1967 that the scale of NASA’s operation required a whole new approach and style of management: “To master such massively complex and expensive problems, the agency has mobilized some 20,000 individual firms, more than 400,000 workers, and 200 colleges and universities in a combine of the most advanced resources of American civilization.” The author referred to some of the eight NASA centers and assorted field installations as “pockets of sovereignty” which exercised an enormous degree of independence and autonomy.1 An enduring part of the management problem throughout the Mercury and Gemini programs that became compounded under Apollo, because of its greater technical challenges, was the diversity and distinctiveness of each of the NASA centers. The diverse cultures and capabilities represented by each of the centers were at once the space program’s greatest resource and its Achilles’ heel. NASA was a hybrid organization. At its heart was Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory established by Congress in 1917 near Hampton, Virginia, and formally dedicated in 1920. It became the Langley Research Center. Langley created the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory at Moffett Field, California, in 1939. -
JHU/APL Colloquia
JHU Applied Physics Laboratory Colloquia November 15, 2019 www.jhuapl.edu/colloquium/archive [email protected] 2019 – 2020 Stephen Moore (Author and Journalist) UNCOMMON VALOR: Recon Company Medal of Honor Heroes of FOB-2. November 8, 2019. Lawrence Goldstone (Author) Going Deep: John Philip Holland and the Invention of the Attack Submarine. November 1, 2019. David Blodgett (JHU/APL) Optical Imaging of the Brain: Is There Really Anything to See? October 25, 2019. Larrie D. Ferreiro (George Mason Univ.) Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It. October 18, 2019. Dr. Etta Pisano, M.D., FACR (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) The Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (TMIST) – A Bridge to Personalized Breast Cancer Screening. October 16, 2019. Héctor L. Díaz (Hispanics In History Cultural Organization) The Hispanic Assistance to the American Revolution. October 11, 2019. Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo (Southwest Research Institute) How the Hemispheric Polar Field Reversal Sets the Timing and Shape of the Solar Cycle. October 9, 2019. Dave "Bio" Baranek (Author, "TOPGUN Days") Topgun and Tomcats: High Explosives, Type-A Personalities, and Prandtl–Meyer Expansion Fans. October 4, 2019. 2018 – 2019 Mojie Crigler (END Fund) Under the Big Tree: Extraordinary Stories From the Movement to End Neglected Tropical Diseases. September 27, 2019. CAPT Mercedes Benitez-McCrary, Dr.HSc, MA CCC-SLP (Chief Professional Officer - Chief Therapist Officer, United States Public Health Service) “Puentes Y Verjas” – Hispanic Health. September 20, 2019. Eric Haseltine (Analyst and Consultant) The Spy in Moscow Station: A Counterspy's Hunt for a Deadly Cold War Threat. -
Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 110 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 110 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 154 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2008 No. 19 House of Representatives The House met at 2 p.m. and was THE JOURNAL world peace can occur by sitting called to order by the Speaker pro tem- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The around smoking dope and banging on pore (Mr. BAIRD). Chair has examined the Journal of the the tambourine. Berkeley should lose all Federal f last day’s proceedings and announces to the House his approval thereof. funding for their smug denouncement DESIGNATION OF THE SPEAKER Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Jour- of the Marine Corps. Patriotic Ameri- PRO TEMPORE nal stands approved. cans should not subsidize cities that tell the Marines to ‘‘get out of town.’’ The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- f And as for the Marines, we’ll take fore the House the following commu- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE nication from the Speaker: them all in Texas. We’ll have a parade, The SPEAKER pro tempore. Will the fly the flag, and sing the Marine Hymn. WASHINGTON, DC, gentleman from Florida (Mr. MILLER) February 6, 2008. So Semper Fi. come forward and lead the House in the I hereby appoint the Honorable BRIAN And that’s just the way it is. BAIRD to act as Speaker pro tempore on this Pledge of Allegiance. day. Mr. MILLER of Florida led the f NANCY PELOSI, Pledge of Allegiance as follows: Speaker of the House of Representatives. -
The New Engineering Research Centers: Purposes, Goals, and Expectations
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 315 272 SE 051 142 TITLE The New Engineering Research Centers: Purposes, Goals, and Expectations. Symposium (District of Colombia, April 29-30, 1985). INSTITUTION National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC. Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems. SPONS AGENCY National Science Foundation, Washington, D. REPORT NO ISBN-0-309-03598-8 PUB DATE 86 GRANT NSF-MEG-8505051 NOTE 213p.; Prepared by the Cross-Disciplinary Engineering Research Committee. AVAILABLE FROM National Academy Press, 1201 Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20418 ($25.95). PUB TYPE Collected Works - Conference Proceedings (021) -- Viewpoints (120) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *Engineering; *Engineering Education; *Engineering Technology; *Research Administration; Research and Development; *Research and Development Centers; Research Directors; Research Proposals; Scientific Research IDENTIFIERS *Engineering Research Centers ABSTRACT The aympoisum was held to describe the roots and future plans of the Engineering Research Center's (ERC's) concept and program. The first section of this symposium compilation describes the national goals that the ERCs represent. The second section presents the point of view of the National Science Foundation on the ERCs--the concept behind them, their goals, selection criteria, and mechanisms for support. The next section provides the plans and programs of the six existing centers:(1) Systems Research Center; (2) Center for Intelligent Manufacturin3 Systems;(3) Center for Robotic Systems in Microelectronics; (4) Center for Composites Manufacturing Science and Engineering; (5) Engineering Center for Telecommunications; and (6) Biotechnology Process Engineering Center. Two of the presentations were on exchange methods among the centers and the relationship between engineering.education and research. -
2005 Annual Report American Physical Society
1 2005 Annual Report American Physical Society APS 20052 APS OFFICERS 2006 APS OFFICERS PRESIDENT: PRESIDENT: Marvin L. Cohen John J. Hopfield University of California, Berkeley Princeton University PRESIDENT ELECT: PRESIDENT ELECT: John N. Bahcall Leo P. Kadanoff Institue for Advanced Study, Princeton University of Chicago VICE PRESIDENT: VICE PRESIDENT: John J. Hopfield Arthur Bienenstock Princeton University Stanford University PAST PRESIDENT: PAST PRESIDENT: Helen R. Quinn Marvin L. Cohen Stanford University, (SLAC) University of California, Berkeley EXECUTIVE OFFICER: EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Judy R. Franz Judy R. Franz University of Alabama, Huntsville University of Alabama, Huntsville TREASURER: TREASURER: Thomas McIlrath Thomas McIlrath University of Maryland (Emeritus) University of Maryland (Emeritus) EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Martin Blume Martin Blume Brookhaven National Laboratory (Emeritus) Brookhaven National Laboratory (Emeritus) PHOTO CREDITS: Cover (l-r): 1Diffraction patterns of a GaN quantum dot particle—UCLA; Spring-8/Riken, Japan; Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lab, SLAC & UC Davis, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 085503 (2005) 2TESLA 9-cell 1.3 GHz SRF cavities from ACCEL Corp. in Germany for ILC. (Courtesy Fermilab Visual Media Service 3G0 detector studying strange quarks in the proton—Jefferson Lab 4Sections of a resistive magnet (Florida-Bitter magnet) from NHMFL at Talahassee LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT APS IN 2005 3 2005 was a very special year for the physics community and the American Physical Society. Declared the World Year of Physics by the United Nations, the year provided a unique opportunity for the international physics community to reach out to the general public while celebrating the centennial of Einstein’s “miraculous year.” The year started with an international Launching Conference in Paris, France that brought together more than 500 students from around the world to interact with leading physicists. -
What Famous Computer Person(S)
I Won a famous prize also won by Jane Goodall, Noam Chomsky, and John Cage? (Kyoto) I Won a famous prize also won by the chemist Linus Pauling, physicist John Bardeen, economist Herbert Simon, and the astronomer James van Allen? (NMS) I Proudly puts an INTERCAL program they wrote on their home page? (Abandon sanity) I Dedicated their first book to a computer “in remembrance of many pleasant evenings”? I Instead of celebrating their 65th birthday, celebrated their millionth ((1000000)2 = 64 birthday)? I Along with Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds is regarded as one of the three pioneers of open-source software? I Introduced big-O notation to the computer science community? What famous computer person(s) I Had their first publication in Mad magazine? I Won a famous prize also won by the chemist Linus Pauling, physicist John Bardeen, economist Herbert Simon, and the astronomer James van Allen? (NMS) I Proudly puts an INTERCAL program they wrote on their home page? (Abandon sanity) I Dedicated their first book to a computer “in remembrance of many pleasant evenings”? I Instead of celebrating their 65th birthday, celebrated their millionth ((1000000)2 = 64 birthday)? I Along with Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds is regarded as one of the three pioneers of open-source software? I Introduced big-O notation to the computer science community? What famous computer person(s) I Had their first publication in Mad magazine? I Won a famous prize also won by Jane Goodall, Noam Chomsky, and John Cage? (Kyoto) I Proudly puts an INTERCAL program they -
The Following Are Edited Excerpts from Two Interviews Conducted with Dr
Interviews with Dr. Wernher von Braun Editor's note: The following are edited excerpts from two interviews conducted with Dr. Wernher von Braun. Interview #1 was conducted on August 25, 1970, by Robert Sherrod while Dr. von Braun was deputy associate administrator for planning at NASA Headquarters. Interview #2 was conducted on November 17, 1971, by Roger Bilstein and John Beltz. These interviews are among those published in Before This Decade is Out: Personal Reflections on the Apollo Program, (SP-4223, 1999) edited by Glen E. Swanson, whick is vailable on-line at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4223/sp4223.htm on the Web. Interview #1 In the Apollo Spacecraft Chronology, you are quoted as saying "It is true that for a long time we were not in favor of lunar orbit rendezvous. We favored Earth orbit rendezvous." Well, actually even that is not quite correct, because at the outset we just didn't know which route [for Apollo to travel to the Moon] was the most promising. We made an agreement with Houston that we at Marshall would concentrate on the study of Earth orbit rendezvous, but that did not mean we wanted to sell it as our preferred scheme. We weren't ready to vote for it yet; our study was meant to merely identify the problems involved. The agreement also said that Houston would concentrate on studying the lunar rendezvous mode. Only after both groups had done their homework would we compare notes. This agreement was based on common sense. You don't start selling your scheme until you are convinced that it is superior. -
Project Apollo: Americans to the Moon John M
Chapter Two Project Apollo: Americans to the Moon John M. Logsdon Project Apollo, the remarkable U.S. space effort that sent 12 astronauts to the surface of Earth’s Moon between July 1969 and December 1972, has been extensively chronicled and analyzed.1 This essay will not attempt to add to this extensive body of literature. Its ambition is much more modest: to provide a coherent narrative within which to place the various documents included in this compendium. In this narrative, key decisions along the path to the Moon will be given particular attention. 1. Roger Launius, in his essay “Interpreting the Moon Landings: Project Apollo and the Historians,” History and Technology, Vol. 22, No. 3 (September 2006): 225–55, has provided a com prehensive and thoughtful overview of many of the books written about Apollo. The bibliography accompanying this essay includes almost every book-length study of Apollo and also lists a number of articles and essays interpreting the feat. Among the books Launius singles out for particular attention are: John M. Logsdon, The Decision to Go to the Moon: Project Apollo and the National Interest (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1970); Walter A. McDougall, . the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age (New York: Basic Books, 1985); Vernon Van Dyke, Pride and Power: the Rationale of the Space Program (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1964); W. Henry Lambright, Powering Apollo: James E. Webb of NASA (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995); Roger E. Bilstein, Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles, NASA SP-4206 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1980); Edgar M.