Space and the United States Navy - Alan Shepard, Mercury and Apollo, Navy Rocket Pioneers, Goddard, Vanguard, Robert Truax, Balloons and Zeppelins, Manned Space, Support and Recovery Forces

This unique book by the U.S. Navy explores the role of the Navy in the early days of America's space program, from balloons to the flight of Alan Shepard in Mercury, through the Apollo lunar landing program. The introduction states: " Effort has been made to avoid a "rehash" of familiar material. Much of the information presented concerns fairly obscure Navy men who worked behind the scenes. It is largely about imagination, persistence, success, failures and accomplishments. . It is not meant to be a detailed technical history but, instead, a broad-brush view of just some of the individuals of the Navy who have, each in his own way, helped extend the reach of Man beyond the confines of this planet — men who have also stimulated progress in the pursuit of a better life here at home."

CONTENTS * Once a Fighter Pilot * To Leave the Earth * Settle Up — Settle Down * Navy Rocket Pioneers * Naval Research Laboratory * Rocket Power * Vanguard * The Navy's Role * Rocket Politics * Manned Space * Support Forces * The Jewels of Isabella * Topics and subjects covered: Balloons, zeppelins, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Lt. Apollo Soucek, Thomas G. W. Settle, Robert Truax, Robert Goddard, Vanguard, Captain Robert Freitag, Regulus, Stratolab

Excerpt: In 1927, when Captain Hawthorne Gray of the U.S. Army lost his life due to oxygen failure in an open balloon basket at 42,000 feet, a young Naval Aviator decided to build a better vehicle. The airship officer, Thomas ("Tex") Settle, working with C. P. Burgess of the Bureau of Aeronautics, came up with a design for a sealed cylinder, about seven feet long, in which a man with a life support system and instruments could ride into the stratosphere. He called it "The Flying Coffin," When Settle showed the proposal to Admiral Moffett, the Bureau's Chief ordered its construction at the Philadelphia Naval Aircraft Factory. But about this time there was another of the ever recurring "tight money" situations. As a result, budget problems forced the cancellation of a number of research projects, including The Flying Coffin. Nevertheless, the idea persisted. In Europe, physicist August Piccard developed it into a spherical gondola and, by 1932, had made balloon ascensions to 53,000 feet. The following year, Piccard made a lecture tour in the United States. Suggesting that a new flight be made at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, he succeeded in acquiring the necessary backing. The National Broadcasting Company and the Chicago Daily News would be co-sponsors. Goodyear would provide the balloon; Dow Chemical, the gondola; and Union Carbide, the hydrogen. Scientists Arthur Compton and Robert Millikan offered equipment to study cosmic rays. For an American pilot, the Navy brought forth the only man in the world licensed to fly all types of aircraft, "lighter-than-air" specialist Lieutenant Commander Tex Settle.