Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants

This newly reissued debut book in the Rutgers University Press Classics imprint is the story of the search for a rocket propellant which could be trusted to take man into space. This search was a hazardous enterprise carried out by rival labs who worked against the known laws of nature, with no guarantee of success or safety. Acclaimed scientist and sci-fi author John Drury Clark writes with irreverent and eyewitness immediacy about the development of the explosive fuels strong enough to negate the relentless restraints of gravity. The resulting volume is as much a memoir as a work of history, sharing a behind-the-scenes view of an enterprise which eventually took men to the moon, missiles to the planets, and satellites to outer space. A classic work in the history of science, and described as “a good book on rocket stuff…that’s a really fun one” by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, readers will want to get their hands on this influential classic, available for the first time in decades.

ISBN-13: 9780813595832

Media Type: Paperback(Reprint)

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Publication Date: 05-23-2018

Pages: 302

Product Dimensions: 5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

Age Range: 15 - 18 Years

JOHN DRURY CLARK (1907 - 1988) was an American rocket fuel developer, chemist, and science fiction writer. In addition to his work as a scientist, he was instrumental in the broad revival of interest in Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories and an influence on the writing of Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt, and other sci-fi authors. ISAAC ASIMOV (1920 - 1992) was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. A prolific writer, he published more than 500 books, most notably the science fiction novels I, Robot and Foundation, and the popular science works, Guide to Science and Understanding Physics.

What People are Saying About This

Isaac Asimov

"Read this book. You’ll find plenty about John and all the other sky-high crackpots who were in the field with him and you may even get (as I did) a glimpse of the heroic excitement that seemed to make it reasonable to cuddle with death every waking moment—to say nothing of learning a heck of a lot about the way in which the business of science is really conducted."

Table of Contents

Contents

In Re John D. Clark - foreword by Issac Asimov

Preface

1 How It Started

2 Peenemunde and JPL

3 The Hunting of the Hypergol . . .

4 . . . and Its Mate

5 Peroxide - Always a Bridesmaid

6 Halogens and Politics and Deep Space

7 Performance

8 Lox and Flox and Cryogenics in General

9 What Ivan Was Doing

10 “Exotics”

11 The Hopeful Monoprops

12 High Density and the Higher Foolishness

13 What Happens Next

Glossary

Index