Journey into Space Research

Space flight has long been a subject of interest both to scientists and to the general public. Science fiction became popular with the works of Jules Verne, whose fanciful stories of space exploits inspired many later science fiction publications. These stories were usually not based on valid science and technology or they were ahead of the developments that might have made them possible. These works, however, served to stimulate thought on space flight for many years. Some groups,...
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Space flight has long been a subject of interest both to scientists and to the general public. Science fiction became popular with the works of Jules Verne, whose fanciful stories of space exploits inspired many later science fiction publications. These stories were usually not based on valid science and technology or they were ahead of the developments that might have made them possible. These works, however, served to stimulate thought on space flight for many years. Some groups, such as the British Interplanetary Society, made serious studies of the requirements for space flight. These efforts failed to lead to practical developments because of lack of financial support or interest from governmental organizations or from the public. These early studies had little effect on actual developments in the space program because, with greater support and larger numbers of investigators, the results were quickly rediscovered and not until later was it found that some important results had been worked out previously. Studies of the possible military applications of space flight were started by military organizations in the United States about 1950, but these studies were classified secret. Many were unaware of any activity in this field until the nation was startled by the Russian launching of Sputnik. The last chapter of the preceding volume on the history of the author's work at Langley describes how the nation was galvanized into action and started a national space program. These developments are described in more detail in the book Spaceflight Revolution. The advent of the space program was a welcome event to many of the research groups at Langley. One reason for this attitude was that aeronautical research had reached a plateau at this time. Many of the research contributions of Langley and other National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) centers had reached fruition in the design and production of advanced airplanes. These airplanes included jet bombers and transports, and supersonic fighter airplanes. Research and design work on the supersonic transports, the British Concorde and the Russian TU144, had progressed to a point that construction could proceed with some assurance of success. No really revolutionary advances for atmospheric aircraft were envisioned at that time or have occurred in the ensuing years. Some of the wind-tunnel organizations, however, expressed concern that their work might be cut back or otherwise affected by the emphasis on space research. In the case of the author's work and that of the Flight Research Division, another event occurred that required a change in direction. A NACA Headquarters edict, published in 1958, stated that no further testing of high-speed airplanes would be done at Langley. All future flight research on such airplanes was to be done at the Edwards Air Force Base in California (now called the Dryden Flight Research Center).