Realizing tomorrow [electronic resource] : the path to private spaceflight / Chris Dubbs and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom ; foreword by Charles D. Walker.

Cover image for Realizing tomorrow [electronic resource] : the path to private spaceflight / Chris Dubbs and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom ; foreword by Charles D. Walker.

ISBN:

9780803235274

9780803216105

Title:

Realizing tomorrow [electronic resource] : the path to private spaceflight / Chris Dubbs and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom ; foreword by Charles D. Walker.

Author:

Dubbs, Chris.

Personal Author:

Dubbs, Chris.

Publication Information:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 2011.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 299 pages, [26] pages of plates) : illustrations.

Series:

Outward Odyssey : a people's history of spaceflight

Contents:

The entire population of the earth in orbit -- The birth of private rocket companies -- Private citizens get their chance in space -- Russia commercializes space -- Citizen explorers -- The quest for a reusable spaceship -- The ansari x prize launches an industry -- Private manned spaceflight makes history -- Space tourism goes mainstream -- It takes more than a spaceship to build an industry.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Space flights.

Space industrialization.

Space tourism.

Geographic Term:

Outer space -- Civilian use.

Added Author:

Paat-Dahlstrom, Emeline.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2011

Publication Information:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 2011.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
629.41	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

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Summary

U.S.A.F. Chief of Staff 2013 Professional Reading List Selection

Nearly forty years passed between the Apollo moon landings, the grandest accomplishment of a government-run space program, and the Ansari X PRIZE-winning flights of SpaceShipOne, the greatest achievement of a private space program. Now, as we hover on the threshold of commercial spaceflight, authors Chris Dubbs and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom look back at how we got to this point.

Their book traces the lives of the individuals who shared the dream that private individuals and private enterprise belong in space. Realizing Tomorrow provides a behind-the-scenes look at the visionaries, the crackpots, the financial schemes, the legal wrangling, the turf battles, and--underpinning the entire drama--the overwhelming desire of ordinary people to visit outer space.
A compelling story of the pioneers of commercial spaceflight--and their efforts to open the final frontier to everyone--this book traces the path to private spaceflight even as it offers an instructive, entertaining, and cautionary note about its future.

Author Notes

Chris Dubbs is the author of Space Dogs: Pioneers of Space Travel and the coauthor (with Colin Burgess) of Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle . Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom is the chief impact officer and executive vice president of operations at Singularity University based at NASA Ames Research Park. She is also partner and consultant for International Space Consultants. Charles D. Walker is a former crew member of Space Shuttle missions 41-D, 51-D, and 61-B.

Reviews (2)

Booklist Review

With the conclusion of the space shuttle program impending, the topic of private spaceflight has never been timelier. Dubbs and Paat-Dahlstrom provide a bracing people's history of spaceflight, heavily emphasizing those who sought, from the beginning of manned missions, to make private space programs a reality. In wide-ranging discussions that move from exploration to politics to Evil Knievel, Realizing Tomorrow is about NASA and garage inventors, and it celebrates, in particular, the optimism that has pervaded the careers of Richard Branson and Burt Rutan. The breadth of information presented is impressive, and the manner in which sf writers, rocket engineers, astronauts, cosmonauts, and thrill-seekers are so effectively woven into a single volume is laudable. Sections devoted to NASA shed much-needed light on the political machinations that led to including payload and mission specialists on shuttle flights and, ultimately, to the ill-fated Teacher in Space Project. This far-reaching, well-illustrated history oriented toward the future of spaceflight should catch many an eye.--Mondor, Collee. Copyright 2010 Booklist

Choice Review

This book by Dubbs (coauthor, Animals in Space, 2007; Space Dogs, 2003) and Paat-Dahlstrom (Singularity Univ., NASA Ames campus) does not focus on the engineering or technological aspects of private spaceflight, but on the individuals involved. It begins with a foreword by Charles Walker, "industry's first astronaut," who traveled in space as a test engineer as part of McDonnell Douglas's Electrophoresis Operations in Space project. The first chapter is about some of the "blue sky" ideas of Gerard O'Neill, followed by a description of Robert Truax and his rockets. The authors devote an entire chapter to Russia's commercialization of space. They discuss the first space tourist, Dennis Tito, and NASA's opposition to his flight, and provide interesting accounts of the saga of Rotary Rocket and the history of the X PRIZE. Aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and British adventurer/entrepreneur Richard Branson have their own chapters. The final chapter deals with Elon Musk and the other major players in the private spacecraft business. The jacket aptly states that the book "provides a behind-the-scenes look at the visionaries, crackpots, the financial schemes, the legal wrangling, [and] the turf battles" that accompanied the effort to get private citizens into space. Summing Up: Recommended. Readers interested in commercial spaceflight, including undergraduate students and general audiences. A. M. Strauss Vanderbilt University