Bøker av David Baker

Describes the origin of the reusable launch vehicle concept during the 1960s, its evolution into a viable flying machine in the early 1970s, and its subsequent design, engineering, construction and operation.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a permanently manned earth-orbiting complex where astronauts carry out research into a wide range of scientific activities.

This book, extensively illustrated with technical drawings and photographs, tracks the story of each of the successful post-Apollo 11 Moon-landing missions, majoring on the hardware and instruments developed, in addition to the engineering modifications made to the Lunar Module and the Apollo spacecraft for this greatly expanded scientific role.

This is a tale of the generation of test pilots flying experimental aircraft powered by rocket motors during the period from 1945 to the mid-1970s. It is not a technical description of the aircraft they flew but the narrative of the men who built the machines and the pilots who took to the air to achieve unprecedented speeds and altitudes unequaled to the present. It is a human story, but one carved out of the evolving post-war world, coming to terms with a new tension between global superpowers and one in which technological progress was arguably the greatest it has been since 1945. The book integrates the story of post-war US industry, the competitive drive to survive between plane-makers made rich by war production, challenged by the changed times of demobilization and peace. Into the mix come fighter pilots and company men eager to sustain their craft and take on new challenges, alongside an emerging generation of post-war graduates straight from engineering or flight school, eager to make their mark. With a focus on those who achieved extraordinary things like Major 'Chuck' Yeager, Scott Crossfield and Joe Walker, there is also inclusion of those outside of the US's endeavors including how Eric 'Winkle' Brown became the only non-German to fly the rocket-powered Me 163 and the test-flying of John Booth and Peter Lamb. Rocket Boys is a record of the glorious years when nothing seemed impossible and which produced a group that propelled aviation into the stratosphere with devil-may-care attitudes and personal fortitude, with death and disaster stalking the very best.

Through meticulous research and gripping narratives, author David Baker sheds light on the pivotal role Russian bombers have played - and continue to play - in shaping world events.Strategic bombing had proved decisive in helping the Western allies bring Nazi Germany to its knees during the Second World War but the Soviet Union had never developed an equivalent capability - an oversight it would rapidly address as the cold war began in earnest.Immense efforts to reverse-engineer interned American B-29 Superfortresses resulted in the fearsome Tupolev Tu-4 - and heralded a bold new era of heavy bomber design in Russia and across the Soviet Union.Within a few short years, the advanced swept-wing Tu-16 jet bomber, codenamed Badger by NATO had made its first flight. This was swiftly followed by the legendary turboprop-powered Tu-95, codenamed Bear, which remains a symbol of Russian air power today.Less than a decade later, the Soviet Union was flying the mighty long-range Myasishchev M-4 Bison and the supersonic Tu-22 Blinder, both of which raised grave concerns in the West when their existence became known.By the early 1970s, the highly capable Tu-22M Backfire had joined the Soviet arsenal and then, as the Iron Curtain fell and the world changed, so too did Russian bomber technology. Secret advancements in stealth and precision strike capabilities led to the creation of the Tu-160 Blackjack, a supersonic behemoth capable of carrying a devastating payload of cruise missiles.But the story doesn't end there; the turbulent post-Soviet era saw Russia reemerge onto the global stage with a succession of upgrade programmes taking the venerable Tu-95, the Tu-22M and Tu-160 into the modern age with cutting-edge systems and weapons.From the depths of history to the forefront of modern warfare, Russian Bombers showcases the remarkable engineering prowess, strategic innovation, and indomitable spirit that define these iconic warplanes. Through meticulous research and gripping narratives, author David Baker sheds light on the pivotal role Russian bombers have played - and continue to play - in shaping world events.

Acclaimed as an essential voice of the American Midwest, David Baker expands both his environment and his form in his eleventh collection. Whale Fall is about time, measured in the wingbeats of a hummingbird or the epochs of geological change, and about place, whether a backyard in Ohio or the slopes of a melting glacier.In the exquisite, musical title poem, a deft hybrid of eco-poetic alarm and intimate narrative, Baker transports us to the deep sea as a single grey whale carcass falls, decays and is re-inhabited by a cosmos of teeming lives. Among the strands of ocean health, micro-plastics and related calamities of human disregard, the poet weaves in a personal story of chronic illness. The result is a stirring, confident work, astonishing in its emotional acuity and lyric range.Each poem in Whale Fall is an echolocation, emitting its music to situate itself among others in the vastness of the world. Amidst climate change and catastrophe, as amidst a blooming viburnum or a viral disease, these poems send their songs across empty spaces of a line, a page or a continent, to see who is out there, moving in the depths of being.

It is more than 50 years since a spacecraft first landed on the Moon and millions of people worldwide tuned in to their television screens to see astronauts take their first steps on the lunar surface. Since then, many missions have taken humans into space, each time accumulating knowledge and pushing the limits of what science will help us achieve. The permanently manned International Space Station is due to return to Earth within the next decade and the next mission to establish a permanent research station near the Moon's South Pole is underway. From here, there is a plan to map and travel into deep space. The vast costs associated with such a mission now require multiple partnerships between international space agencies, private companies and governments, bolstered by public support. Within the next decade, it is intended that humans will return to the Moon.This illustrated book defines the progress of the mission, the political landscape that has determined and delayed it in equal measure, and looks at the development of the spacecraft and the science behind the endeavor.

The Marketing of Academic, National and Public Libraries Worldwide: Marketing, Branding, Community Engagement enables readers to learn about the most up-to-date trends, as well as hands-on practices and marketing tactics taken directly from 48 highly seasoned marketing and community engagement librarians around the world, namely in Africa, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Hong Kong, Latvia and Qatar. Via a series of in-depth and semi-structured interviews, this book provides insights into successful marketing strategies librarians can use to encourage donors and patrons to understand that their libraries are a great choice for fulfilling information needs, recreational interests, intellectual pursuits, and more.

Written by expert author who previously worked with NASA and the USAF. Full of images, diagrams and animated mock-ups. Looks at the history of the Mars programmes and their future.

How did time begin? What conditions led to humans evolving on Earth? Will we survive the Anthropocene? And is it really true that we're all made from stars?Combining knowledge from chemistry, biology, and physics, with insights from the social sciences and humanities, A Brief History of the Last 13.8 Billion Years follows the continuum of historical change in the cosmos - from the Big Bang, through the evolution of life, to human history. In this compelling and revealing book, David Baker traces the rise of complexity in the cosmos, from the first atoms to the first life and then to humans and the things we have made. He shows us how simple clumps of hydrogen gas transformed into complex human societies. This approach - Big History - allows us to see beyond the chaos of human affairs to the overall trajectory. Finally, Baker looks at the dramatic and sudden changes we're making to our planet and its biosphere and how history hints at what might come next.

This poignant tribute to the beauty of coral reefs sheds light on the destruction of global reef ecosystems and the climate science behind the conservation efforts to save them.Broken into three parts—Discovering Corals, Wonder and Devastation, and Searching for Hope—and told through a series of gripping stories, author and documentarian David Alexander Baker takes readers on a global adventure to the front lines of an unfolding ecological crisis. More than half of the world''s coral reefs have been destroyed in the past fifty years due to the climate crisis. The Lost Continent helps readers gain a deeper understanding of coral reefs and why they are vital to the health of our oceans—and the survival of our planet—and highlights the incredible conservation and restoration strides being made around the world. With over 60 breathtaking photographs of coral reefs spanning from Colombia to Australia to the Florida Keys readers will be moved both by the majesty of nature and the urgency to preserve and restore these great cities of the seas.  

The Odyssey of the Idiots is an autobiography of the author with satirical tones discussing the politics and history that have led America to where it is today. Manuscript's Strengths The author uses an educated style and language that will appeal to an educated/scholarly audience. This language sets up the book to be for an educated audience who has some understanding of the topic and wishes to learn more regarding the issues discussed. Including the glossary of terms in the back of the book was great on the part of the author to provide a tool for readers to fully understand the author's terminology in the book. It adds a reference for readers to be able to refer to if they need further clarification of terms, which will assist in their better grasping the author's meanings and message. The author's language holds a dramatic and descriptive flair that helps contribute to the engagement of readers in the text. It makes the author's writing unique and adds something readers may not find elsewhere.

Police Related Deaths in the United States examines how police related deaths in the US occur; how investigations are conducted into these deaths; and why such deaths and the investigatory processes into them provoke such concern in the wider American society. The book considers such deaths as being the result of structural and systemic factors in policing, the criminal justice system, and broader socio-political and socio-legal landscapes in the U.S.. It argues that an increasingly aggressive police mindset allied with relatively toothless regulatory frameworks effectively lead to police being enabled by the criminal justice system to use lethal force with relative impunity. The book considers the disproportionate number of deaths in marginalized communities, for example: people of color, people who are mentally unwell, and LGBTQ people. Each chapter in the book begins with a case study of a specific police related death and places issues within that case in the wider context of policing in the US. David Baker argues that the effects of these deaths go beyond merely policing and criminal justice, and corrodes the core fabric of American society.

The General Dynamics F-111 was a swing-wing tactical fighter, interdictor, nuclear bomber and electronic warfare aircraft developed in the early 1960s in the belief that requirements of the US Air Force and the Navy could be satisfied by a single design.The idea was flawed and the Navy never got its aircraft but the supersonic F-111 went on to be developed successfully by the Air Force for tactical strikes in Vietnam flying 4,000 combat missions for the loss of three aircraft and later in the Gulf War in 1991, where only 66 aircraft dropped over 80% of the laser-guided bombs deployed, destroying more than 1,500 Iraqi tanks. A version was used by Strategic Air Command in the nuclear-delivery role as a supersonic bomber to replace the Convair B-58 Hustler, another filled the function of electronic warfare and a variant was exported to Australia where it remained in service until December 2010. The US Air Force retired its last F-111 in 1998, replaced by the F-15E Strike Eagle.The F-111''s importance lies in it being the first US variable-geometry aircraft to serve on the front line. As a story, the history of the F-111 embraces the evolution of variable-geometry wings, high performance jet engines and the transition to a greater emphasis on electronics, avionics, radar and stand-off weapons, each sector being efficiently adopted by the F-111.

The US has the largest and most powerful air force in the world - and a large portion of that strength is its strategic bomber fleet. The USAF has operated a range of jet bombers from the B-45 Tornado in 1948 right up to the B-1s, B-2s and B-52s of the present day. Author David Baker explores the history of America''s jet bomber fleet and looks in detail at every type that has seen operational service in defence of the free world.

The latest jet fighters deceive, evade, confuse, lock-on to their targets and kill them without being seen, heard or detected. Pilots can increasingly put themselves outside their cockpit, peering far beyond visual range, leaving the aircraft to keep them out of harm¿s way while they manage the mission. In Fifth Generation Fighters, author David Baker explains how netcentric  warfare and sensor fusion takes the fight into the very heart of the weapons systems computer, tracking up to 100 hostiles and downing many beyond visual range. He also looks at how future fighters will connect to satellites, control swarms of unmanned combat air vehicles and plan the end-game for an air battle that has yet to begin. The clock is ticking ¿ a fifth generation fighter war is coming!

An expanded special new edition of the Apollo 13 Manual, published to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the mission launched in April 1970, which nearly turned into a catastrophe. This Manual chronicles the complex technical challenges involved in returning the crippled spacecraft safely to Earth, the worldwide reaction and the lessons learned.

Unofficially named the 'Peacemaker', the Convair B-36 is a legend of the Cold War. With six powerful radial engines and four turbojets paired in pods, the B-36 was America's 'Big Stick' that could subdue would-be aggressors with unrestrained nuclear retribution at a level unmatched by any other aircraft or air force of the time.