Preludes to U.S. Space-Launch Vehicle Technology: Goddard Rockets to Minuteman III

by J. D. Hunley

Overview

For nearly fifty years, a wide range of missiles and rockets has propelled U.S. satellites and spacecraft into the sky. J. D. Hunley's two-volume work traces the evolution of this technology, from Robert Goddard's research in the 1920s through the development of the Titan missiles and launch vehicles in the 1960s to the refinement of the space shuttle in the 1980s.

With the first book devoted primarily to military hardware and the second to launch vehicle hardware, Hunley offers a sweeping overview of these impressive engineering innovations as well as insights into the dynamic personalities responsible for them. Together, the two volumes offer a unique, invaluable history of rocketry that should appeal to a wide range of scholars and space buffs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813031774
Publisher:	University Press of Florida
Publication date:	05/11/2008
Edition description:	First
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

J. D. Hunley was chief historian of NASA Dryden Flight Research Center before his retirement in 2001. Besides working as a historian for the United States Air Force and NASA during his lengthy career, Hunley has also taught at Allegheny College and served as a Ramsey Fellow at the National Air and Space Museum.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction     1
The Beginnings: Goddard and Oberth, 1926-1945     10
Peenemunde and the A-4 (V-2), 1932-1945     42
JPL: From JATO to the Corporal, 1936-1957     93
From Pompton Lakes to White Sands: Other Liquid-Propellant Rocket Developments, 1930-1954     126
From Eaton Canyon to the Sergeant Missile: Solid-Propellant Rocket Developments, 1940-1962     151
Redstone, Jupiter C, and Juno I, 1946-1961     165
The Atlas, Thor, and Jupiter Missiles, 1954-1959     203
The Titan I and II, 1955-1966     249
Polaris and Minuteman: The Solid-Propellant Breakthrough, 1955-1970     291
Conclusion     333
Chronology     339
Notes     347
Glossary of Terms, Acronyms, and Abbreviations     407
Sources     417
Index     447