posted 01-04-2008 07:44 PM               

William H. Pickering: America's Deep Space Pioneer (NASA SP-2007-4113) by Douglas J. Mudgway is an insightful biography of a key figure in U.S. space history. The book is out in time to commemorate the Explorer 1 launch on January 31, 1958.

William H. Pickering: America's Deep Space Pioneer

By Douglas J. Mudgway

(Washington, D.C.: NASA SP-2007-4113), pp. 234 + xiv, hardcover, with some black and white photos.

Born in New Zealand, William Pickering started his career as a physics grad student at the California Institute of Technology under the famous physicist Robert Millikan. In 1944, when Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was developing rocket propulsion systems for the U.S. Army, Pickering joined the workforce as a technical manager. He quickly established himself as an outstanding leader and 10 years later Caltech named him Director of JPL.

Pickering became famous in January 1958, when together with Wernher von Braun and James Van Allen, he helped launch Explorer I, the first U.S. spacecraft to go successfully into Earth orbit.

A few months later, Pickering's decision to affiliate JPL with the newly-formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration set the basis for his subsequent career and the future of NASA's ambitious program for robotic exploration of the solar system.

This thoroughly researched, insightful biography by a fellow New Zealander who came to the U.S. and worked with Pickering at JPL is a timely addition to the literature and an engaging portrait of one of the pioneers of early U.S. robotic spaceflight.

How to order: Please contact the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, 7121 Standard Drive, Hanover, MD 21076, 301-621-0390, help@sti.nasa.gov, Online Order Form. The document ID is 20070038305 and the price code is EA5 (Within U.S. $25 plus $2 shipping and handling; outside U.S. $50 plus $17 shipping and handling).

This book also may be purchased from the NASA Information Center, NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, Room 1H23, Washington, DC 20546-0001, (202) 358-0000. Order NASA SP-2007-4113.

posted 01-28-2008 11:16 AM               

One of the iconic photographs of the early Space Age was taken 50 years ago this week. It shows three men hoisting a model of a cylindrical spacecraft high above their heads in triumph, celebrating the successful launch a few hours earlier of Explorer 1, America's first satellite. Most people with some knowledge of space history can readily identify one of the three men in the photo: Wernher von Braun. The other two men may not have instantly recognizable faces, but one does have a familiar name: James Van Allen, the University of Iowa physicist whose instruments on the satellite would detect the radiation belts circling the Earth that would later bear his name. The third man in the photo may not have a readily recognizable name or face today, but William Pickering, the head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the time of the Explorer 1 launch, was no less significant a figure in the early history of America's space program, as recounted in Douglas Mudgway's new biography of Pickering.

posted 02-25-2009 01:23 PM               

(Washington, D.C.: NASA SP-2008-4113), pp. 234 + xiv, hardcover, with some black and white photos.

ISBN 13: 978-0-16-081536-2

How to order the 2008 revised edition: There are several ways to purchase this book:

• NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI), 301-621-0390, help@sti.nasa.gov ($25)

• U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) bookstore, 1-866-512-1800, ContactCenter@gpo.gov ($39)

• Private, commercial vendors such as Amazon.com ($39)

• NASA Information Center, Code CMI-1, NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, Room 1H23, Washington, DC 20546-0001, (202) 358-0000.