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Rockets and Missiles: The Life Story of a Technology PDF

194 Pages·2004·1.42 MB·English
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R O C K E T S A N D M I S S I L E S Recent Titles in Greenwood Technographies Sound Recording: The Life Story of a Technology David L. Morton Jr. Firearms: The Life Story of a Technology Roger Pauly Cars and Culture: The Life Story of a Technology Rudi Volti Electronics: The Life Story of a Technology David L. Morton Jr. R O C K E T S A N D M I S S I L E S THE L IFE STORY 1 OF A TECHNOLOGY A. Bowdoin Van Riper GREENWOOD TECHNOGRAPHIES GREENWOOD PRESS Westport, Connecticut • London Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Van Riper, A. Bowdoin. Rockets and missiles : the life story of a technology / A. Bowdoin Van Riper. p. cm.—(Greenwood technographies, ISSN 1549–7321) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–313–32795–5 (alk. paper) 1. Rocketry (Aeronautics)—History. 2. Ballistic missiles—History. I. Title. II. Series. TL781.V36 2004 621.43'56—dc22 2004053045 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2004 by A. Bowdoin Van Riper All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2004053045 ISBN: 0–313–32795–5 ISSN: 1549–7321 First published in 2004 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West,Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Janice P. Van Riper who let a starstruck kid stay up long past his bedtime to watch Neil Armstrong take “one small step” Contents Series Foreword ix Acknowledgments xi Timeline xiii 1. Introduction 1 2. The Age of Black Powder, 1000–1900 7 3. The Birth of Modern Rocketry, 1900–1942 25 4. Rockets in World War II, 1939–1945 41 5. Rockets for Research, 1945–1960 57 6. Ballistic Missiles and the Cold War, 1945–1990 71 7. Rockets to the Moon, 1960–1975 93 8. Tactical Missiles in the Cold War, 1950–1990 111 9. Spaceflight Becomes Routine, 1970–Present 125 10. Missiles after the Cold War, 1990–Present 139 11. Conclusion:What Next? 155 viii C o n t e n t s Glossary 161 Further Reading 165 Index 169 Series Foreword In today’s world, technology plays an integral role in the daily life of peo- ple of all ages. It affects where we live, how we work, how we interact with each other, and what we aspire to accomplish. To help students and the general public better understand how technology and society interact, Greenwood has developed Greenwood Technographies, a series of short, acces- sible books that trace the histories of these technologies while document- ing how these technologies have become so vital to our lives. Each volume of the Greenwood Technographies series tells the biography or “life story” of a particularly important technology. Each life story traces the technology from its “ancestors” (or antecedent technologies), through its early years (either its invention or development) and rise to prominence, to its final decline, obsolescence, or ubiquity. Just as a good biography combines an analysis of an individual’s personal life with a description of the subject’s impact on the broader world, each volume in the Greenwood Technographies se- ries combines a discussion of technical developments with a description of the technology’s effect on the broader fabric of society and culture—and vice versa. The technologies covered in the series run the gamut from those that have been around for centuries—firearms and the printed book, for example—to recent inventions that have rapidly taken over the mod- ern world, such as electronics and the computer. While the emphasis is on a factual discussion of the development of

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