Beyond the Atmosphere: Early Years of Space Science
 
 
Solar Flare
 
[An experiment on NASA's Skylab 4 photographed a solar flare (upper left spanning more than 588 000 kilometers of
the sun's surface 19 December 1973. The solar poles show relative absence of supergranulation network and a darker tone than in the central portion of the disk. The photograph was taken in the light of ionized helium by the extreme ultraviolet spectroheliograph instrument of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.]
 
 
 
 
- TABLE OF CONTENTS -
 
 
 
PREFACE
 
PART I. NATURE OF THE SUBJECT
 
 
1. THE MEANING OF SPACE SCIENCE.
Science a Process.
Space Science.
2. THE CONTEXT.
 
PART II. TAPROOTS
 
3. PROPHETS AND PIONEERS OF SPACEFLIGHT.
4. THE ROCKET AND SATELLITE RESEARCH PANEL: THE FIRST SPACE SCIENTISTS.
The V-2 Panel.
The Need to Replace the V-2.
Scope of Panel Activity.
International Contacts.
The IGY Satellite Program.
5. THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES STAKES A CLAIM.
6. EARLY HARVEST: THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND COSMIC RAYS.
The Threshold to Space.
Problems to Solve.
The Harvest.
Significance.
 
 
PART III. SETTING THE COURSE
 
7. RESPONSE TO SPUTNIK: THE CREATION OF NASA.
8. NASA GETS UNDER WAY.
Organization.
Staffing.
Program.
9. EXTERNAL RELATIONS.
Department of Defense.
Academy of Sciences.
President's Science Advisory Committee.
Publication of Results.
Universities.
Scientific Societies.
10. ROCKETS AND SPACECRAFT: SINE QUA NON OF SPACE SCIENCE.
Launch Vehicles.
Spacecraft.
Hard-Learned Lessons.
Costs.
11. DEEPENING PERSPECTIVE: A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD WORLD.
The Magnetosphere.
Significance.
Satellite Geodesy.
Significance.
 
 
PART IV. LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIPS
 
12. WHO DECIDES?.
Space Science Board.
NASA's Advisory Committees.
Space Science Panel.
The Scientists Decide.
13. THE UNIVERSITIES: ALLIES AND RIVALS TO NASA.
Stepping Up the Pace.
Experimental Program: Facilities Grants and Memos of Understanding.
Experimental Program: Research Institutes.
A Slower Pace.
14. PROGRAMS, PROJECTS, AND HEADACHES.
The Character of the Field Centers.
Field versus Headquarters.
Strains on the Family Tie.
15. JET PROPULSION LABORATORY: OUTSIDER OR INSIDER?.
The Question of Responsiveness.
Moon and Planets.
Accommodation.
16. LIFE SCIENCES: NO PLACE IN THE SUN.
17. LEADERSHIP AND CHANGING TIMES.
NASA's Administrators.
Manned Space Science.
Finding the Way Out.
 
 
PART V. THE SCOPE OF SPACE SCIENCE
 
18. INTERNATIONAL TIES.
Political Context.
NASA International Program.
Cooperation with Western Countries.
The Soviet Union.
Escalation.
19. SPACE SCIENCE AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS.
20. CONTINUING HARVEST: THE BROADENING FIELD OF SPACE SCIENCE.
Space Science as Integrating Force.
Exploration of the Solar System.
Investigation of the Universe.
 
 

 
 
PART VI. FUTURE COURSE
 
21. OBJECTIVES, PLANS, AND BUDGETS.
Plans.
Budgets.
The Space Shuttle.
22. REVIEW AND ASSESSMENT.
Organization and Management.
Individual and Institutional Relations.
The Scientific Process and Space Science.
Future Course.
 

APPENDIXES, BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY, SOURCE NOTES, AND INDEX
 
 
APPENDIXES
A. Membership of Rocket and Satellite Research Panel.
B. Typical Distribution of RSRP Reports.
C. Meetings of Rocket and Satellite Research Panel.
D. RSRP Proposals for a National Space Program.
E. Original Membership of the U.S. National Committee for the International Geophysical Year.
F. Membership of the Space Science Board, 1958-1972.
G. Reports from Space Science Board Summer Studies.
H. Advisers Attending NASA's First University Program Conference, 1961.
I. Meeting of Physicists at Airlie House Warrenton, \virginia, 1963.
J. Statement by President Nixon on the Space Program 7 March 1970.
K. Glossary.
 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHIC ESSAY.
 
SOURCE NOTES.
 
THE AUTHOR.
 
Tables.
 
Figures.

 
 
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