The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

as early as 1881 that used the reaction principle. In his
scheme, steel cartridges charged with dynamite would be
placed in a reaction chamber. As a cartridge exploded,
half of it would be ejected while the other half struck the
top of the chamber to provide the reaction force. Suspended
below the chamber on springs was the inhabited
part of the ship. Ganswindt even provided his crew with
artificial gravity by allowing the spaceship to spin.
gantry
The servicing and access tower that stands beside a rocket
on its launch pad.
Garneau, Marc (1949–)
The first Canadian in space. Seconded to the Canadian
Astronaut Program from the Department of National
Defence in February 1984 to begin astronaut training, he
flew as a payload specialist on Shuttle Mission 41G in
October 1984. He was named deputy director of the
Canadian Astronaut Program in 1989. Selected by NASA
for astronaut candidate training in July 1992, Garneau
worked for the Astronaut Office Robotics Integration
Team and served as CAPCOM (Capsule Communicator)
during Space Shuttle flights. He subsequently flew as a
mission specialist on STS-77 in 1996 and STS-97 in 2000.
In November 2001, Garneau was appointed president of
the Canadian Space Agency. He received a B.S. in engineering
physics from the Royal Military College of
Kingston (1970) and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering
from Imperial College of Science and Technology, London
(1973).
GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Project)
An international scientific project to monitor the world’s
weather and to better understand the physical basis of climate;
it spanned the period 1967 to 1982.
Garriott, Owen K. (1930–)
An American astronaut and scientist who flew aboard
Skylab 3 in 1973 and the Space Shuttle Columbia a
decade later. Garriott received a B.S. in electrical engineering
from the University of Oklahoma (1953) and an
M.S. (1957) and a Ph.D. (1960) in electrical engineering
from Stanford University. Following graduation from
Oklahoma, he served as an electronics officer aboard several
destroyers while on active duty with the U.S. Navy
(1953–1956). From 1961 to 1965, he taught electronics
and ionospheric physics as an associate professor at Stanford
before being selected by NASA to be among the first
group of scientist-astronauts. Aboard Skylab, Garriott
made extensive observations of the Sun during a period
of intense solar activity. In November 1983, he returned
to orbit aboard Columbia and helped conduct medical,
GCOM (Global Change Observing Mission) 149
astronomy, Earth survey, atmospheric, and materials processing
experiments on the first Spacelab mission. Subsequently,
Garriott was appointed assistant director for
space science at Johnson Space Center before leaving
NASA in 1986 to work in the private sector. In 2000, he
was appointed interim director of the newly created
National Space Science & Technology Center, a research
facility associated with the Marshall Space Flight Center.
Garuda
Satellites that provide global support for mobile telephone
communications users in Asia; “garuda” is Sanskrit
for “eagle.” Launched on February 13, 2000, from
Baikonur, Garuda-1 is the first satellite of a constellation
that comprises the ACeS (Asia System Cellular Satellite)
system. The second ACeS satellite, Garuda-2, will first
serve as a backup to Garuda-1 and then allow the ACeS
system to expand coverage to western and central Asia,
the Middle East, Europe, and northern Africa.
gas generator
A combustion chamber used to provide hot gases for a
turbine or motor to drive the propellant pumps of a
rocket engine, or to provide a source of gas at some predetermined
pressure. Gas generators are usually operated
fuel-rich to maintain the container temperature at
reduced values.
gaseous propellant
A working substance used in a gaseous-propellant
rocket engine. Nitrogen, argon, krypton, dry air, and
Freon 14 have all been employed in spacecraft.
gaseous propellant rocket engine
A small rocket engine that works by expelling a gas, such
as nitrogen or helium, stored in (relatively heavy) tanks at
high pressure. Cold gas engines were used on many early
spacecraft as attitude control systems and are still occasionally
used for this purpose. Warm gas engines achieve
better performance by heating the propellant, electrically
or chemically, before expulsion.
GCOM (Global Change Observing Mission)
Japanese Earth resources satellites planned for launch
over the coming decade to improve the accuracy of
global observations begun by ADEOS (Advanced Earth
Observation Satellite) and collect data on worldwide
environmental change over a period of up to 15 years.
GCOM-A1 will carry instruments to monitor concentrations
of ozone, CFCs, and major greenhouse gases such
as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide. GCOM-B1 will
study the large-scale circulation of energy and materials
using the Second Generation ion Global Imager (SGLI)