THE ROCKET — The History and Development of Rocket & Missile Technology — BIG SIZE 25 x 34 —
Prix régulier 89,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
| ISBN-10 | 0-517-53404-5 |
| Book cover finish(es) | Hardcover ( square spine binding ) |
| Special Features |
• Dust jacket |
| Condition | Excellent |
| Author(s) | David Baker |
| Publisher | Crown Publishers, Inc. |
| Number of pages | 278 |
| Published date | 1978 |
| Language(s) | English |
| Size | 25 x 34 x 3 cm |
| Categorie(s) | • CONQUÊTE SPATIALE • ENCYCLOPÉDIES • AVIATION MILITAIRE |
Description
The development of the rocket features in history as a series of devastating and often awe-inspiring events. The extent of the rocket’s potential, for both good and evil, has only become fully apparent within the last two decades, although man’s discovery of the nature of reactive flight spans two millennia. The rocket embodies its own peculiar technology which gives it the unique ability to propel itself in a vacuum, thereby being the only practical means of transportation, yet devised by man, capable of travelling beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.
The author notes that rockets and their multi-purpose payloads portend both alpha and omega. Alpha in that they represent man’s ultimate means of escape from his historical environment and furthermore as a means of redirecting the resources of outer space to an Earth whose energy clock has long passed its meridian. Omega represents the dark side of the rocket’s development, and one is left in little doubt as to its overwhelming role in the deadly end game which has been a fact of life since World War II.
Giant rockets such as the Saturn V, which launched man to the Moon and were likely to symbolize the shape of things to come, are now obsolete museum pieces and in all probability their like will not be seen again, at least not in the West. The next generation of space vehicles will be dominated by the reusable piloted Shuttle – a mix of rocket and glider whose operating costs per payload will represent a fraction of their giant predecessors. At the present time protagonist submarines lurk beneath the oceans, each craft carrying a complement of rockets capable of delivering megaton devastation equal to 500 times that rendered at Hiroshima. While Armageddon is poised on Earth and beneath the oceans, a Titan IIIE Centaur rocket proceeds on its Voyager mission, reaching Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, and Uranus in 1986 – such are the parameters of rocketry.
In this major political and technological history, virtually every material development in rocketry is traced from black powder propellants in ancient China right through to all the parallel developments in Europe, America, and Russia, ending with a discussion of the potential alternatives for rocket-powered flight in the 21st century.
The historical text is fully augmented with over 350 illustrations, many previously unpublished, together with a compendium, tables, and summary index, all of which will supply the reader with comprehensive data on virtually every significant rocket, missile, and rocket-powered aircraft that has ever flown or achieved flight potential.