Engineering topics

Dawson, Virginia P.

Publications and source records attributed to Dawson, Virginia P..

5 records

NASA NTRS2005

Realizing the Dream of Flight: Biographical Essays in Honor of the Centennial of Flight, 1903-2003

While growing up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Milton Wright, The Wright Brothers Father, liked to purchase toys for his sons that he hoped would stimulate their imagination. One of the most memorable gifts was a toy helicopter that was designed by the French aeronautical experimenter Alphonse P naud. Milton gave his sons this gift in 1878, and, though it was a simple device with a stick bound to a four-blade rotor set in a spindle, it had the intended effect it caused them to dream. Twenty-five years separated the gift of this toy and their invention of the airplane, yet the Wright brothers were convinced it had exerted an important influence. Tom Crouch argued in The Bishop's Boys that toys like these perfectly illustrated the significance of play for technological innovation. He wrote, rotary-wing toys were to intrigue and inspire generations of children, a few of whom would, as adults, attempt to realize the dream of flight for themselves. If the first powered flight on 17 December 1903 represented a childhood dream realized, it was only the first step in the rapid evolution of the airplane from their flimsy kite-like contraption of wood and cloth to jet airliners and rockets in space. And, as extraordinary as the achievement of powered flight seemed in 1903, before the end of the century, space travel also would become a dream realized. Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin first circumnavigated Earth in April 1961, and, eight years later, American astronauts took the first steps for humankind on the Moon. It is with great pleasure that we introduce Realizing the Dream: Biographical Essays in Honor of the Centennial of Flight. These essays in celebration of the Wright brothers first flight 100 years ago grew out of presentations by a group of prominent scholars in 2003 at a conference sponsored by the NASA History Division and held at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The volume focuses on the careers of some of the many men and women who helped to realize the dream of flight both through the atmosphere and beyond.

Dawson, Virginia P.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Taming Liquid Hydrogen: The Centaur Upper Stage Rocket, 1958-2002

During its maiden voyage in May 1962, a Centaur upper stage rocket, mated to an Atlas booster, exploded 54 seconds after launch, engulfing the rocket in a huge fireball. Investigation revealed that Centaur's light, stainless-steel tank had split open, spilling its liquid-hydrogen fuel down its sides, where the flame of the rocket exhaust immediately ignited it. Coming less than a year after President Kennedy had made landing human beings on the Moon a national priority, the loss of Centaur was regarded as a serious setback for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). During the failure investigation, Homer Newell, Director of Space Sciences, ruefully declared: "Taming liquid hydrogen to the point where expensive operational space missions can be committed to it has turned out to be more difficult than anyone supposed at the outset." After this failure, Centaur critics, led by Wernher von Braun, mounted a campaign to cancel the program. In addition to the unknowns associated with liquid hydrogen, he objected to the unusual design of Centaur. Like the Atlas rocket, Centaur depended on pressure to keep its paper-thin, stainless-steel shell from collapsing. It was literally inflated with its propellants like a football or balloon and needed no internal structure to give it added strength and stability. The so-called "pressure-stabilized structure" of Centaur, coupled with the light weight of its high- energy cryogenic propellants, made Centaur lighter and more powerful than upper stages that used conventional fuel. But, the critics argued, it would never become the reliable rocket that the United States needed.

Dawson, Virginia P.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Taming Liquid Hydrogen: The Centaur Upper Stage Rocket

The Centaur is one of the most powerful rockets in the world. As an upper-stage rocket for the Atlas and Titan boosters it has been a reliable workhorse for NASA for over forty years and has played an essential role in many of NASA's adventures into space. In this CD-ROM you will be able to explore the Centaur's history in various rooms to this virtual museum. Visit the "Movie Theater" to enjoy several video documentaries on the Centaur. Enter the "Interview Booth" to hear and read interviews with scientists and engineers closely responsible for building and operating the rocket. Go to the "Photo Gallery" to look at numerous photos of the rocket throughout its history. Wander into the "Centaur Library" to read various primary documents of the Centaur program. Finally, stop by the "Observation Deck" to watch a virtual Centaur in flight.

Dawson, Virginia P.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Rocket propulsion research at Lewis Research Center

A small contingent of engineers at NASA LeRC pioneered the basic research on liquid propellants for rockets shortly after World War 2. Carried on through the 1950s, this work influenced the important early decisions made by Abe Silverstein when he took charge of the Office of Space Flight Programs for NASA. He strongly supported the development of liquid hydrogen as a propulsion fuel in the face of resistance from Wernher von Braun. Members of the LeRC staff played an important role in bringing liquid hydrogen technology to the point of reliability through their management of the Centaur Program. This paper demonstrates how the personality and engineering intuition of Abe Silverstein shaped the Centaur program and left a lasting imprint on the laboratory research tradition. Many of the current leaders of LeRC received their first hands-on engineering experience when they worked on the Centaur program in the 1960s.

Dawson, Virginia P.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Rocket Propulsion Research at Lewis Research Center

A small contingent of engineers at NASA Lewis Research Center pioneered in basic research on liquid propellants for rockets shortly after World War II. Carried on through the 1950s, this work influenced the important early decisions made by Abe Silverstein when he took charge of the Office of Space Flight Programs for NASA. He strongly supported the development of liquid hydrogen as a propulsion fuel in the face of resistance from Wernher von Braun. Members of the Lewis staff played an important role in bringing liquid hydrogen technology to the point of reliability through their management of the Centaur Program. This paper demonstrates how the personality and engineering intuition of Abe Silverstein shaped the Centaur program and left a lasting imprint on the laboratory research tradition. Many of the current leaders of Lewis Research Center received their first hands-on engineering experience when they worked on the Centaur program in the 1960s.

Dawson, Virginia P.↗