Falling to Earth

Falling to Earth PDF

Author: Al Worden

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution

Published: 2012-07-24

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1588343332

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As command module pilot for the Apollo 15 mission to the moon in 1971, Al Worden flew on what is widely regarded as the greatest exploration mission that humans have ever attempted. He spent six days orbiting the moon, including three days completely alone, the most isolated human in existence. During the return from the moon to earth he also conducted the first spacewalk in deep space, becoming the first human ever to see both the entire earth and moon simply by turning his head. The Apollo 15 flight capped an already-impressive career as an astronaut, including important work on the pioneering Apollo 9 and Apollo 12 missions, as well as the perilous flight of Apollo 13. Nine months after his return from the moon, Worden received a phone call telling him he was fired and ordering him out of his office by the end of the week. He refused to leave. What happened in those nine months, from being honored with parades and meetings with world leaders to being unceremoniously fired, has been a source of much speculation for four decades. Worden has never before told the full story around the dramatic events that shook NASA and ended his spaceflight career. Readers will learn them here for the first time, along with the exhilarating account of what it is like to journey to the moon and back. It's an unprecedentedly candid account of what it was like to be an Apollo astronaut, with all its glory but also its pitfalls.

Trappers of the Far West

Trappers of the Far West PDF

Author: LeRoy Reuben Hafen

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1983-01-01

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 9780803272187

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In the early 1800s vast fortunes were made in the international fur trade, an enterprise founded upon the effort of a few hundred trappers scattered across the American West. From their ranks came men who still command respect for their daring, skill, and resourcefulness. This volume brings together brief biographies of seventeen leaders of the western fur trade, selected from essays assembled by LeRoy R. Hafen in The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West (ten volumes, 1965–72). The subjects and authors are: Etienne Provost (LeRoy R. Hafen); James Ohio Pattie (Ann W. Hafen); Louis Robidoux (David J. Weber); Ewing Young (Harvey L. Carter); David F. Jackson (Carl D. W Hays); Milton G. Sublette (Doyce B. Nunis, Jr.); Lucien Fontenelle (Alan C. Trottman); James Clyman (Charles L. Camp); James P. Beckwourth (Delmot R. Oswald); Edward and Francis Ermatinger (Harriet D. Munnick); John Gantt (Harvey L. Carter); William W. Bent (Samuel P. Arnold); Charles Autobees (Janet Lecompte); Warren Angus Ferris (Lyman C. Pederson, Jr.); Manuel Alvarez (Harold H. Dunham); and Robert Campbell (Harvey L. Carter). Trappers of the Far West is the companion to Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West.

Inventing the American Astronaut

Inventing the American Astronaut PDF

Author: Matthew H. Hersch

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2012-10-08

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 1137025298

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Who were the men who led America's first expeditions into space? Soldiers? Daredevils? The public sometimes imagined them that way: heroic military men and hot-shot pilots without the capacity for doubt, fear, or worry. However, early astronauts were hard-working and determined professionals - 'organization men' - who were calm, calculating, and highly attuned to the politics and celebrity of the Space Race. Many would have been at home in corporate America - and until the first rockets carried humans into space, some seemed to be headed there. Instead, they strapped themselves to missiles and blasted skyward, returning with a smile and an inspiring word for the press. From the early days of Project Mercury to the last moon landing, this lively history demystifies the American astronaut while revealing the warring personalities, raw ambition, and complex motives of the men who were the public face of the space program.

Exploring Space

Exploring Space PDF

Author: Rodney P. Carlisle

Publisher: Infobase Publishing

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1438101856

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Offers coverage of human explorations into space - from 19th-century fantasy to 20th-century achievement and the future of space exploration in the 21st century - giving information about the current state of exploration in the final frontier.

Lodi

Lodi PDF

Author: Ralph A. Clark

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738575483

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From its beginning as a small pioneering settlement in 1869 to its growth into an agricultural and industrial modern city, Lodi has been touted for years as a desirable place to put down roots and raise a family. The fertile soil here on the south bank of the Mokelumne River has seen several generations of citizens proud of their city at the crossroads of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. Following World War II, Lodi's attractiveness as a family city has caused it to boom and grow, to the delight of some and consternation of others. In 2006, Lodi celebrated the centennial anniversary of its incorporation as a city and is now trying to preserve its unique heritage and identity as the livable and lovable place that it is.

Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West

Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West PDF

Author: LeRoy Reuben Hafen

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1982-01-01

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 9780803272101

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The legendary mountain men—the fur traders and trappers who penetrated the Rocky Mountains and explored the Far West in the first half on the nineteenth century—formed the vanguard of the American empire and became the heroes of American adventure. This volume brings to the general reader brief biographies of eighteen representative mountain men, selected from among the essay assembled by LeRoy R. Hafen in The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West (ten volumes, 1965-72). The subjects and authors are: Manuel Lisa (Richard E. Oglesby); Pierre Chouteau Jr. (Janet Lecompte); Wilson Price Hunt (William Brandon); William H. Ashley (Harvey L. Carter); Jedediah Smith (Harvey L. Carter); John McLoughlin (Kenneth L. Holmes); Peter Skene Ogden (Ted J. Warner); Ceran St. Vrain (Harold H. Dunham); Kit Carson (Harvey L. Carter); Old Bill Williams (Frederic E. Voelker); William Sublette (John E. Sunder);Thomas Fitzpatrick (LeRoy R. and Ann W. Hafen); James Bridger (Cornelius M. Ismert); Benjamin L. E. Bonneville (Edgeley W. Todd); Joseph R. Walker (Ardis M. Walker); Nathaniel Wyeth (William R. Sampson); Andrew Drips (Harvey L. Carter); and Joseph L. Meek (Harvey E. Tobie).

The Ordinary Spaceman

The Ordinary Spaceman PDF

Author: Clayton C. Anderson

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2015-06

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 0803277318

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What's it like to travel at more than 850 MPH, riding in a supersonic T-38 twin turbojet engine airplane? What happens when the space station toilet breaks? How do astronauts "take out the trash" on a spacewalk, tightly encapsulated in a space suit with just a few layers of fabric and Kevlar between them and the unforgiving vacuum of outer space? The Ordinary Spaceman puts you in the flight suit of U.S. astronaut Clayton C. Anderson and takes you on the journey of this small-town boy from Nebraska who spent 167 days living and working on the International Space Station, including more than forty hours of space walks. Having applied to NASA fifteen times over fifteen years to become an astronaut before his ultimate selection, Anderson offers a unique perspective on his life as a veteran space flier, one characterized by humility and perseverance. From the application process to launch aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, from serving as a family escort for the ill-fated Columbia crew in 2003 to his own daily struggles--family separation, competitive battles to win coveted flight assignments, the stress of a highly visible job, and the ever-present risk of having to make the ultimate sacrifice--Anderson shares the full range of his experiences. With a mix of levity and gravitas, Anderson gives an authentic view of the highs and the lows, the triumphs and the tragedies of life as a NASA astronaut.

Rocket Men

Rocket Men PDF

Author: Robert Kurson

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2018-04-03

Total Pages: 402

ISBN-13: 0812988728

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The riveting inside story of three heroic astronauts who took on the challenge of mankind’s historic first mission to the Moon, from the bestselling author of Shadow Divers. “Robert Kurson tells the tale of Apollo 8 with novelistic detail and immediacy.”—Andy Weir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Martian and Artemis By August 1968, the American space program was in danger of failing in its two most important objectives: to land a man on the Moon by President Kennedy’s end-of-decade deadline, and to triumph over the Soviets in space. With its back against the wall, NASA made an almost unimaginable leap: It would scrap its usual methodical approach and risk everything on a sudden launch, sending the first men in history to the Moon—in just four months. And it would all happen at Christmas. In a year of historic violence and discord—the Tet Offensive, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, the riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago—the Apollo 8 mission would be the boldest, riskiest test of America’s greatness under pressure. In this gripping insider account, Robert Kurson puts the focus on the three astronauts and their families: the commander, Frank Borman, a conflicted man on his final mission; idealistic Jim Lovell, who’d dreamed since boyhood of riding a rocket to the Moon; and Bill Anders, a young nuclear engineer and hotshot fighter pilot making his first space flight. Drawn from hundreds of hours of one-on-one interviews with the astronauts, their loved ones, NASA personnel, and myriad experts, and filled with vivid and unforgettable detail, Rocket Men is the definitive account of one of America’s finest hours. In this real-life thriller, Kurson reveals the epic dangers involved, and the singular bravery it took, for mankind to leave Earth for the first time—and arrive at a new world. “Rocket Men is a riveting introduction to the [Apollo 8] flight. . . . Kurson details the mission in crisp, suspenseful scenes. . . . [A] gripping book.”—The New York Times Book Review