INTRODUCTION

Man has only been able to design and build successful spacecraft since 1957, when the Russian Sputnik spacecraft was launched. Since then space technology and activity have grown enormously. Commercial interests have led to the large array of communications satellites that now orbit the earth, the need for military intelligence has resulted in very high spatial resolution imaging of the earth s surface that has both changed the nature of war and resulted in far safer transport systems, and the thirst for scientific understanding has resulted in the continuous monitoring of earth and space by orbiting craft and the launch of mission craft that have landed on the Moon, Venus, and Mars.

Because of the high costs and risks involved in space technology, it can be characterized as being relatively conservative. A new spacecraft design will often be made up of many elements of well-established technology. This does not, however, lead to much repetition in craft, as is found in the aircraft industry. Spacecraft tend to be tailored for a given payload and mission. It is consequently more difficult to generalize about spacecraft than aircraft. This Section therefore describes many spacecraft failures through the use of examples.

Information relevant to spacecraft is also detailed in other Sections of the book; the space environment in Section 16; spacecraft astrodynamics and mission analysis in Section 14; propulsion systems in Section 8; and telecommunications and telemetry in Section 11.

To give an idea of...