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(More customer reviews)This is a quite successful attempt to synthesize the history of the sole federal organization created to undertake research and development (R&D) in flight technology. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was established in 1915 in response to the rapid advancement in aeronautical technology in Europe and the need in the United States to duplicate and surpass that level of effort. The NACA was transformed into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1958 in the aftermath of the Sputnik crisis, and given a mandate to undertake R&D in space technology in addition to its aeronautics component. As a synthesis this work brings together what is known about the history of these organizations. It does not seek to advance basic knowledge but instead to ensure that what is presently known is captured in a single volume. In successfully doing so, Bilstein's work will become the standard work on the subject.
Roger Bilstein is one of the very best historians of air and space technology working today. He also has the ability to prepare exceptionally comprehensive, uniquely useful syntheses. His books--"Flight in America: From the Wrights to the Astronauts" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984, and several subsequent editions) and "The American Aerospace Industry: From Workshop to Global Enterprise" (Twayne Publishers, 1996)--are also standard introductory works on their subjects. Both books are the place to start with in any investigation of air and space activities. It is not easy to write satisfactory syntheses and Bilstein has a knack for it, as do no others working in aerospace historians. He demonstrates it well here.
"Testing Aircraft/Exploring Space" is the latest synthesis from Bilstein, and it bears all of the outstanding qualities of his earlier efforts mentioned above. He ranges broadly across his subject, exploring the history of the NACA and NASA since 1915. It is not an institutional history, however, emphasizing the research and development activities of these federal organizations rather the bureaucracy and the minutia of politics.
It is a terrific overview of a complex and important subject appearing at the time of the celebration of a century of flight since the Wright brothers.
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The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics -- forerunner of today's NASA -- emerged in 1915, when airplanes were curiosities made of wood and canvas and held together with yards of baling wire. At the time an unusual example of government intrusion (and foresight, given the importance of aviation to national military concerns), the committee oversaw the development of wind tunnels, metal fabrication, propeller design, and powerful new high-speed aircraft during the 1920s and '30s. In this richly illustrated account, acclaimed historian of aviation Roger E. Bilstein combines the story of NACA and NASA to provide a fresh look at the agencies, the problems they faced, and the hard work as well as inventive genius of the men and women who found the solutions.NACA research during World War II led to critical advances in U.S. fighter and bomber design and, Bilstein explains, contributed to engineering standards for helicopters. After 1945 the agency's test pilots experimented with jet-powered aircraft, testing both human and technical limits in trying to break the so-called "sound barrier." In October 1958, when the launch of the SovietSputnik signaled the beginning of the space race, NACA formed the nucleus of the new National Aeronautics and Space Agency. The new agency's efforts to meet President Kennedy's challenge -- safely landing a man on the Moon and returning him to Earth before the end of the 1960s -- is one of the great adventure stories of all time. Bilstein goes on to describe NASA's recent planetary and extraplanetary exploration, as well as its less well-known research into the future of aeronautical design.
