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

and fluid dynamics at West Point, and an experimental
test pilot at the Air Force Aerospace Pilot School. After
leaving NASA in 1969, Borman joined Eastern Airlines,
becoming its chairman in 1976, before occupying senior
positions at other companies, including Patlex Corporation.
Today he lives in New Mexico and restores airplanes.
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Bossart, Karel Jan (1904–1975)
A Belgian-born engineer who emigrated to the United
States before World War II and became involved in the
development of rocket technology at Convair Corporation.
In the 1950s, he was largely responsible for designing
the Atlas with a very thin, internally pressurized
fuselage instead of massive struts and a thick metal
skin. 200
braking ellipses
A series of elliptical orbits that skim the atmosphere of a
celestial body. Their purpose is to decelerate an orbiting
spacecraft by exposing it to the aerodynamic drag of the
atmosphere. See aerobraking.
braking rocket
See retrorocket.
Brand, Vance (1931–)
The Command Module pilot on the Apollo-Soyuz Test
Project (ASTP) and commander of three Space Shuttle
missions. Brand received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering
from the University of Colorado in 1960 and an M.B.A.
from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1964. A
commissioned officer and aviator with the U.S. Marine
Corps from 1953 to 1957, he continued serving in Marine
Corps Reserve and Air National Guard jet squadrons until
1964, and from 1960 to 1966 was employed with Lockheed
Aircraft Corporation. While with Lockheed, he graduated
from the Naval Test Pilot School and was assigned as
an experimental test pilot on Canadian and German F-104
programs. Following his selection by NASA as an astronaut
in April 1966, he served on the ASTP, becoming the
first American to fly inside a Russian spacecraft. Brand
returned to space on November 11, 1982, as commander
of the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the
first operational mission of the Shuttle fleet. He commanded
Challenger on the tenth Shuttle flight in February
1984, then returned to Columbia for his third Shuttle command
in December 1990. In 1992, Brand left the astronaut
corps and accepted a NASA assignment as director of
plans for the X-30 National Aerospace Plane Joint Program
broadband 61
Office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He retired from
NASA in 2002.
break-off phenomenon
The feeling, which is sometimes reported by pilots during
high-altitude flight at night, of being separated and
detached from Earth and human society. A similar feeling,
which may involve exhilaration or fear, is experienced
by sky divers and deep sea divers, and could be a
major psychological factor on future, long-duration space
missions, for example, to Mars. It is also known as the
breakaway phenomenon.
Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program (BPPP)
A small program, managed by the Glenn Research Center
and sponsored jointly by the Advanced Space Transportation
Program and Advanced Concepts Program, to
study fundamentally new forms of propulsion that would
involve no propellant mass and, if possible, faster-thanlight
travel.
Britain in space
See Ariel, Black Arrow, Black Knight, Blue Streak,
British Interplanetary Society, British National Space
Center, William Congreve, ELDO, ESA, HOTOL,
IRAS, Miranda, MUSTARD, Prospero, ROSAT, Skylark,
Skylon, Skynet, Spadeadam Rocket Establishment,
and Frank Whittle.
British Interplanetary Society (BIS)
An organization formed in 1933 to promote the exploration
and utilization of space. In the 1930s, the BIS put
forward plans for a manned lunar spacecraft that bore a
remarkable similarity to Apollo. In the late 1970s, it prepared
a detailed design for a robot star-probe, Project
Daedalus, to explore the system of Barnard’s Star. It publishes
the monthly magazine Spaceflight and the technical
periodical Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.
British National Space Centre (BNSC)
Britain’s space agency. BNSC advises and acts on behalf
of the British government and provides a focus for
British civilian space activities.
broadband
Communications across a wide range of frequencies or
multiple channels. In particular, it can refer to evolving
digital telephone technologies that offer integrated access