My Personal History Of The British Interplanetary Society

This is the story of the founding of the British Interplanetary Society Liverpool in 1933 before it relocated to London in 1937. It is the personal meticulous recollection of Leslie J Johnson who was the BIS’s First Hon. Secretary but later its treasurer, editor of the bulletin and the journal and a vice president. Published for the first time, this manuscript was written using a manual typewritten and rich first-hand source material consisting of thousands of handwritten letters. As the Hon. secretary, he was the first contact for many now familiar names, including a teenage Arthur C Clarke in 1933, and from Dr W Olaf Stapledon, a professor at Liverpool University, writers EF Russell, Walter H Gillings, Edward John Carnell, Stephen Smith, a rocket mail experimenter in India, Herr Will Ley, a rocket engineer from Germany. Many who joined the BIS were interested in reading and writing science fiction, including Johnson. One of his earliest stories, “Satellites of Death”, was published in 1938, two decades before the launch of Sputnik. The first passenger railway, military submarine and programable computer emerged in the Northwest of England for the first time. It was from this generation that gifted and visionary individuals emerged in pursuit of the idea and ideals of interplanetary space travel. Similar societies were founded around the world at about the same time but only the BIS continues to the present day contributing to British space policy and innovative ideas for spaceflight for communication satellites, human spaceflight and interstellar travel. As the BIS approaches its 90th year, it can celebrate some momentous achievements, including being a founding member in 1950 of the International Astronautical Federation which is now seen as the global premier body that binds the international space community.

This is the story of the founding of the British Interplanetary Society in Liverpool in 1933 before it moved to London in 1937. It is the personal meticulous recollection of Leslie J Johnson, who was the BIS's first Hon. Secretary, but later its treasurer, editor of the bulletin and the journal and a vice president. Published for the first time, I wrote this manuscript using a rich source material comprising thousands of handwritten letters. As the hon. secretary he was the first contact for many now-familiar names including a teenage Arthur C Clarke in 1933, and Dr W Olaf Stapledon a professor at Liverpool University, writers Eric Frank Russell, Walter H Gillings, Edward John Carnell, Stephen Smith, a rocket mail experimenter in India and Herr Willy Ley, a rocket engineer from Germany. Many who joined the BIS had an interest in reading and writing science fiction, including Johnson himself. One of his earliest stories, "Satellites of Death" was published in 1938, two decades before the launch of Sputnik. The first passenger railway, military submarine and programmable computer emerged for the very first time in the northwest of England. It was from this generation that gifted and visionary individuals came in pursuit of the idea and ideals of interplanetary space travel. Similar societies were founded around the world at about the same time, but only the BIS continues to the present day contributing to British space policy and innovative ideas for spaceflight for communication satellites, human spaceflight and interstellar travel. As the BIS approaches its 90th year, it can celebrate some momentous achievements, including being a founding member in 1950 of the International Astronautical Federation that is now seen as the global premier body that binds the international space community with annual conferences in major cities around the world. Leslie Johnson wrote this manuscript between 1974 and 1979. It records the BIS story during the Liverpool years. It includes his reflections on a dream realised - the landing on the Moon of Apollo 11 in July 1969.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, engagement with science was commonly used as an emblem of modernity. This phenomenon is now attracting increasing attention in different historical specialties. Being Modern builds on this recent scholarly interest to explore engagement with science across culture from the end of the nineteenth century to approximately 1940. Addressing the breadth of cultural forms in Britain and the western world from the architecture of Le Corbusier to working class British science fiction, Being Modern paints a rich picture. Seventeen distinguished contributors from a range of fields including the cultural study of science and technology, art and architecture, English culture and literature examine the issues involved. The book will be a valuable resource for students, and a spur to scholars to further examination of culture as an interconnected web of which science is a critical part, and to supersede such tired formulations as 'Science and culture'.

Stung by the pioneering space successes of the Soviet Union - in particular, Gagarin being the first man in space, the United States gathered the best of its engineers and set itself the goal of reaching the Moon within a decade. In an expanding 2nd edition of How Apollo Flew to the Moon, David Woods tells the exciting story of how the resulting Apollo flights were conducted by following a virtual flight to the Moon and its exploration of the surface. From launch to splashdown, he hitches a ride in the incredible spaceships that took men to another world, exploring each step of the journey and detailing the enormous range of disciplines, techniques, and procedures the Apollo crews had to master. While describing the tremendous technological accomplishment involved, he adds the human dimension by calling on the testimony of the people who were there at the time. He provides a wealth of fascinating and accessible material: the role of the powerful Saturn V, the reasoning behind trajectories, the day-to-day concerns of human and spacecraft health between two worlds, the exploration of the lunar surface and the sheer daring involved in traveling to the Moon and the mid-twentieth century. Given the tremendous success of the original edition of How Apollo Flew to the Moon, the second edition will have a new chapter on surface activities, inspired by reader's comment on Amazon.com. There will also be additional detail in the existing chapters to incorporate all the feedback from the original edition, and will include larger illustrations.

In March 2005, the NASA History Division and the Division of Space History at the National Air and Space Museum brought together a distinguished group of scholars to consider the state of the discipline of space history. This volume is a collection of essays based on those deliberations. The meeting took place at a time of extraordinary transformation for NASA, stemming from the new Vision of Space Exploration announced by President George W. Bush in January 204: to go to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. This Vision, in turn, stemmed from a deep reevaluation of NASA?s goals in the wake of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident and the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The new goals were seen as initiating a "New Age of Exploration" and were placed in the context of the importance of exploration and discovery to the American experiences. (Amazon).