Richard Lawrence - The Mammoth Book of Space Exploration and Disaster

A-4: Aggregate 4, the prototype German rocket

LOX: Liquid Oxygen

NACA: National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics

NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

V-2: Vergeltungswaffe 2 (Vengeance weapon 2)

ASCS: Automatic Stabilization and Control System

EOR: Earth Orbit Rendezvous

G: Gravity, normal gravity on earth is IG

ICBM: Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

JPL: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

LOR: Lunar Orbit Rendezvous

LOS: Loss Of Signal

LOX: Liquid Oxygen

MA: Mercury-Atlas

MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MPT: Mercury Procedures Trainer

M-R: Mercury Redstone

Q: Aerodynamic stress

SARAH: Search and Rescue and Homing

SECO: Sustainer Engine Cutoff

V-1: Vergeltungswaffe 1 (Vengeance weapon 1)

VfR: Verein fuer Raumschiffahrt (Space Travel Association)

USSR: Union of Socialist Soviet Republics

ALSEP: Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package

AM: Airlock Module

AMU: Astronaut Manoeuvring Unit

ATDA: Augmented Target Docking Adapter

Capcom: Capsule communicator

CONTROL: Lunar Module flight control officer

CSM: Command Service Module

DOI: Descent orbit insertion

DSKY: Display & Keyboard

EECOM: Electrical & Environmental command officer

EGIL: Flight Controller for electrical and environmental systems at the launch

EST: Eastern Standard Time

EVA: Extra Vehicular Activity or spacewalking

FDI: powered descent initiation

FIDO: Flight dynamics officer

GET: Ground Elapsed Time

GNC: Guidance, Navigation and Control

GUIDO: Guidance officer

INCO: Instrument & Communications Officer

J-2: engine of the Saturn booster S-IVB third stage

LEM: Lunar Excursion Module

LLRV: Lunar Landing Research Vehicle

LM: Lunar Module

LOI: Lunar orbit insertion

LRL: Lunar Receiving Laboratory

MDA: Multiple Docking Adapter

MET: Modularised Equipment Transporter

PC+2: Two hours after Perycynthion (the closest point to the far side of the moon)

PLS S: portable life support system

PTC: Passive Thermal Control

RETRO: Retrofire officer

S1C: a variant of the Saturn booster (first stage)

SII: Saturn booster (second stage)

S-IVB: a variant of the Saturn booster (third stage)

S-WB: the Saturn stage which contained the LEM

SCE: Signal Condition Equipment

SM JETT: Service Module Jettison (switch)

SPS: Service Propulsion System (the CSM’s engine)

SWS: Saturn Workshop (Skylab)

TEI: TransEarth Injection

TELMU: Telemetry, electrical, EVA, mobility unit officer

BPS: Automatic docking equipment on board MIR’s unmanned supply vessels

CCD: Charged Coupled Detectors

COSTAR: Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement

DSD: a Depressurization Sensor

FA: First Aid

HST: Hubble Space Telescope

ISS: International Space Station

IVA: Intra Vehicular Activity (a spacewalk inside a depressurized space craft)

KURS: A radar/guidance system used when docking spaceships to space stations

LiOH: solid cylinders of Lithium hydroxide which filter CO2 out of the air

MOD: Missions Operations Directive

NCS: NICMOS Cooling System

OMS: Orbital Maneuvering System

OPM: Optical Properties Monitor

PS: Payload Specialist

SAMS: calibration device aboard MIR, used to study vibrations and structural stress

SEP: calibration of power levels remaining in MIR’s batteries

SFOG: Solid Fuel Oxygen Generator

SUD: MIR’s motion-control system

TDRS: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite

TORU A: remote control system for docking unmanned spaceships

TsUP: Soviet then Russian Mission Control

WFPC: Wide Field and Planetary Camera

ESA: European Space Agency

MER: Mars Exploration Rover

SMART: Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology

The quest to conquer space is packed with stories of triumph and disaster. The Mammoth Book of Space Exploration and Disasters presents over 50 of the most remarkable first-hand accounts of sub-orbital, orbital and deep space adventure, from the development of the rocket to the present day.

The accounts tell exactly what it was like to be “a man in a can” – in the astronauts’ and the cosmonauts’ own words. Share Alan Shepard’s exhilaration at being the first astronaut in space. Ride with Scott Carpenter as he describes how he had to correct instrument malfunctions which would have prevented his re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

The collection is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1, entitled “At Heaven’s Door – Testing the Limits”, covers the development of jet and rocket propulsion from the end of the Second World War to the penetration of the upper atmosphere. These early accounts include Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier with a broken arm, and the test pilots’ own explanations of the dangerous new technology of rocket-propelled craft.

Chapter 2 is called “Rockets Away – Escape from Earth”. It relives the early days of space flight, including the US Mercury program, with the astronauts revealing just how much they had to do. Among their accounts, John Glenn’s first American orbital flight stands out for its memorable description of “Zero G and I feel fine”.

Chapter 3 (“Man in Space – The Glory Days”) spans the period from 1963 until 1974, including the US Gemini and Apollo and the Soviet Soyuz programs. The vivid descriptions here include Alexei Leonov’s fight for his life as the first man to space walk when he found himself unable to get back into the spacecraft without taking the risk of deflating his space suit. Later he and his fellow cosmonaut crash-landed and had to spend the night sheltering from wild wolves.

The triumph of Apollo 11 is followed by the mishap of Apollo 12 and the famous “problem” of Apollo 13. You can only admire the resourcefulness of the ground team who brought them home safely. The chapter concludes with the memorable moment of “Apollo-Soyuz shaking hands” during the final Apollo mission.

Chapter 4 is entitled “Retreat to Earth – Cancellations Galore”. Its accounts record the cancellations and setbacks during the period after 1974, including the Shuttle disasters (1986 and 2003) plus the endless crises aboard the space station Mir in 1997. The US-Russian crew suffered from depression, a near miss, fire, loss of power and a collision. In addition, they had to make a succession of perilous space walks; not all of them went back for more.

Chapter 5, entitled “New Horizons – The Ongoing Quest”, continues the story up to the present day. It brings home the trials and tribulations of scientists involved in the search for life and the origins of the universe. In 2003 several new competitors joined the space race and “the Star Trek propulsion drive” began driving the European Space Agency’s Smart 1 probe to the moon. Despite the human cost over the decades, it is clear the urge to explore space remains undiminished.

As Wernher von Braun, rocket scientist, put it, “I have learned to use the word ‘impossible’ with the greatest caution… Don’t tell me that man doesn’t belong out there. Man belongs wherever he wants to go.”