[SIGCIS-Members] Book Announcement

[Andrew Butrica]

I would like to announce that "The Navigators," my contract history 
of NASA's deep-space navigation over the past half century, is now in 
print and available from Amazon.

SIGCIS members will find much on the history of computing within NASA 
and especially JPL from the era of the IBM mainframes and the Univac 
1108 to minicomputers and workstations. The lack of computing power 
early on, for instance, led navigators to turn their software into a 
kind of virtual laboratory for post-flight analysis. Computers 
imposed limitations on the evolution of navigation, but it also was 
crucial for enabling it.

I focus on two broad themes. One is the beginnings and evolution of 
space navigation in response to the security crisis starting with 
World War II and running to the present century. The other 
overarching theme is the relationship between navigation and science, 
especially astronomy. The navigators, I argue, are representative of 
the application-oriented science that the security crisis fostered. 
The book makes additional points about modeling nature, the role of 
technology (computers, instruments), and the reasons for navigation's 
increasing accuracy.

The book will be of interest to historians of science, space, 
astronomy, computers, technology, and public policy.

It is a print-on-demand book at NASA's request (mainly to expedite 
publication). I undertook all the steps necessary to turn my 
manuscript into a book, including cover design, proofreading, and layout.

Andrew Butrica
Andrew J. Butrica, Ph.D.
Research Historian

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