Expanding the Envelope: Flight Research at NACA and NASA

Gorn, Michael H.

ISBN 10: 0813122058 / ISBN 13: 9780813122052

Published by University Press of Kentucky, 2001

About this Item

private library liquidation.

Seller Inventory # 120254

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Expanding the Envelope: Flight Research at NACA and NASA
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813122058
• ISBN 13: 9780813122052
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Expanding the Envelope is the first book to explore the full panorama of flight research history, from the earliest attempts by such nineteenth century practitioners as England's Sir George Cayley, who tested his kites and gliders by subjecting them to experimental flight, to the cutting-edge aeronautical research conducted by the NACA and NASA.

Michael H. Gorn explores the vital human aspect of the history of flight research, including such well-known figures as James H. Doolittle, Chuck Yeager, and A. Scott Crossfield, as well as the less heralded engineers, pilots, and scientists who also had the "Right Stuff." While the individuals in the cockpit often receive the lion's share of the public's attention, Expanding the Envelope shows flight research to be a collaborative engineering activity, one in which the pilot participates as just one of many team members.

Here is more than a century of flight research, from well before the creation of NACA to its rapid transformation under NASA. Gorn gives a behind the scenes look at the development of groundbreaking vehicles such as the X-1, the D-558, and the X-15, which demonstrated manned flight at speeds up to Mach 6.7 and as high as the edge of space.

About the Author

Michael H. Gorn, historian with the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, is the author of The Universal Man: Theodore von Karman's Life in Aeronautics.