''Togetherness''

This article,  published in the December 1960 issue of Aerospace Magazine, describes safety procedures for the correct handling of the Boeing BOMARC air defense missile during air transport. The tone of the article is unusual for such a subject -' 'As this article goes to press, the safety record of Bomarc airlifts can be summed up in four words: so far, so good. You may recall, however, the optimist who jumped off the top of a New York office building. He was heard to yell the same thing as he passed the 20th floor: so far, so good''
The writer of the article, some guy named Thomas Pynchon, quit Boeing in 1962 and went on to become a novelist of some renown.

Aerospace Safety Magazine, 12/1960, USAF

http://www.vheissu.net/bio/eng_togetherness.htm

''Fallout Chic''

The result of a research contract awarded to Rice University, Department of Architecture by the US Civil Defense agency. Five architects designed fallout shelters for industrial buildings. 

Industrial Architecture : Fallout Shelters (1963)

https://archive.org/details/industrialarchit00lacyrich

''What's THIS button for?''

''Declassified nuclear weapons employment manuals from the Cold War.''

Nuclear weapons employment manuals 

https://archive.org/details/NuclearWeaponsEmploymentManuals

''I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans, and I'm rooting for the machines''

''The book begins with researches in robot modelling & design, in which different approaches in kinematical, dynamical and other design issues of mobile robots are discussed. Modelling is a first step in designing a new system; kinematics is the most basic study of how mechanical systems behave. In mobile robotics, we need to understand the mechanical behaviour of the robot both in order to design appropriate robots for tasks and to understand how to create control software for an instance of mobile robot hardware. This chapter presents different researches in design of various robot systems.''

Cutting Edge Robotics (2005)

https://archive.org/details/ost-engineering-cutting-edge-robotics

''Fear of Frying''

Published in 2006, some thirty years after the last Apollo mission-
''The primary threat to astronauts from space radiation is high-energy charged particles, such as electrons, protons, alpha and heavier particles, originating from galactic cosmic radiation (GCR), solar particle events (SPEs) and trapped radiation belts in Earth orbit. There is also the added threat of secondary neutrons generated as the space radiation interacts with atmosphere, soil and structural materials.[1] For Lunar exploration missions, the habitats and transfer vehicles are expected to provide shielding from standard background radiation. Unfortunately, the Lunar Extravehicular Activity (EVA) suit is not expected to afford such shielding.'' 
Oh well.

Active Solid State Dosimetry for Lunar EVA, NASA 2006

https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_20060013413

''Spam in a can''

The problem of prolonged, autonomous human existence in a space suit

(USSR, 1966)

''The authors consider the feasibility of maintaining the thermal balance of a cosmonaut in a space suit utilizing only physiological perspiration. Two series of tests were conducted in a thermal pressure chamber to determine the degree of intensity of physiological heat control and the performance capacity and the general condition of an organism. On the basis of the experiments it is asserted that for a period of 3 to 4 hours a man in a space suit is able to dissipate by the evaporation of perspiration 200-220 kcal/hr of heat produced either internally or externally. Thermal load is decreased, the duration a man can withstand such condition is greatly increased.''

https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_19670017246

''In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied...''

''If we are to discuss the limitations of simulation, we must define what simulation is. The literature in the field is of limited usefulness in tying down exactly what the term describes. The more recent the document, the more likely it is that the author will quote several alternate definitions, reject them all and proceed to develop his own definition which is more general and less restricting than any of those given. The use of the term "simulation" seems to outgrow even the broadest definition. I will not attempt a precise definition, but as an alternate will suggest that the history of the development of simulation as we know it today may be a less rigorous, but more satisfying way to describe simulation. The origins of simulation are generally traced to the work of Von Neuman and Ulman in the late 1940's. They coined the term "Monte Carlo Analysis" to describe a technique whereby essentially deterministic problems, too expensive or complex to solve analytically, could be solved by treating them as stochastic problems.''

The trend in simulation (Computers and Automation- January 1968, page 44)

https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_computersA_9729690

''Terminate, with extreme prejudice''

''SAIGON. - In a nondescript white concrete-block building on the outskirts of this capital city, an International Business Machines Corp. Model 1430 computer runs 24 hours a day grinding out one of this war-torn country's most valuable products: Military intelligence. The building houses one of four intelligence centers scattered around Saigon. Using automatic data processing equipment, this intelligence setup - the biggest operated by the United States outside Washington and the biggest ever used against a single enemy - is now handling a massive assortment of facts and figures aimed at winning the Vietnam war. More than 100,000 separate items are being added to the system's computerized files each month; a 60-ton haul of enemy documents seized last January is still yielding valuable information. Tens of thousands of IBM punch cards help keep tabs on the foe; they bear detailed identification of captured Communists and Vietcong suspects.''

COMPUTERIZED INTELLIGENCE NETWORK IN SOUTH VIETNAM 
Computers and Automation 1967/08 page 34

https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_computersA_7199056

''Slouching towards Bethlehem''

''In presenting this paper at Bletchley Park, there is a unique opportunity to provide an assessment of the extent and limits of the electronic innovations associated with the ENIAC project (Project PX) at the University of Pennsylvania. While it is well known that John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert and other ENIAC project engineers made several basic contributions to electronic computing, this history has been grossly simplified in broad-level historical accounts. Getting a device with over 17,000 vacuum tubes to operate in an unfamiliar digital domain required a wide array of innovations. By looking at the diverse forms of knowledge embedded in the scientific and engineering practices of those who found themselves at the Moore School, it is possible to document more fully the synthesis of ideas that was coterminous with the invention of the ENIAC.''

The Circulation of Knowledge and the Origins of the ENIAC: (Or, What Was and Was Not Innovative About the American Wartime Project) Atsushi Akera 

http://ethw.org/images/b/be/Akera.pdf

''Virtual vertigo''

''This Thesis was aimed at studying the effects of time delay in the visual feedback loop of a man-machine system. A one-dimensional, step-type input, pursuit tracking experiment was developed to study these effects with transmission-type delays of zero to ten seconds. Thirty-six subjects participated in a series of tests that covered: seven different delays, two different levels of course complexity for each delay, learning, and open-loop conditions. It was found that tracking performance deteriorates non-linearly with increases in delay and that the magnitude of this performance degradation is a function of course complexity.'' 

Effects of time delay in the visual feedback loop of a human-machine system (1966)

https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_19660025923

''Far out, dudes!''

''In August 1997, NASA sponsored a 3-day workshop to assess the prospects emerging from physics that may eventually lead to creating propulsion breakthroughs -the kind of breakthroughs that could revolutionize space flight and enable human voyages to other star systems. Experiments and theories    were discussed regarding the coupling of gravity and electromagnetism, vacuum fluctuation energy, warp drives and wormholes, and superluminal quantum tunneling.''

NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Workshop Proceedings (1999)

https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_19990023204

''Is there any escape from noise?''

''BASIC CONCEPTS AND QUESTIONS ABOUT NOISE, WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO A PROPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHARACTERISTIC OF INDUSTRIAL NOISE AS WELL AS AN EXPERIMENTAL ACOUSTICAL COMPLEX FOR THE STUDY OF THE NOISE FACTOR, ARE EXAMINED. SPECIAL ATTENTION HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE EFFECT OF NOISE ON THE ORGAN OF HEARING. IMPORTANT DATA PERTAIN TO PHYSIOLOGICAL RESEARCH, INCLUDING THE QUESTIONS OF ADAPTATION AND FATIGUE. CHANGES IN OCCUPATIONAL HEARING LOSSES, CAUSED BY THE PROLONGED EFFECT OF NOISE, ARE DISCUSSED. DATA ARE GIVEN ON THE EFFECT OF AN ACOUSTIC STIMULUS ON THE EYE, MOTOR ANALYZE, ON VIBRATION SENSITIVITY AND THE FUNCTIONAL STATE OF THE VESTIBULAR ANALYZE, INVOLUNTARY FUNCTIONS, AND THE CARDIO-VASCULAR SYSTEM. DATA ABOUT THE EFFECT OF NOISE ON THE FUNCTIONAL STATE OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM ARE PRESENTED. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT BOTH REACTIVITY AND LABILITY OF THE CORTEX AND SUBCORTICAL STRUCTURES ARE REDUCED, EVIDENTLY IN PROPORTION TO THE NOISE EFFECT. THE DEGREE OF THESE EFFECTS IS DETERMINED BY THE FORCE OF THE NOISE.''

Noise and noise sickness (U.S.S.R., 1973)

https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_19730019203

''The science of control''

                                  ''The most fundamental concept in cybernetics is that of “difference”,

                                   either that two things are recognisably different or that one thing

                                   has changed with time''

An introduction to Cybernetics (William R, Ashby,1956)

https://archive.org/details/introductiontocy00ashb

''For Nuclear Families''

''This booklet is a brief guide to 3 basic kinds of nuclear shelter:
■ Simple shelters for short-term indoor or out-door use which can be built from materials already at
hand.
■ Shelters that can be assembled from do-it-yourself kits.
■ Permanent custom-built shelters built into the ground.''

Domestic Nuclear Shelters Technical Guidance (UK Government handbook, 1981)

https://archive.org/details/DomesticNuclearSheltersTechnicalGuidance

''Bada bing, bada... Boom!''

The ruggedness, simplicity, low cost and effectiveness of the RPG-7 has made it the most widely used grenade launcher in history. More than nine million units have been delivered since it was introduced by the Soviet armed forces in 1961.The RPG-7 has been used in almost all conflicts since the 1960s, from Viet-Nam to Syria.

RPG-7 Soviet Antitank Grenade Launcher manual (U.S. Army, 1976)

https://archive.org/details/milmanual-rpg-7-antitank-grenade-launcher

''Say hello to my little friend!''

Operator's Manual For M16, M16A1 (1985)

https://archive.org/details/OperatorsManualForM16M16a1

''We are 15 million years overdue for an asteroid strike''

''The main goal of this study was to find feasible methods and strategies for the deflection of large asteroids in the diameter range of 5 to 200 km.''

To the deflection of asteroids in the diameter range of 5 to 200 km (H.K. Hahn, 2014)

https://archive.org/details/ToTheDeflectionOfAsteroidsInTheDiameterRangeOf5To200Km

''We have the technology.'' 

''The design of a highly anthropomorphic human scale robot arm for space based operations is described.''

Design of the NASA Robonaut Hand (1999)

https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_20000097045

''Have space suit -Will travel.''

''DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN EXPERIENCES DERIVED IN DESIGNING SPACE SUITS FOR HUMAN HIGH ALTITUDE AND SPACE FLIGHTS ARE REPORTED. THE PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIUM IN WHICH THE FLIGHTS TAKE PLACE, THE PHYSICAL FLIGHT FACTORS AND THEIR INFLUENCE UPON THE HUMAN BODY ARE DISCUSSED. THE BASES OF THE THEORY AND METHOD OF DESIGNING SPACE SUIT SYSTEMS AND PARTS ARE BRIEFLY PRESENTED. THE BOOK IS DESIGNED FOR SPECIALISTS WORKING IN THE FIELD OF DESIGN, PRODUCTION, AND TESTING OF EQUIPMENT FOR PILOTS AND COSMONAUTS. IT IS ALSO USEFUL TO THE ENGINEERING-TECHNICAL PERSONNEL WORKING ON THE CREATION OF LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR THE CREWS OF MODERN SPACECRAFT''

HIGH ALTITUDE AND SPACE SUITS STUDIES (Alekseyev,S.M. ; Umanskiy, S.P. 1973)

https://archive.org/details/nasa_techdoc_19740007684

''Hello! I see you!''

 BSTJ 50: 2 The Picturephone System:The Station:2C Video Telephone Station Set (1971)

https://archive.org/details/bstj50-2-271