SP-4221 The Space Shuttle
Decision
Cover art: From the Seeds of Change.....a
Discovery. By Robert A. M. Stephens,
oil on canvas, c.1984.
Para Beverley: mi vida, mi amor, la
esposa de mi corazon.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
Abbreviations and
Acronyms.
Chapter 1. Space Stations and Winged Rockets.
- The Collier's Series.
- Background to the Space Station.
- Winged Rockets: The Work of Eugen Sanger.
- Navaho and the Main Line of American
Liquid Rocketry.
- The X-15: An Airplane for Hypersonic
Research.
- Lifting Bodies: Wingless Winged Rockets.
- Solid-Propellant Rockets: Inexpensive
Boosters.
- Dyna-Soar: A Failure in Evolution.
Chapter 2. NASA's Uncertain Future.
- Technology Bypasses the Space Station.
- Apollo Applications: Prelude to a Space
Station.
- Space Station Concepts of the 1960s.
- Early Studies of Low-Cost Space Flight.
- Two Leaders Emerge: Max Hunter and George
Mueller.
- NASA and the Post-Apollo Future.
Chapter 3. Mars and Other Dream Worlds.
- Nuclear Rocket Engines.
- A New Administrator: Thomas Paine.
- Space Shuttle Studies Continue.
- Space Policy: Opening Gambits.
- Paine Seeks a Space Station.
- Space Shuttles Receive New Attention.
- Space Task Group Members Prepare Plans.
- Agnew Leads a Push Toward Mars.
Chapter 4. Winter of Discontent.
- The Sixties.
- Mars: The Advance.
- Mars: The Retreat.
- The Turn of Congress.
- Paine Leaves NASA.
Chapter 5. Shuttle to the Forefront.
- The Air Force in Space.
- The Air Force and NASA.
- A New Shuttle Configuration.
- Station Fades; Shuttle Advances.
- The Space Shuttle Main Engine.
Chapter 6. Economics and the Shuttle.
- Why People Believed in Low-Cost Space
Flight.
- The Shuttle Faces Questions.
- Change at NASA and the Bureau of the
Budget.
- The Fall of the Two-Stage Fully-Reusable
Shuttle.
Chapter 7. Aerospace Recession.
- The Boeing 747.
- The Supersonic Transport (SST).
- The Lockheed L-1011.
- Aftermaths.
Chapter 8. A Shuttle to Fit the Budget.
- The Orbiter: Convergence to a Good
Solution.
- The Booster: Confusion and Doubt.
- End Game in the Shuttle Debate.
- TAOS: A New Alternative.
- A Time to Decide.
Chapter 9. Nixon's Decision.
- Nixon and Technology.
- Space Shuttle: The Last Moves.
- The Hinge of Decision.
- Loose Ends I: A Final Configuration.
- Loose Ends II: NERVA and Cape Canaveral.
- Awarding the Contracts.
Bibliography , Reports
and Other Publications: AIAA, Corporations, NASA.
Index.
The NASA History
Series.
