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

20 aniline (C 6H 5NH 2)
aniline (C 6H 5NH 2)
A colorless, oily liquid that served as a propellant for
some early rockets, such as the American Corporal. It is
highly toxic, however, and no longer used as a rocket fuel.
animals in space
The menagerie of animals (not to mention plants, fungi,
and microorganisms) that have made orbital and suborbitaltripsincludesrats,mice,frogs,turtles,crickets,swordtail
fish, rabbits, dogs, cats, and chimpanzees. Spaceflights
involving animals began just after World War II and continue
today with biological experiments on the InternationalSpaceStation(ISS).Thefirstprimatessentonrocket
journeysabovemostoftheatmospherewerethemonkeys
Albert 1and Albert 2aboard nosecones of captured GermanV-2(see“V”weapons)rocketsduringAmericantestsinthe1940s.Theydied,however,asdidamonkeyandseveralmicein1951whentheirparachutefailedtoopenafter
anAerobeelaunch.ButonSeptember20ofthesameyear,
amonkeyand11micesurvivedatripaboardanAerobeeto
become the first passengers to be recovered alive from an
altitudeoftensofkilometers.OnMay28,1959,monkeys
Able and Baker reached the edge of space and came back
unharmed. From 1959 to 1961 anumber of primates, includingHam,wentontestflightsoftheMercurycapsule.
During this same period, the Soviet Union launched 13
dogs toward orbit, 5of which perished, including the first
animalspacefarer—Laika.Inthepre-Shuttleera,spacecraft
carrying awide variety of different species included the
Bion,Biosatellite,andKorabl-Sputnikseries.
annihilation
The process in which the entire mass of two colliding particles,
one of matter and one of antimatter, is converted
into radiant energy in the form of gamma rays.
ANS (Astronomische Nederlandse Satelliet)
A Dutch X-ray and ultraviolet astronomy satellite notable
for its discovery of X-ray bursts and of the first X-rays
from the corona of a star beyond the Sun (Capella); it
was the first satellite for the Netherlands. The universities
of Groningen and Utrecht provided the ultraviolet and
soft (longer wavelength) X-ray experiments, while NASA
furnished a hard (shorter wavelength) X-ray experiment
built by American Science and Engineering of Cambridge,
Massachusetts. ANS operated until 1976.
Launch
Date: August 30, 1974
Vehicle: Scout D
Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base
Orbit: 258 × 1,173 km × 98.0°
Mass: 130 kg
antenna
A device for collecting or transmitting radio signals, the
design of which depends on the wavelength and amplitude
of the signals.
anti-g suit
A tight-fitting suit that covers parts of the body below the
heart and is designed to retard the flow of blood to the
lower body in reaction to acceleration or deceleration;
sometimes referred to as a g-suit. Bladders or other
devices are used to inflate and to increase body constriction
as g-force increases.
The circulatory effects of high acceleration first
became apparent less than two decades after the Wright
brothers’ seminal powered flight. During the Schneider
Trophy Races in the 1920s, in which military and specialized
aircraft made steep turns, pilots would occasionally
experience “grayouts.” An early documented case of ginduced
loss of consciousness, or g-LOC, occurred in the
pilot of a Sopwith Triplane as long ago as 1917. But the
problem only became significant with the dawn of higher
performance planes in World War II. In the quarter century
between global conflicts, the maximum acceleration
of aircraft had doubled from 4.5g to 9g.
Two medical researchers played key roles in the evolution
of the anti-g suit during the 1930s and 1940s. In
1931, physiologist Frank Cotton at the University of Sydney,
Australia, devised a way of determining the center of
gravity of a human body, which made possible graphic
recordings of the displacement of mass within the body
under varying conditions of rest, respiration, posture,
and exercise. He later used his technique to pioneer suits
that were inflated by air pressure and regulated by gsensitive
valves. At the University of Toronto, Wilbur R.
Franks did similar work that eventually led to the Mark
III Franks Flying Suit—the first anti-g suit ever used in
combat. His invention gave Allied pilots a major tactical
advantage that contributed to maintaining Allied air
superiority throughout World War II, and after 1942 the
Mark III was used exclusively by American fighter pilots
in the Pacific.
At the same time the anti-g suit was being perfected,
it was realized that pilots who were able to tolerate the
greatest g-forces could outmaneuver their opponents.
This led to the rapid development of centrifuges.
antigravity
A hypothetical force that acts in the direction opposite
to that of normal gravity. In Einstein’s general theory of
relativity, a gravitational field is equivalent to a curvature
of space-time, so an antigravity device could work
only by locally rebuilding the basic framework of the
Universe. This would require negative mass. 31, 237 The