Hot Topics/FAQs -
New Publications - New Online Materials
Hot Topics
The new NASA HQ Historical Reference Collection on-line public database is here! Four series from the NASA Headquarters Historical Reference Collection have been digitized and made available in this new on-line database for use by researchers.
Included are PDFs of Press Kits, Press Releases, Mission Transcripts, and Administrators' Speeches.
Researchers may use either the Basic Search or Advanced Search to access these.
The HQ History Division staff has digitized all press kits, press releases, mission transcripts, and Administrators' speeches that were available to them in the Historical Reference Collection.
Links are provided to other sources where similar and/or additional information can be found.
On October 22-23, 2007,
the NASA History Division and the National Air and Space
Museum hosted a conference
in Washington, D.C. called "Remembering the Space Age"
to mark the 50th anniversary of the Space Age. The agenda and abstracts of selected papers presented at the conference are available at this link.
NASA's Fiftieth Anniversary
NASA's
Fiftieth Anniversary in 2008 web site celebrates NASA's first fifty years and contains images from the America in Space anniversary book.
New Publications
Societal Impact of Spaceflight (NASA SP-2007-4801) by Steven J. Dick and Roger D. Launius. The purpose of this volume is to examine the effects of spaceflight on society through scholarly research, making use especially of the tools of the historian and the broader social sciences and humanities. Has the Space Age indeed had a significant effect on society? If so, what are those influences? What do we mean by an “impact” on society? And what parts of society? Conversely, has society had any effect on spaceflight? What would be different had there been no Space Age?
To order please contact the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, 7121 Standard Drive , Hanover , MD 21076 , 301-621-0390, help@sti.nasa.gov. Online Order Form: https://www.sti.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ordersti.pl . The Document ID is 20080007234 and the price code is EA5 (Within U.S. $25.00 plus $2.00 shipping and handling: Outside U.S. $50.00 plus $17.00 S&H). Click below to view this book in a two part PDF:
Part 1.
Part 2.
U.S. Human Spaceflight: A Record of Achievement, 1961-2006 (Monograph in Aerospace History No. 41) was compiled by Judith A. Rumerman and updated by Chris Gamble and Gabriel Okolski. This handy and richly illustrated reference work is an updating of the similarly titled Monograph 9 that was published in 1998. Interested readers may obtain a free copy of this monograph by sending a self-addressed, stamped 9x12" envelope ($2.84 domestic first-class postage for 13 ounces) to the NASA Information Center, NASA HQ, Washington, DC 20546 or by coming in person to the NASA History Division in room CO72 of NASA Headquarters.
William H. Pickering: America's Deep Space Pioneer. (NASA SP-2007-4113) by Douglas J. Mudgway .
This thoroughly researched, insightful biography by a fellow New Zealander who came to the U.S. and worked with William Pickering, who became Director of JPL, is a timely addition to the literature and an engaging portrait of one of the pioneers of early U.S. robotic spaceflight. The book is out in time to commemorate the Explorer 1 launch on January 31, 1958.
To order please contact the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, 7121 Standard Drive , Hanover , MD 21076 , 301-621-0390, help@sti.nasa.gov.
Online Order Form: https://www.sti.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ordersti.pl . The document ID is 20070038305 and the price code is EA5 (Within U.S . $25 plus $2 shipping and handling; outside U.S. $50 plus $17 shipping and handling).
The Wind and Beyond:
Journey into the History of Aerodynamics in America,
Volume 2, Reinventing the Airplane. (NASA SP-2007-4409) by James R. Hansen, ed.
Following up on Volume I's account of the invention of the airplane and the creation of the original aeronautical research establishment in the United States , Volume II explores the airplane design revolution of the 1920s and 1930s and the quest for improved airfoils.
To order, please contact the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, 7121 Standard Drive , Hanover , MD 21076 , 301-621-0390, help@sti.nasa.gov . Online Order Form: https://www.sti.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ordersti.pl .The document ID is 20070039007 and the price code is EA7 (Within U.S . $35 plus $2 shipping and handling; outside U.S. $70 plus $17 shipping and handling).
Click below to view this book in a three part PDF:
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
America In Space: NASA's First Fifty Years. New York
: Abrams, 2007. Steven Dick, editor, et.al.
As the world remembers the dawn of the Space Age in 2007 and the golden anniversary of NASA in 2008, the historic legacy of the agency is captured in a new photo book, America in Space, published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York.
The book uses nearly 500 stunning photographs to tell the agency's story, from the drama of lift-off, to tension in mission control, to the humor and humanity portrayed in the faces of astronauts, scientists, engineers, and political leaders.
Published in cooperation with NASA, the book features a foreword by Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong
Please click here for ordering information.
Mars Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Space Exploration Initiative (NASA SP-2007-4410) by Thor Hogan.
On the 20th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon, President George H.W. Bush stood atop the steps of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington , D.C. and proposed a long-range human exploration plan that included the successful construction of an orbital space station, a permanent return to the Moon, and a mission to Mars. This enterprise became known as the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI).
This study
suggests that the failure of this initiative was not predetermined.
Please order by contacting the NASA Center for
Aerospace Information at 7121 Standard Drive Hanover, Maryland
21076, (301) 621-0390 or order online.
The price code is EA6 ($15.00 within the U.S.; $30 internationally).
Mission to Jupiter: A History of the Galileo
Project (NASA SP-2007-4231) by Michael
Meltzer. Please order by contacting the NASA Center for
Aerospace Information at 7121 Standard Drive Hanover, Maryland
21076, (301) 621-0390 or order online.
The price code is EA5 ($25.00 within the U.S.; $50 internationally).
New Electronic NASA History
Resources
To See the Unseen: A History
of Planetary Radar Astronomy (NASA SP-4218), 1996, by Andrew J. Butrica. Thanks to Chris Gamble for formatting these html files.
Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story
(NASA SP-4220), 1998, by Dale R. Reed.
Thanks to Chris Gamble for formatting these html files.
Wallops Station and the Creation of an American Space Program
(NASA SP-4311), 1997, by Harold D. Wallace, Jr.
Thanks to Chris Gamble for formatting these html files.
Way Station to Space: A History of the John C. Stennis Space Center (NASA SP-4310), 1997, by Mack R. Herring. Thanks to Chris Gamble for formatting these html files.
The Difficult Road to Mars: A Brief History
of Mars Exploration in the Soviet Union by
V.G. Perminov is Monograph in Aerospace History, No. 15,
1999. This monograph
is also available in two ~ 4MB pdf pieces: click here for
the first part and here for the
second part. Thanks to Ronald
Wells for formatting these pdf files.
"We Freeze to Please:" A History of NASA's
Icing Research Tunnel and the Quest for Safety
(NASA SP-2002-4226) by William M. Leary.
Apollo 204 Review Board Report Appendices.
Volumes
I and
II of Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents
in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program (NASA
SP-4407) are available online by clicking on the appropriate
link just above. Volume I is subtitled Organizing for
Exploration and volume II is subtitled External
Relationships. Online
versions of the other volumes in this documentary history
series are also available.
Oral
history Collections at Headquarters and the Field Centers.
Researchers may find these lists of available oral histories
useful.
Chambers, Joseph R.. Innovation in Flight: Research
of the NASA Langley Research Center on Revolutionary Advanced
Concepts for Aeronautics (NASA SP-2005-4539). This
monograph is only available on-line so click
here to view. (If your browser does not open a table
of contents with a link to the second
half, click here to view that.) Thanks to Todd Messer
and Smahan Upson for formatting this.
Twenty-fifth
Anniversary of STS-1. A new website commemorating
the 25th anniversary of the first Space Shuttle mission,
which lifted off on April 12, 1981. Includes a history,
biographies, images, and more.
Steven J. Dick, NASA Chief Historian
Steve Garber, NASA History Web Curator
Site design by NASA HQ Printing & Design
For further information email mailto:histinfo@hq.nasa.gov
|
