Cold War Space Sleuths

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Michael Lennick

Space junkies and armchair astronauts are provided with comprehensive, handy references for a variety of space-related missions, vehicles, and concepts in this pocket-sized series. Compiled with the cooperation of NASA, each topic-specific reference features relevant statistics, photographs, and the stories behind each project. Books on manned missions include crew photographs, information on patches and equipment, and flight statistics such as time in space, distance traveled, and mission objectives. Photographs and statistics for launch vehicles, orbiters, probes, and experimental equipment are featured in each equipment-specific reference. Covering such design elements as propellants, tanks, engines, and payloads, this detailed look at the mechanism that gets it all started describes 259 types of launch vehicles developed by China, the European Space Agency, Japan, Russia, and the United States. A total of 259 types of launch vehicles have been launched into space by the United States (165), Russia (54), China (14), Japan (14) and the European Space Agency (ESA) (12). Propellants, Tanks, Engines, and Payloads are just a few of the elements that are listed for each of these Launch Vehicle. Learn how these most complex and awe inspiring machines actually work and why they call anything that is difficult to achieve "Rocket Science".

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Jay Barbree

Some fifty years ago as a cub reporter, Barbree caught space fever the night that Sputnik passed over Albany, Georgia. On a double date where the couples actually did some star gazing, Barbree recognized that exploring space would become one of the most important stories of the century. Convinced that one day astronauts would walk on the moon, Barbree moved to the then sleepy ocean—side community of Cocoa Beach, right outside Cape Canaveral, and began reporting on rockets that soared, exploded, and fizzled. In the decades to come he witnessed a parade of history as space pioneers, hucksters, groupies and politicians participated in the greatest show of technology the world had ever seen. Besides many untold and amusing anecdotes — quite a few involving astronaut pranks, fast cars, swimming pools, and strong drinks — Barbree reveals the horror visited on the Cape when Apollo 1 burned, when the Challenger exploded and when Columbia broke into pieces.A warts and all account, this book nevertheless carries a compassionate and positive message. The men and women who conquered space were colorful and sometimes larger than life. They partied, got angry, made mistakes and committed their share of sins. But they were also genuine heroes with great commitment and love of country. With humor, insight and unmatched experience, Barbree brings them and the ever—changing world of the space program to vivid life.

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Janet Abbate

In Inventing the Internet, Janet Abbate focuses on the social and cultural factors that influenced the Internet's design and use. She unfolds an often twisting tale of collaboration and conflict among a remarkable variety of players, including government and military agencies, computer scientists in academia and industry, graduate students, telecommunications companies, standards organizations, and network users.

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Elizabeth A. Trembley

Until now, Michael Crichton's many readers have had nowhere to turn for more information on one of America's most popular novelists. This companion features clear analyses of Crichton's life and literary influences, as well as chapter on each of his 10 major novels to date. It will help Chrichton's readers learn more about how significant events in his life affected the development of his fiction and literary style and how the heritage of popular fiction, including mystery, gothic, adventure, and science fiction, influenced his writing. This study provides close textual analysis of each novel, by focusing on plot, character development, theme, and critical interpretation. . This study analyzes Crichton's novels from the Andromeda Strain (1969) to The Lost World (1995). It features a clear, user-friendly organization, with two general chapters on Crichton's life and literary heritage, and one chapter on each of his novels. For ease of use by the reader, each chapter is subdivided into section on general critical analysis, plot, theme, character development, and alternative perspectives on the novel that offer additional insight. The author shows how each of Crichton's novels incorporates a theme or debate from current culture and how his visions of genetically engineered dinosaurs, killer viruses from outer space, and deadly relations in international business have become part of American culture. This study will help the reader to understand the important issues raised by Crichton's fiction and to apply critical insight to an examination of those issues. No secondary school, public library, or college library should be without this first serious examination of the works of Michael Crichton.