Overview
- The only complete narrative of X-planes, all in one book
- Contains dozens of original, detailed color illustrations of X-plane designs
- Written by two aerospace experts with over 60 cumulative years of experience
Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books (PRAXIS)
Part of the book sub series: Space Exploration (SPACEE)
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
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Front Matter
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X-Planes in the Cold War, 1945−1990
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Front Matter
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X-Planes Since the Cold War, 1990−2021
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
Foreword by Dr. Roger D. Launius, Former NASA Chief Historian
For the past 75 years, the U.S. government has invested significant time and money into advanced aerospace research, as evidenced by its many experimental X-plane aircraft and rockets. NASA's X-Planes asks a simple question: What have we gained from it all?
To answer this question, the authors provide a comprehensive overview of the X-plane’s long history, from the 1946 X-1 to the modern X-60. The chapters describe not just the technological evolution of these models, but also the wider story of politics, federal budgets, and inter-agency rivalries surrounding them. The book is organized into two sections, with the first covering the operational X-planes that symbolized the Cold War struggle between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R, and the second section surveying post-Cold War aircraft and spacecraft.Featuring dozens of original illustrations of X-plane cross-sections,in-flight profiles, close-ups, and more, this book will educate general readers and specialists alike.
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Michael Gorn has been an aerospace historian for 40 years and is the author or co-author of 10 books on the subject. He worked as a federal government historian at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and before that at the U.S. Air Force. His positions included (among others) the Chief Historian of the NASA Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center, the Deputy Chief Historian of the Air Force, and the Command Historian of the Air Force Systems Command. Gorn spent 13 years at NASA Dryden, the home of the X-planes. This period gave him the opportunity to write about, to think about, and to immerse himself in the traditions and the documentary record of experimental flight.
Giuseppe De Chiara has been employed in the European space industry for 22 years. He began his career as a designer of Parabolic Flights facilities, he was later involved into the ISS Program as a Training Manager and Operations Leader.
De Chiara currently works as System Engineer and Technical Manager.
His professional life as an engineer and architect has nourished his early passion for illustration; Illustration has deepened his professional experience. He has illustrated 13 articles since 2010 with the noted aerospace author Dwayne A. Day.
Additionally, he has been coauthor of four scientific papers, dating from 2003 to 2012.
De Chiara has contributed with his artworks to several aerospace books like the ones by late Steve Pace.
In 2016 Giuseppe De Chiara teamed up with Michael H. Gorn to realize the book Spacecraft.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: X-Planes from the X-1 to the X-60
Book Subtitle: An Illustrated History
Authors: Michael H. Gorn, Giuseppe De Chiara
Series Title: Springer Praxis Books
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86398-2
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-86397-5Published: 21 December 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-86400-2Published: 22 December 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-86398-2Published: 01 January 2022
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XX, 163
Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations, 87 illustrations in colour
Topics: Popular Science in Technology, Aerospace Technology and Astronautics, History of Technology, Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics)