Andrew J. Butrica's Books

Single Stage to Orbit

Politics, Space Technology, and the Quest for Reusable Rocketry

By: Andrew J. Butrica

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Single Stage to Orbit

Politics, Space Technology, and the Quest for Reusable Rocketry

By: Andrew J. Butrica

Winner of the Michael C. Robinson Prize for Historical Analysis given by the National Council on Public History While the glories and tragedies of the space shuttle make headlines and move the nation, the story of the shuttle forms an inseparabe part of a lesser-known but no less important drama—the search for a reusable single-stage-to-orbit rocket. Here an award-winning student of space science, Andrew J. Butrica, examines the long and tangled history of this ambitious concept, from it first glimmerings in the 1920s, when technicians dismissed it as unfeasible, to its highly expensive heyday in the midst of the Cold War, when conservative-backed government programs struggled to produce an operational flight vehicle. Butrica finds a blending of far-sighted engineering and heavy-handed politics. To the first and oldest idea—that of the reusable rocket-powered single-stage-to-orbit vehicle—planners who belonged to what President Eisenhower referred to as the military-industrial complex.added experimental ("X"), "aircraft-like" capabilties and, eventually, a "faster, cheaper, smaller" managerial approach. Single Stage to Orbit traces the interplay of technology, corporate interest, and politics, a combination that well served the conservative space agenda and ultimately triumphed—not in the realization of inexpensive, reliable space transport—but in a vision of space militarization and commercialization that would appear settled United States policy in the early twenty-first century.

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Page Count

285

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

080188134X

ISBN 13

9780801881343

To See the Unseen

A History of Planetary Radar Astronomy

By: National Aeronautics and Space Administration,Andrew J. Butrica

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To See the Unseen

A History of Planetary Radar Astronomy

By: National Aeronautics and Space Administration,Andrew J. Butrica

The past 50 years have brought forward a unique capability to research and expand scientific knowledge of the Solar System through the use of radar to conduct planetary astronomy. This technology involves the aiming of a carefully controlled radio signal at a planet (or some other Solar System target, such as a planetary satellite, an asteroid, or a ring system), detecting its echo, and analyzing the information that the echo carries. This capability has contributed to the scientific knowledge of the Solar System in two fundamental ways. Most directly, planetary radars can produce images of target surfaces otherwise hidden from sight and can furnish other kinds of information about target surface features. Radar also can provide highly accurate measurements of a target's rotational and orbital motions. Such measurements are obviously invaluable for the navigation of Solar System exploratory spacecraft, a principal activity of NASA since its inception in 1958. Andrew J. Butrica has written a comprehensive and illuminating history of this little-understood but surprisingly significant scientific activity. Quite rigorous and systematic in its methodology, To See the Unseen explores the development of the radar astronomy specialty in the larger community of scientists. More than just discussing the development of this field, however, Butrica uses planetary radar astronomy as a vehicle for understanding larger issues relative to the planning and execution of "big science" by the Federal government. His application of the "social construction of science" and Kuhnian paradigms to planetary radar astronomy is a most welcome and sophisticated means of making sense of the field's historical development.

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Page Count

326

Publisher

CreateSpace

Published Date

ISBN 10

1499185170

ISBN 13

9781499185171

Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White: 1

By: Andrew Dickson White

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Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White: 1

By: Andrew Dickson White

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

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Page Count

632

Publisher

Palala Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1377990435

ISBN 13

9781377990439

The Reckoning

By: Andrew Solomon

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The Reckoning

By: Andrew Solomon

How much do I beat myself up about the fact that he's my son? A lot.' On 14 December 2012, twenty-year-old Adam Lanza shot his mother dead, then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, opened fire and killed twenty children and six adults. No motive has ever been uncovered. Adam Lanza's father is still searching for answers and in this moving interview Andrew Solomon tells his story. This ebook also includes a chapter on children who commit crime from Solomon's Wellcome Trust Book Prize-winning book, Far from the Tree: Parents, children and the search for identity. ('A book everyone should read' Julie Myerson; 'Extraordinary, moving' Spectator)

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Random House

Published Date

ISBN 10

147352072X

ISBN 13

9781473520721

Book's by Andrew J. Butrica

Single Stage to Orbit

Single Stage to Orbit

To See the Unseen

To See the Unseen

Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White: 1

Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White: 1

The Reckoning

The Reckoning

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