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NACA TO NASA TO NOW: THE FRONTIERS OF AIR AND SPACE IN THE AMERICAN CENTURY
* Paperback Version - 292 Pages - FULL COLOR *
During the lifespan of the NACA, most emphasis was on aeronautics and building the capability to travel easily around the globe, to undertake all manner of activities enhanced by that capability, and to change the nature of all the peoples of the world.
Since the NACA’s transformation into NASA, the emphasis became more about space exploration than aeronautics, but to this day NASA remains the preeminent organization in the world solving the problems of flight, both in the air and beyond.
Throughout its history, the NACA and NASA have been critical to America’s place in the world. International competition and cooperation—commercial and military—encouraged innovation in both the space and aviation sectors. Wars, particularly World War II and the Cold War, had a motivating effect on research to enhance aerospace engineering and mass production processes.
The Cold War competition with the Soviet Union forced the transformation of the NACA into NASA, and with it the beginning of the heroic age of the space race and reaching for the Moon in the 1960s. But that was not all; the easing of Cold War tensions led to the creation of cooperative projects both in air and in space, especially the touchstone of this arena in the 21st century, the International Space Station (ISS) built by a consortium of 15 nations and with a multinational crew aboard.
Overall, in the trajectory from 1915 to the present, the NACA and NASA have realized stunning accomplishments that deserve both analysis and commemoration. The federal investment made in the NACA/NASA enabled the core technologies needed to master and use ever-advanced flying vehicles in air and space. The employment and evolution of large-scale engineering techniques and methodologies have yielded important lessons for similar-scale projects in other areas.
These accumulated lessons have enduring relevance—from the days of the NACA’s large-scale wind tunnels, to experimental aircraft seeking ever higher and faster flight, to NASA’s large-scale engineering projects involved in human spaceflight. From the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs to the Space Shuttle and International Space Station and the exploration of the Moon and Mars, the lessons learned continue to guide and inform.
The results of investments in aerospace technology are everywhere around us. In no small measure, government investment in miniature electronics technologies in the 1960s and 1970s, for instance, led to the many devices we use personal computers, programmable watches, and the Internet. Anyone may board an aircraft anywhere in the world and reach any other place on the globe in less than 24 hours; an astronaut in theory could do it in less than 2 hours.
Research and development (R&D) for our space-based system of navigation—the Global Positioning System, or GPS—has made reading a paper map obsolete. These are only a few examples among thousands. Whatever the future of flight, success still hinges on the investments in aerospace technology made today by NASA, so that in the future American capabilities may be built on firm foundations.
This is a fascinating book that anyone who has interest in the historical perspectives of NACA and NASA will love to read and enjoy. We have a lot to be proud of in the NACA/NASA developments and the applications of science both at home on our planet and into the solar system! Enjoy this book!
During the lifespan of the NACA, most emphasis was on aeronautics and building the capability to travel easily around the globe, to undertake all manner of activities enhanced by that capability, and to change the nature of all the peoples of the world.
Since the NACA’s transformation into NASA, the emphasis became more about space exploration than aeronautics, but to this day NASA remains the preeminent organization in the world solving the problems of flight, both in the air and beyond.
Throughout its history, the NACA and NASA have been critical to America’s place in the world. International competition and cooperation—commercial and military—encouraged innovation in both the space and aviation sectors. Wars, particularly World War II and the Cold War, had a motivating effect on research to enhance aerospace engineering and mass production processes.
The Cold War competition with the Soviet Union forced the transformation of the NACA into NASA, and with it the beginning of the heroic age of the space race and reaching for the Moon in the 1960s. But that was not all; the easing of Cold War tensions led to the creation of cooperative projects both in air and in space, especially the touchstone of this arena in the 21st century, the International Space Station (ISS) built by a consortium of 15 nations and with a multinational crew aboard.
Overall, in the trajectory from 1915 to the present, the NACA and NASA have realized stunning accomplishments that deserve both analysis and commemoration. The federal investment made in the NACA/NASA enabled the core technologies needed to master and use ever-advanced flying vehicles in air and space. The employment and evolution of large-scale engineering techniques and methodologies have yielded important lessons for similar-scale projects in other areas.
These accumulated lessons have enduring relevance—from the days of the NACA’s large-scale wind tunnels, to experimental aircraft seeking ever higher and faster flight, to NASA’s large-scale engineering projects involved in human spaceflight. From the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs to the Space Shuttle and International Space Station and the exploration of the Moon and Mars, the lessons learned continue to guide and inform.
The results of investments in aerospace technology are everywhere around us. In no small measure, government investment in miniature electronics technologies in the 1960s and 1970s, for instance, led to the many devices we use personal computers, programmable watches, and the Internet. Anyone may board an aircraft anywhere in the world and reach any other place on the globe in less than 24 hours; an astronaut in theory could do it in less than 2 hours.
Research and development (R&D) for our space-based system of navigation—the Global Positioning System, or GPS—has made reading a paper map obsolete. These are only a few examples among thousands. Whatever the future of flight, success still hinges on the investments in aerospace technology made today by NASA, so that in the future American capabilities may be built on firm foundations.
This is a fascinating book that anyone who has interest in the historical perspectives of NACA and NASA will love to read and enjoy. We have a lot to be proud of in the NACA/NASA developments and the applications of science both at home on our planet and into the solar system! Enjoy this book!
292 pages, Paperback
Published February 12, 2023
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About the author
Roger D. Launius
46 books5 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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