Can a Democracy Fly in Space? The Challenge of Revitalizing the U.S. Space Program
by W. D. Kay
Praeger Publishers (203/226-3571), November 1995
256 pp.
ISBN 0-275-95254-1
US$59.95
A lot has been written about the problems, real and perceived, with NASA. The Challenger accident, problems with the Hubble Space Telescope's mirror, Galileo's stuck antenna and Mars Observer have given written plenty of ammunition for their assaults on the space agency. However, are NASA's problems its own doing, or has it been caught by the shifting priorities of American government? W. D. Kay examines this premise in his book Can a Democracy Fly in Space?.
Kay discusses some theory behind the operation of organizations. He classifies organizations into two sets: open organizations, which must interact with other organizations and respond to their inputs in an effort to meet its goals, and closed organizations, which are insulated from interaction with other organizations. Using that classification, Kay argues, NASA started out as a relatively closed organization. It had a steady source of funding, a widely-supported goal (a manned moon landing) and little need to clash with other governmental agencies and private industries.
After Apollo, though, NASA became a much more open organization. It now had to fight for funding from the executive and legislative branches of the government, striking deals (such as with the Shuttle) to keep projects going, even though it meant problems down the road. Kat writes, "The political activity that is an inescapable -- and, many would argue, necessary -- fact of life for policy areas of such size and expense... creates conditions that inevitably work to undermine its performance."
Kay is skeptical that various government entities and NASA can work together on a project with the same efficiency as Apollo. While some might treat this as overly pessimistic, he has done an excellent job supporting his premise. The high cost, academic style and lack of widespread distribution may scare off the casual reader, but for the space policy junkie or anyone with a sizable interest in the history and future of NASA, this book is a must-read.
Gravity's Fatal Attraction: Black Holes in the Universe
by Mitchell Begelman and Martin Rees
Scientific American Library, 1996
246 pp., illus.
ISBN 0-7167-5074-0
US$32.95
Even though black holes have been in the scientific mainstream for only a few decades (the name, in fact, dates back only to the late 1960s), they have captured our imagination and penetrated our basic culture. The concept of an object that can capture objects with no chance to escape is at once both fascinating and frightening. Mitchell Begelman and Martin Rees review the current state of knowledge, and speculation, about black holes in Gravity's Fatal Attraction.
The concept of an object with gravity so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape, is not new; they were proposed as long ago as 1784 by John Michell. However, it's only been with the advent of general relativity and the work of other theoreticians like Karl Schwarzschild and Roy Kerr has the theory taken root. That, combined with observations of objects like Cygnus X-1 and galaxy NGC 4528, which show indirect evidence of black holes, has propelled black holes to the forefront of astrophysical research.
Begelman and Rees, astrophysicists at University of Colorado and Cambridge University, respectively, do a good job providing a thorough introduction to black holes that is at once accessible to an educated layman and also very detailed. A large number of illustrations and images, most in color, help reinforce the message of the text. The book should be the first on the list of anyone looking to learn about black holes.
Spaceflight and Rocketry: A Chronology
by David Baker
Facts on File, 1996
528 pp., illus.
ISBN 0-8160-1853-7
US$70.00
Reference books aren't meant to be read cover-to-cover; instead, they exist for people to refer to specific sections in them. That makes it more difficult to review them. Good reference books are important to both the researcher looking for information for a specific paper or project as well as the casual user wanting to satisfy his/her curiosity or settle a bar bet. With that caveat in mind, one reference book people will want to consider is David Baker's Spaceflight and Rocketry: A Chronology.
Baker provides a chronological study of the history of spaceflight and rocketry, starting in 360 B.C. (the first description of a toy that uses the principle of action and reaction that also propels rockets) through 1993. Along the way the development of rockets and, later, spaceflight, is described on a day-by-day basis. The paragraph-sized entries provide the basic information about the event (which can range from the day of the first manned lunar landing to the day NASA switched over to the metric system). A generous supply of illustrations also provides information.
The disadvnatges of this book are those inherent with any broad-based chronology such as this. To see the development of a particular field within spaceflight and rocketry is much more difficult when it's all mixed in with other fields. This book lends itself more to generic historical studies of spaceflight and rocketry, although it can also serve as a jumping-off point for further research. The author notes state that Baker is the author of the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Spaceflight. If that work is of the same quality as this book, then the two will be ideal companion references for anyone with an interest in the field.
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