Thomas / McMann US Spacesuits

1. Auflage 2007
ISBN: 978-0-387-73979-3
Verlag: Springer US
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 398 Seiten, Web PDF

Reihe: Springer Praxis Books

This highly focused reference reviews the technical evolution of U.S. spacesuits from their roots in high altitude aviation and vacuum tube development to the present day, with a stimulating look into the future. The text explains how the routine use of clothing provides a link to the function of spacesuits and why spacesuits are far more than garments. They are a last refuge for survival in disaster and a personalized spacecraft that allows direct contact and interaction with everything beyond our world.

Zielgruppe

Popular/general

Autoren/Hrsg.

Thomas, Kenneth S.

McMann, Harold J.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Reaching upward and outward.- The basics of spacesuits.- Crew escape, rescue and survival spacesuits.- Gemini: The first approaches to exploring and working in space.- Apollo: Mankind starts the exploration of the Moon.- Advanced development for cancelled Apollo missions.- US Air Force spacesuits.- Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project suit systems (1969–75).- The Space Shuttle program: Orbital EVA comes of age.- The next generation of spacesuits.- Epilogue.

Über Autor(innen)

Kenneth Thomas’s and Joe McMann’s careers mirror the story of US spacesuit development. As a second generation space engineer, Ken Thomas grew up with the U.S. advanced aviation and space programs. Having worked as a task-manger/engineer on the Shuttle Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU, NASA's current going-out-in-space suit-system) program and as principal investigator on next generational suit efforts, this background grew to in-depth experience. The experience was further supplemented by extensive personal research into spacesuit system developments. The result is a unique set of qualifications in the arena of spacesuit history.

Joe McMann's career has spanned over 40 years in the area of spacecraft environmental control and space suit systems. He joined NASA during Project Mercury, and has participated in every United States manned space endeavor, including the assembly of the International Space Station. He has been a project engineer, Extravehicular Activity (EVA) suit life support system manager, vacuum chamber test subject, real-time flight support console engineer, and overall EVA hardware manager in NASA's EVA Project Office. Following his retirement from NASA in 1997, he joined Hamilton Sundstrand as a technical specialist in the area of failure analysis and resolution. He retired from Hamilton-Sundstrand in 2002, and acts as consultant to NASA and the aerospace industry.

The authors, therefore, are unparalleled in their experience of US spacesuit development and have a unique set of photographs that will illustrate the book. This should make an excellent sister book to ABRAMOV/SKOOG: Russian Spacesuits which, since publication in June 2003, has sold 679 US and 209 ROW, total sales to date of 888.