Breaking the chains of gravity : the story of spaceflight before NASA / Amy Shira Teitel.
NASA's history is a familiar story, but its prehistory is an important and rarely told tale. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the U.S. Air Force brought rocket technology into the world of manned flight: NACA test pilots flew cutting-edge aircraft in the thin upper atmosphere while Air Force pilots rode to the fringes of space in balloons to see how humans handled radiation at high altitude. At the end of World War II Wernher von Braun escaped Nazi Germany, began developing missiles for the United States Army, and ten years later his Jupiter rocket was the only one capable of launching a satellite into orbit. Teitel shows how, after the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, President Eisenhower pulled it all together to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781472911179
- ISBN: 1472911172
- Physical Description: 304 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm
- Publisher: New York ; Bloomsbury Sigma, 2016.
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-296) and index. |
| Formatted Contents Note: | Hobby rocketeers -- The rocket loophole -- The turning tide of war -- Escape and surrender -- Nazi rockets in New Mexico -- Rockets meet airplanes -- A new war, a new missile, and a new leader -- Higher and faster -- Edging into hypersonics -- The floating astronaut -- Space becomes an option -- The first satellite race -- One little ball's big impact -- The fight to control space -- Epilogue: America finds its footing in space. |
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Available copies
- 4 of 4 copies available at NC Cardinal. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Iredell County Public Library.
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- 0 current holds with 4 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statesville Main Library | 629.40973 TEI (Text) | 33114017742289 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
