Afterburner Book Reviews SPACESUIT
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Afterburner Book Reviews SPACESUIT Above left: On 3 June 1965 Edward H White II became the fi rst American to step outside his spacecraft and let go. Above right: Anchored to a Canadarm2 mobile foot restraint, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, Expedition 36 fl ight engineer, participates in a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as work continues on the International Space Station in July 2013. Right: On 9 April 1959, NASA introduced its fi rst astronaut class, the Mercury 7. Below right: ‘Buzz’ Aldrin on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Bottom right: NASA invited the public to vote on three cover layer designs for the Z-2 prototype suit which will be used to test the technologies that NASA hopes astronauts will wear on a mission to Mars by 2030. All NASA. A History through Fact and the day and occasionally provide insights of value to future developments. Fiction If the book has a central theme, it is that of By B Gooden practicality and mobility. One of the best ways of protecting humans from the space environment is Tattered Flag Press, PO Box 2240, Pulborough, West with a hard metal suit, similar to some deep-sea Sussex RH20 9AL, UK. 2012. 128pp. Illustrated. diving units used in marine recovery operations. £16.99. ISBN 978-0-9543115-4-4. This idea produced some quite bizarre designs, which gained the nickname ‘canned’ astronaut. At fi rst glance, from the cover of this excellent book, However, large mass and restricted movement the casual reader would be forgiven for thinking coupled with the diffi culty of donning the suit in they had strayed into pulp fi ction rather than solid cramped conditions with minimal help makes these science. However, more careful reading reveals a impractical. Therefore, multi-layer soft suits have thoroughly researched and stimulating history of the become the practical solution, with various levels of technological development of a rather neglected, yet protection depending on the required use, within a essential piece of space hardware — the spacesuit. spacecraft, in-orbit or on the surface of the Moon. While much has been written about the technology of Mobility remains an issue, particularly regarding space vehicles, that underlying the ability to protect joints, which stiffen under internal pressure. Early astronauts from the space environment has been spacesuits had very limited movement as a result. taken for granted. In his book, Brett Gooden reveals For me, the development of technical solutions to a fascinating and complex development history that this problem is one of the surprising highlights of overcame many technological challenges in ultimately the book. allowing humans to walk on the Moon and perform Overall this is a nicely produced, well-illustrated complex tasks outside their spacecraft in-orbit. book. There are a few minor irritations with layout, The presentation has a strong historical thread, where the fi gures squeeze the text to no more than running from the very earliest problems of high one or two lines on the page. This is certainly a book altitude survival in balloon fl ights, through pressure that deserves to be popular and widely read. suits required by aviators and into the space age. This material is linked to the manifestations of Professor Martin Barstow spacesuits in popular fi ction, which often ignore real Professor of Astrophysics and Space Science, science but sometimes refl ect the technology of University of Leicester 44 AEROSPACE / JULY 2014 SPACE SHUTTLE LEGACY How We Did It and What We Learned Edited by R D Launius et al American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 500, Reston, VA 20191-4344, USA. 2013. Distributed by Transatlantic Publishers Group, 97 Greenham Road, London N10 1LN, UK (T +44 (0)20 8815 5994; E [email protected]). 489pp. Illustrated. £35 [20% discount available to RAeS members on request]. 375pp. Illustrated. $49.95. ISBN 978-1- 62410-216-5. WHEELS STOP Space shuttle Atlantis and could be introduced. Among the 71 design changes its four-member STS-135 made at this time a new turbopump, for example, The Tragedies and Triumphs crew head toward Earth orbit and rendezvous with the was simplifi ed with rotating parts reduced from of the Space Shuttle Program, International Space Station 50 to 28, and the number of welds from 300 to 1986-2011 at the beginning of the last 4. Biggs explains the daunting complexity of the shuttle fl ight on 8 July 2011. engine and thereby highlights the scale of the By R Houston All NASA. achievement in keeping the engines in working order throughout the 30-year period. University of Nebraska Press, University of The main technology used for protection against Nebraska Press, 1111 Lincoln Mall, Lincoln, NE the extreme temperatures of re-entry had been 68588-0630, USA. 2013. Distributed by Combined known since the 1950s — the 30,000 tiles (later Academic Publishers Ltd, Windsor House, reduced to 24,000) that the Shuttle pioneered in Cornwall Road, Harrogate HG1 2PW, UK. 428pp. place of the ablative non-reusable shield used by Illustrated. £24.99. [25% discount available to RAeS other space (and missile) programmes. However, as members via www.combinedacademic.co.uk using former Shuttle engineer Dennis Jenkins explains, CS314FLIGHT promotion code]. ISBN 978-0- it was another technology that failed in the case of 8032-3534-2. the 1 February 2003 re-entry break-up of Columbia (and the death of its seven crew members). The For 30 years from the take-off of Columbia on 12 >2,300°F experienced by the wing leading edge April 1981 until the touchdown of Atlantis on 21 was handled by a carbon composite panel coated July 2011, America’s Space Shuttle was the world’s with silicon carbide, not by the famous tiles. The most iconic launch vehicle. I gave an overview of panel material proved to be less robust than once the Space Shuttle story in Aerospace International thought and was penetrated by a piece of insulation (October 2010, pp 18-20) as it approached the from the giant external fuel tank, causing the wing end of its service life, and Space Shuttle Legacy to fail during re-entry. Jenkins points out, however, looks at the subject in much greater depth. The that it was one of the few materials that could main attraction of the book is the identifi cation of withstand the re-entry environment and continued to the Shuttle’s main management and engineering be used albeit with more inspection and analysis. challenges, each reviewed by an expert — the three The third critical technology, onboard main engineering challenges are identifi ed as (a) software, was by and large a NASA success story. the main engine, (b) thermal protection and (c) Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor onboard software. Nancy Leveson shows the evolution of Shuttle Robert Biggs helped develop the Shuttle main software from the 1960s through the Skylab and engine at Rocketdyne and provides powerful Apollo-Soyuz programmes of the early 1970s. The insights into its technical complexity. The engine most signifi cant decision was management rather development was always under time pressure. Sadly, than technical, when NASA decided to contract with it wasn’t until the explosion of Challenger in 1986 IBM directly for the software, bypassing Rockwell’s (with the death of its seven crew members) halted main Shuttle Orbiter contract, despite IBM being operations for nearly three years that there was the computer supplier in the Rockwell team. After a breathing space during which various upgrades the Shuttles were delivered and started their Find us on Twitter i Find us on LinkedIn f Find us on Facebook www.aerosociety.com JULY 2014 45 Afterburner Book Reviews service life, software became the main means for and civil government satellites would use Space Shuttle introducing changes to their performance and direct the Shuttle and thus eliminated competition Legacy has management of the software contract gave NASA to Europe’s emerging Ariane rocket in the fi rm control of that process. Leveson notes that the early 1980s. This enabled Ariane to become the great 30+ year continuity of the software work led to a the market leader for the world’s commercial merit of being culture in which creativity in coding was discouraged satellites — a position it still holds today. unashamed but creativity in modifying the management Space Shuttle Legacy has the great merit of about the processes encouraged. She identifi es other lessons being unashamed about the weaknesses as well that are useful today including the relationship as the strengths of the Space Shuttle. The chapters weaknesses between software quality and team morale, and on the three key engineering challenges and on as well as the the inability of software diversity to protect against NASA’s management approach are authoritative strengths of the errors in requirements — this latter observation and very readable, and make this a must-read for Space Shuttle. being relevant to many aviation programmes. anyone interested in a machine that in many ways One curious and common thread in the analysis represented the pinnacle of rocket science. The chapters of these three engineering challenges is the failure There is no similar rationale for reading Wheels on the three key of any of the authors to mention whether the various Stop — Rick Houston’s homage to the astronauts engineering who fl ew in the Space Shuttle. More than 300 industrial contracts were fi xed price or cost-plus. challenges In the UK we are used to strong pressure from people rode in the Shuttle during its 30 years in Government to adopt the fi xed price approach operation and most get a mention in the 400 or so and on NASA’s with much discussion about when the challenges pages of this refl ection on their experience.