Taming Liquid Hydrogen: The Centaur: Upper Stage Rocket, 1958-2002 Dawson, Virginia P. and Bowles, Mark D.

Dawson, Virginia P.; Mark D. Bowles

ISBN 10: 1478266538 / ISBN 13: 9781478266532

Published by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2004

About this Item

NASA, 2004; Hardcover in glossy dust jacket. xiii, 289 pages: illustrations. NASA, 2004; Hardcover in glossy dust jacket. xiii, 289 pages: illustrations. Contents: Chapter 1: Centaur's origins in atlas; Chapter 2: Marshall's unruly wards; Chapter 3: "Abe's Baby"; Chapter 4: Heavy lift; Chapter 5: The giant Titan-Centaur; Chapter 6: Centaur reborn; Chapter 7: Eclipsed by tragedy; Chapter 8: Like a Phoenix; List of interviews; About the authors. No wear or distress. Condition: Like new. Trace of light rubbing , otherwise new condition.

Seller Inventory # 6W-FX8R-N7LG

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Taming Liquid Hydrogen: The Centaur: Upper Stage Rocket, 1958-2002 Dawson, Virginia P. and Bowles, Mark D.
• Publisher: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1478266538
• ISBN 13: 9781478266532
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New

About this title

Synopsis

During its maiden voyage in May 1962, a Centaur upper stage rocket, mated to an At l a sb o o s t e r, exploded 54 seconds after launch, engulfing the rocket in a huge fireball. In ve s t i g a t i o nre vealed that Centaur’s light, stainless-steel tank had split open, spilling its liquid-hyd rogen fueld own its sides, where the flame of the rocket exhaust immediately ignited it. Coming less thana year after President Kennedy had made landing human beings on the Moon a national p r i o r i t y, the loss of Centaur was regarded as a serious setback for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). During the failure investigation, Homer Newell, Di rector of Space Sciences, ruefully declared: “Taming liquid hydrogen to the point where expensive oper-ational space missions can be committed to it has turned out to be more difficult than anyone supposed at the outset.”