The pre-astronauts : manned ballooning on the threshold of space / Craig Ryan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ryan, Craig, 1953-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Balloon ascensions--United States--History.

Balloon ascensions.

Upper atmosphere--Research--United States--History.

Upper atmosphere.

History.

Upper atmosphere--Research.

Outer space--Exploration--United States--History.

Outer space.

United States.

Physical Description:

xiv, 327 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First printing.

Place of Publication:

Annapolis, Md. : Naval Institute Press, [1995]

Summary:

Back in the 1950s and early 1960s, before liquid-fuel rockets had launched us full-sail onto what John Kennedy would call the "new ocean", a small fraternity of daring, brilliant men made the first exploratory trips into the upper stratosphere to the edge of outer space in tiny capsules suspended beneath plastic balloons. They saw things no one had ever seen, and they experienced conditions no one was sure they could survive. This book tells the story of these brave and tenacious men as they labored on the cusp of a new age. The author captures the drama of their spectacular achievements and those of many of the other space pioneers who made America's stratospheric balloon programs possible. Their now largely forgotten programs supplied many systems and processes adopted by NASA. Unfortunately, some of the valuable lessons they brought back from the edge of space were ignored - in at least one case, with disastrous consequences. Craig Ryan's argument is compelling for the inclusion of these men's achievements in the broad history of space exploration and astronautics. In their day, before Gagarin and Glenn and American flags on the Sea of Tranquillity, these pre-astronauts were the space program.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-317) and index.

ISBN:

1557507325

OCLC:

31776557