Category Archives: History

Wednesday’s Book Review: “Near-Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us”


Near-Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us. By Donald H. Yeomans. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012. Hardcover with dust jacket. ISBN: 978-0-691-14929-5. 200 pages. 20 half tones. 19 line illus. 6 tables. 6 x 9 in. $24.94 USD. … Continue reading

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Wednesday’s Book Review: “The Culture of the Cold War”


The Culture of the Cold War.  By Stephen Whitfield. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991, second edition 1996. I was preconditioned to appreciate this book when I first picked it up for a reading. I have been devouring studies … Continue reading

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Wednesday’s Book Review: “Implosion: Lessons from National Security, High Reliability Spacecraft, Electronics, and the Forces Which Changed Them”


Implosion: Lessons from National Security, High Reliability Spacecraft, Electronics, and the Forces Which Changed Them. By L. Parker Temple. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons for the IEEE Press, 2013. Paperback. Figures, tables, acknowledgments, acronyms, abbreviations, program names, index. ISBN: … Continue reading

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Major League Baseball, the Cardinals and the Browns, and the Challenge of “Small Markets”


Not until the 1960s did baseball executives begin to use terms like “small market” to describe the unique challenges of operating a successful major league franchise in an environment that did not generate the type of revenues available to teams … Continue reading

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Interpreting the Decision to Build the Space Shuttle


Wernher von Braun once supposedly told his colleagues: “We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming.” Whether true or not the statement reflects what has been viewed for the last forty years as one of the traditional difficulties … Continue reading

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Greetings Earthlings, This Day Belongs to the Planet and All Who Live Here


It’s time to stop and ponder the needs of the Earth on this beautiful spring morning. April 22 is Earth Day. In commemoration, I have highlighted a blog post I wrote a few years ago about the photograph of the … Continue reading

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Demoting Pluto


I would like to revisit in this blog post the 2006 decision of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) demoting Pluto as the Solar System’s ninth planet to “minor planetary” status. It caused a furor both inside the astronomical community and … Continue reading

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Redirect: “5 Changes in Space Travel Since Yuri Gagarin’s Flight”


On Friday, April 12, 2013, journalist Luna Shyr wrote a good story for National Geographic  Daily News entitled ”5 Changes in Space Travel Since Yuri Gagarin’s Flight.” Of course, I like the story in part because she quoted me in the … Continue reading

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The Place of Theater Re-Creations in Museums


I would like to call your attention to an article by Susan Evans, “Personal Beliefs and National Stories: Theater in Museums as a Tool for Exploring Historical Memory.” Just published paper in April 2013 issue of Curator: The Museum Journal. This is … Continue reading

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Wednesday’s Book Review: “Realizing Tomorrow: The Path to Private Spaceflight”


Realizing Tomorrow: The Path to Private Spaceflight. By Chris Dubbs and Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011. Hardcover with dustjacket.  344 pp. Illustrations, notes, index. ISBN 978-0-8032-1610-5. US $34.95. Should spaceflight in the United States be dominated by … Continue reading

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