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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Spaceflight Revolution, written by Auburn University history professor James R. Hansen, is one of the most significant historical studies to emerge in recent years analyzing the dramatic changes taking place within NASA as a result of the success in space of the Soviet Union and the response of the United States. Focusing on Langley Research Center at Hampton, Virginia, during the late 1950s and 1960s, Hansen assesses the transformation of a government research laboratory during a pivotal era. Langley, established as the original laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1917, had long been involved in cutting-edge aeronautical research and development. The flight of Sputnik I in 1957, however, prompted important changes in the center's focus and method of operation. It became part of NASA in 1958, and its leaders shifted the workload from almost exclusively center-unique aeronautical research to efforts that involved other research facilities and dealt much more fully with the challenges of spaceflight. It is must reading for anyone seeking to understand the development of aerospace activities in the United States.

Spaceflight Revolution is one of a series of histories presently underway by the NASA History Office dealing with the development of NASA institutional structure. It joins volumes that have appeared on other NASA centers -Ames, Dryden, Johnson and Lewis-as well as an earlier volume on Langley that deals with its activities under the NACA.

(Extracted from the press release.)

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Illustrations.

-Foreword. Laurence K. Loftin, Jr.

-Acknowledgements.

-Prologue.

-1- The Metamorphosis.
-2- The First NASA Inspection.
-3- Carrying Out the Task.
-4- Change and Continuity.
-5- The 'Mad Scientist' of MPD.
-6- The Odyssey of Project Echo.
-7- Learning Through Failure: The Early Rush of the Scout Rocket Program.
-8- Enchanted Rendezvous: The Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous Concept.
-9- Skipping 'The Next Logical Step'.
-10- To Behold the Moon: The Lunar Orbiter Project.
-11- In the Service of Apollo.
-12- The Cortright Synthesis.

-Epilogue, Abbreviations, Notes, Index.

OUR REVIEW

The works published under the collection NASA History Series are a true cascade of information and data. Nobody should miss them if there is a reasonable interest in the history of American astronautics and science in general. These works are not done lightly. The authors of each book have devoted years to preparing the material, diving in the huge files of the space agency so as to obtain all possible references expected in an "official" volume like the one we have here.

Hansen realizes here a magnificent work, not only because he vividly narrates the most important period of the Langley Research Center, but also because in doing so he writes a most complete introduction to the histories of different space programs which have had a great importance within the agency. Thus, the chapters dealing with the Scout rocket, the Echo satellite, the Lunar Orbiter probe, or the decision to adopt the Lunar-Orbit-Rendezvous concept (a basic piece for the success of the Apollo program), are some of the pearls of Spaceflight Revolution.

We have then the most definitive history of the Langley center during the period of time covered by the book. The text, accurate but extremely clear and nice for the reader, shows the expertise of Hansen, who also is the author of the book Engineer in Charge: A History of the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, 1917-1958, published by NASA in 1987. James R. Hansen has received different awards along his career as a historian, like the Robert H. Goddard Award of the National Space Club, or mentions of the Air Force Historical Foundation and of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Generously illustrated, the book has a photography index as well as their corresponding serials numbers, a detail which cannot escape the attention of the true aficionado.

Thankfully the NASA has a program which allows for, little by little, the saving of the rich history of an agency whose role in our era has been transcendental, both politically and technologically. A history that otherwise would be lost due to lack of attention. We are aware, nevertheless, that the budget resources the agency allows for the NASA History Office are insufficient to undertake all the projects of recopilation planned so far and which could be realized in the next years. The task by Roger D. Launius, the Chief Historian, is praiseworthy, and it is partly due to his energy and that of his colleagues the fact the future generations will be able to enjoy in a documentary way the space agency legacy of the United States.