Volume 21, Number 2
2014
www.spacehistory101.com
THE HISTORY OF SPACEFLIGHT
Q
U
A
R
T
E
R
L
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
A SPACESUIT FAILS
A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE:
AN INTERVIEW
WITH ED FRANKLE
NAVIGATION, GUIDANCE,
AND CONTROL OF A
SATURN ROCKET
AND ITS PREDECESSORS
(PART II)
SUCCESS AND FAILURE IN
SPACE ASTROMETRY:
HIPPARCOS AND FAME
DISNEY AND VON BRAUN
GEMINI VIII
Y
Contents
Volume 21 • Number 2 2014
www.spacehistory101.com
Features
4
Book Reviews
What Really Happens When a Spacesuit Fails
60
Overpotential: Fuel Cells, Futurism, and the
Making of a Power Panacea
Book by Matthew N. Eisler
Review by Roger D. Launius
61
Who O w n s A m e r i c a ’ s P a s t ?
The Smithsonian and the Problem of History
Book by Robert C. Post
Review by Paul E. Ceruzzi
62
Astounding Wonder: Imagining Science and
Science Fiction in Interwar America
Book by John Chang
Review by Catherine L. Newall
63
Near-Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They
Find Us
Book by Donald K. Yeomans
Review by Haym Benaroya
64
At Home in Space: The Late 70s into the 80s
Book by Ben Evans
Review by Linda Billings
66
Mankind Beyond Earth: The History, Science,
and Future of Human Space Exploration
Book by Claude A. Piantadosi
Review by Roger D. Launius
67
The Beginning of Infinity:
Explanations That Transform the World
Book by David Deutsch
Review by Roger D. Launius
68
Apollo 13 Owners’ Workshop Manual
Book by David Baker
Review by Hunter Hollins
By Cathleen S. Lewis
11
Success and Failure in Space Astrometry:
Hipparcos and FAME
By Petar G. Markovski
20
Legal Perspective: An Interview with Ed Frankle
By Sandra Johnson and Rebecca Wright
34
Navigation, Guidance, and Control of a
Saturn Rocket and Its Predecessors (Part II)
By Edgar Durbin
45
Disney and von Braun
By Mike Wright
49
The Abbreviated Flight of Gemini VIII
By Larry Merritt
53
Neil Armstrong:
One Small Friendship Remembered
By Neil McAleer
Book Reviews
55
The X-15 Rocket Plane: Flying the First Wings into Space
Book by Michelle Evans
Review by Richard P. Hallion
57
US Hypersonic Research and Development: The Rise
and Fall of Dyna–Soar, 1944-1963
Book by Roy Houchin II
Review by Sean N. Kalic
59
Orbit of Discovery : The All–Ohio Space Shuttle Mission
Book by Don Thomas with Mike Bartell
Review by Valerie Neal
C OVER C APTION
The Agena Target Vehicle as seen from the Gemini VIII spacecraft during rendezvous. This was the first time two spacecraft successfully docked, which was a critical milestone if a
mission to the Moon was to become a reality. Credit: NASA
BOOK REVIEW
ORBIT OF DISCOVERY: THE ALL-OHIO SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION
By Don Thomas with Mike Bartell
Foreword by Senator John Glenn
Introduction by Sen. George Voinovich
University of Akron Press, 2013
ISBN: 978-1937378721
Pages: 396 with 64 color photos
Price: $24.95, hardcover
The mission’s primary objective was to deliver and deploy
the sixth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS). This completed the TDRS constellation needed for full-time communications
with orbiting craft and eventually with the International Space
Station. Thereafter, Thomas had duties in Earth observation photography, middeck experiments, and routine housekeeping on a mission that was basically trouble-free, all of which he describes vividly.
After the dramatic opening, Thomas backtracks to set the
scene for his becoming an astronaut and preparing for this mission
and then proceeds with a mostly chronological account expanded
from his in-flight journal entries. Throughout this days-in-the-lifeof-a-crewmember account, he works in explanations of spaceflight
technologies and protocols to set the mission in a more comprehensive context. But he also shares plenty of fresh details and personal
observations. Who knew that an astronaut seated behind the pilot or
commander had a spectacular view of launch through the overhead
windows by strapping a mirror to one knee, as Thomas did? Or that
the airlock was a fine place to sleep? Or how often one experiences
cosmic ray flashes? This travelogue will please readers who can’t
get enough of such information.
Thomas admits that he and the STS-70 crew had a lot of fun
on the mission; after checking off the high-pressure TDRS task, he
had more time at the windows, more time on the amateur radio, and
more time to reflect than on his work-around-the-clock Spacelab
missions. By comparison, this was a more relaxed yet still productive mission. He also confesses regret that training for and flying
four missions in three years caused him to miss much of his son’s
infancy and first years, and sharing those responsibilities and pleasures with his wife.
Thomas’s volume is not just for Ohio readers. It deserves a
place on anyone’s spaceflight bookshelf with those by Tom Jones,
Mike Mullane, Jerry Ross, and John Young, all previously reviewed
in Quest, and also those by Chris Hadfield, Bernard Harris, José
Hernández, and Winston Scott, reviews upcoming. Jerry Linenger’s
narrative and letters from Mir are also there, and memoirs by Joe
Allen, Jay Apt, and Jeff Hoffman, as well as accounts by astronaut
family members Colin Foale, Evelyn Husband, Carl McNair, and
June Scobee Rodgers, who closely shared their loved ones’ careers
in spaceflight.
There is room for quite a few more memoirs from the Shuttle
era; welcome would be a book or a few by the women astronauts,
especially someone from the pioneering candidate class of 1978 to
augment Sally Ride’s several books for youth, and at least one of
the two women commanders. There are more stories to tell and
more perspectives to relate, and the more first-person accounts the
better to record the 30-year history of human experience on the
Space Shuttle.
Valerie Neal
Space History Curator
National Air and Space Museum
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
As the astronaut corps has shrunk from 250-plus selected in
the Shuttle era to about 50 on flight status, more of those who have
retired or moved on to other careers are publishing memoirs. The
latest addition to this genre is by four-flight veteran Don Thomas,
who collaborated with Toledo journalist Mike Bartell, to produce
Orbit of Discovery. Unlike the 15 or so books by other Shuttle
astronauts, this one focuses on a single mission, STS-70, in 1995.
Why that mission? By Thomas’s own description, it was to be
“only a vanilla shuttle mission…not a sexy flight by most standards
and considered outright boring by some,” including NASA Public
Affairs staff, who by his account expected little media attention.
The primary objective of the eight-day mission was completed just
six hours after launch, and most activities thereafter were various
tests of limited interest beyond their sponsors. Yet this is Thomas’s
favorite of four quite different missions (the other three were
Spacelabs flown on Columbia), and he brings it to life in a manner
that is anything but bland or boring. In his telling, STS-70 is both a
typical Shuttle mission and one with unique accents.
The book opens with Discovery under attack, or rather its
external tank under attack by a woodpecker. A single bird did
enough damage to the tank’s foam insulation to send the Shuttle
stack from the launch pad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building
for repairs and kept Discovery from flying the 100th U.S. space
mission. However, STS-70 had other claims to fame, and Thomas
makes those the themes of his book.
The woodpecker shenanigans, 200-plus futile efforts to create a nesting spot, captured media attention and led to hilarious
headlines and jokes. Seriously, this was the only mission delay not
related to weather or a technical glitch. After initial dismay about
the change in flight schedule, with STS-71 launching ahead of STS70, the crew and ground team adopted Woody Woodpecker as the
mascot for their mission and flew in good humor.
As the subtitle indicates, the other novelty was that all the
crewmembers hailed from Ohio, four by birth or upbringing and
education and one as an honorary citizen. Framing STS-70 as the
all-Ohio mission, they collaborated with then-Governor George
Voinovich to highlight the state’s long heritage in aviation, aerospace engineering, science, and astronauts. In an appendix Thomas
includes biographical sketches of the 26 Ohio astronauts, a current
total that is surpassed only by New York. This crew especially
embraced spaceflight awareness and public outreach as their own
goal.
Q U E S T 21:2 2014
59
www.spacehistory101.com
Published since 1992, Quest is the only journal exclusively focused on
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programs, and politics that made the journey into space possible. Written by
professional and amateur historians along with people who worked in the
programs, Quest is designed to bring you the stories and behind-the-scenes
insight that will fascinate and captivate.
Mailing Address
Quest
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