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Testing Aircraft, Exploring Space: An Illustrated History of NACA and NASA
by: Roger E. Bilstein

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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.40973
EAN: 9780801871580
ISBN: 0801871581
Label: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: April 09, 2003
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Sales Rank: 1464967
Studio: The Johns Hopkins University Press

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Product Description:
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics--forerunner of today's NASA--emerged in 1915, when airplanes were curiosities made of wood and canvas and held together with yards of baling wire. At the time an unusual example of government intrusion (and foresight, given the importance of aviation to national military concerns), the committee oversaw the development of wind tunnels, metal fabrication, propeller design, and powerful new high-speed aircraft during the 1920s and '30s. In this richly illustrated account, acclaimed historian of aviation Roger E. Bilstein combines the story of NACA and NASA to provide a fresh look at the agencies, the problems they faced, and the hard work as well as inventive genius of the men and women who found the solutions.

NACA research during World War II led to critical advances in U.S. fighter and bomber design and, Bilstein explains, contributed to engineering standards for helicopters. After 1945 the agency's test pilots experimented with jet-powered aircraft, testing both human and technical limits in trying to break the so-called 'sound barrier.' In October 1958, when the launch of the Soviet Sputnik signaled the beginning of the space race, NACA formed the nucleus of the new National Aeronautics and Space Agency. The new agency's efforts to meet President Kennedy's challenge--safely landing a man on the Moon and returning him to Earth before the end of the 1960s--is one of the great adventure stories of all time. Bilstein goes on to describe NASA's recent planetary and extraplanetary exploration, as well as its less well-known research into the future of aeronautical design.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Concise and Interesting History
This is a very interesting book that concisely details the history of NACA and NASA. It doesn't get too deep into the technical or political sides, but tries to show a balanced view of all the important aspects of these organizations. My only complaint is regarding the pictures. One picture is used twice to represent two distinctly different aircraft, and a couple photographs appear very pixelated, as if they were taken from the internet and enlarged too much.

Rating:

- A Superb Study by an Aerospace Master Historian
This is a quite successful attempt to synthesize the history of the sole federal organization created to undertake research and development (R&D) in flight technology. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was established in 1915 in response to the rapid advancement in aeronautical technology in Europe and the need in the United States to duplicate and surpass that level of effort. The NACA was transformed into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1958 in the aftermath of the Sputnik crisis, and given a mandate to undertake R&D in space technology in addition to its aeronautics component. As a synthesis this work brings together what is known about the history of these organizations. It does not seek to advance basic knowledge but instead to ensure that what is presently known is captured in a single volume. In successfully doing so, Bilstein's work will become the standard work ... Read More

Rating:

- Absorbing and informative
Testing Aircraft, Exploring Space is a profusely illustrated history of the NACA and NASA institutions, and their contributions to aviation and space exploration science, research, human exploration and much, much more. Black-and- white photographs, meticulous detail, and an involving survey of both history and discovery, make Testing Aircraft, Exploring Space an absorbing and informative study of America's exploration of the true "final frontier".

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