Syllabus for

From the Earth to the Moon

Princeton University Freshman Seminar
FRS 148, Spring 1997

Robert Stengel

		
							Dreams, History,
Week		Science & Mathematics			Business, & Policy
=============================================================================
1 		Introductory Concepts			Early History & Fiction
		[1] Ch 2, [2] #1			[3], [4] Ch 1

2 		Orbital Motion				Early History & Fiction
		[1] Ch 4, [2] #2			[4] Ch 2, [5], [6]

3 		Orbital Motion				Precursors to Space 								Travel
		[1] Ch 5, [2] #3			[4] Ch 4, [7] Intro, Ch 1

4 		Launch Dynamics & Staging		Early Space Age
		[1] Ch 9.4, 14.1, 14.3, [2] #4		[7] Ch 2 to 5

5 		Rocket Propulsion			Antecedents to Apollo
		[1], Ch 14.2, [2] #5			[7] Ch 6 to 8, 15, [8]

6 		Interplanetary Travel			Apollo & the Space Race
		[1] Ch 6, 7.1, 7.2, [2] #6		[9] Ch 1 to 4, [10] Ch 7, [11]

		Mid-Term Break				Mid-Term Break

7 		Lunar Transfer				Apollo Missions, 
							Astronauts, & Science
		[1] Ch 7.2, 7.3, [2] #7			[9] Ch 5, 7, 9, 13, [12]

8 		Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics		Social & Political 	
							Impacts of Apollo
		[1] Ch 12.1, 12.2, [2] #8		[7] Ch 20, 21

9 		Spacecraft Guidance & Control		Building the Apollo Vehicles
		[1] Ch 12.3, [2] #9			[13], [14]

10 		Atmospheric Re-Entry			Evolution of NASA
		[1] Ch 10, [2] #10			[15]

11 		Communications &  			International Cooperation
		Tracking				on Space Projects
		[1] Ch 13.1, 13.2, 15.2, [2] #11	[16], [17], [18]

12 		Space Vehicle Design			Business & Project Management
		[1] Ch 11, 13.3, 13.4, [2] #12		[1] Ch 16, [19] Ch 1,8,26,36,37, 
							40, [20] Ch 25.1

13 		Reading Period				Term Paper (due 5/13)
		[21]

Seminar Reading List

Jerry Sellers, Understanding Space: An Introduction to Astronautics, McGraw-Hill, 1994
Robert Stengel, Lecture Notes, 1996 [access from the Web]
Cyrano de Bergerac, excerpts from A Voyage to the Moon, 1649 [access from the Web]
Willy Ley, Rockets, Missiles, and Men in Space, Viking Press, 1968 [excerpts in course packet]
Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon, 1865 [access from the Web]
Jules Verne, selections from Round the Moon, 1870 [access from the Web]
Walter McDougall, ...The Heavens and the Earth, Basic Books, 1985 [excerpts in course packet]
Roger Launius, Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis (abridged version), 1994 [access from the Web]
Andrew Chaikin, A Man on the Moon, Penguin Books, 1994
James Oberg, Red Star in Orbit, Random House, 1981 [excerpt in course packet]
Craig Covault, "Soviet Union Reveals Moon Rocket Design That Failed to Beat U.S. to Lunar Landing," Aviation Week & Space Technology, Feb. 18, 1991, pp. 58-59. Theo Pirard, "The Cosmonauts Missed the Moon!" Spaceflight, Dec. 1993, pp. 410-414. Luc van den Abeelen, "Soviet Lunar Landing Programme," Spaceflight, Mar 1994, pp. 90-92. John M. Logsdon and Alain Dupas, "Was the Race to the Moon Real?" Scientific American, June 1994, pp. 36-43.
James R. Hansen, Enchanted Rendezvous: John C. Houbolt and the Genesis of the Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous Concept, NASA Headquarters, 1995. Dave Dooling, "L + 25: A Quarter Century After the Apollo Landing," IEEE Spectrum, July 1994, pp. 16-29. G. Jeffrey Taylor, "The Scientific Legacy of Apollo," Scientific American, July 1994, pp. 40-47.
Michael Gray, Angle of Attack, Penguin Books, 1992
Joseph G. Gavin, Jr., "Fly Me to the Moon," Technology Review, July 1994, pp. 61-68.
Howard McCurdy, Inside NASA, Johns Hopkins Press, 1993
James Oberg, "Russia's Space Program: Running on Empty," IEEE Spectrum, Dec 1995, pp. 18-35.
U.S.-Russian Cooperation in Space, OTA-ISS-618, April 1995
The National Space Transportation Policy: Issues for Congress, OTA-ISS-620, May 1995
Norman Augustine, Augustine's Laws, Viking Press, 1986 [excerpts in course packet]
Heinz Koelle, Handbook of Astronautical Engineering, McGraw-Hill, 1961 [excerpt in course packet]
Darren Burnham, "Return to the Moon?" Spaceflight, Nov 1991, pp. 370-376. Heinz-Hermann Koelle, "Lunar Development, Past and Future: Part 1 - Apollo was a Race: Post-Apollo Studies," Spaceflight, Feb 1993, pp. 48-51. Mark Hempsell, "A New Pattern for International Space Collaboration: Part 2 - Space Station and Lunar Base Development," Spaceflight, Feb 1993, pp. 52-53. Darren L. Burnham, "Back to the Moon with Robots?", Spaceflight, Feb 1993, pp. 54-57. Thomas J. Frieling, "Return to the Moon to Stay," Spaceflight, Dec 1993, pp. 398-401. Thomas P. Stafford, excerpts from America at the Threshold: America's Space Exploration Initiative, Synthesis Group, Arlington, VA, 1991. Dwayne A. Day, "Doomed to Fail: The Birth and Death of the Space Exploration Initiative," Spaceflight, Mar 1995, pp. 79-83.

Lecture Notes

Getting Started (Mathematica File)
Understanding Orbits (Mathematica File)
Describing Orbits (Mathematica File)
Rocket Performance and Staging (Mathematica File)
Rocket Propulsion (Mathematica File)
Interplanetary Travel (Mathematica File)
Lunar Mission Planning (Mathematica File)
Spacecraft Orientation and Attitude Dynamics (Mathematica File)
Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control (Mathematica File)
Atmospheric Re-Entry (Mathematica File)
Communication and Tracking (Mathematica File)
Structural Design of Space Vehicles (Mathematica File)

Mathematica notebooks run on all CIT Sun and SGI machines. To download Math Reader, which allows you to read (but not run) Mathematica notebooks on your computer, CLICK HERE. Line-at-a-time Mathematica computations can be run on the Arizona or SesameSt servers from any terminal by first typing "math". Additional information about using Mathematica can be found at Science/Math Computing at Princeton.

Questions? Send me e-mail at stengel@princeton.edu