Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Looking Back: The Hermes Experience

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Spaceplane HERMES

Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books ((SPACEE))

  • 619 Accesses

Abstract

Considering the outcome of the Hermes programme, one all-important question emerges: how could an ambitious project such as this, started with such enthusiasm and surrounded by so much excitement, collapse and founder? How was it possible that within a year after the proud display of ESA’s 1991 full-scale Hermes mock-up at Le Bourget, the project was essentially dead? In fact, how could a major ESA programme fail anyway?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Hermes Programme Evolution File, ESA Purchase order N. P3T002, GMV S.A. 31 March 1993, pp VI.29–31

    Google Scholar 

  2. Hermes: lessons learnt, Martin Bayer, IAF-94-H.2.788, 1994

    Google Scholar 

  3. Développement de l’avion spatial Hermes, aléas externes et gestion de crise, Patrice Brudieu, 1 June 2012

    Google Scholar 

  4. Interview with Patrick Baudry by the author, Paris, 18 June 2015

    Google Scholar 

  5. Interview with Philippe Watillon by the author, Waterloo, 11 January 2015

    Google Scholar 

  6. Interview with Jürgen Herholz by the author, Bremen, 6 January 2015

    Google Scholar 

  7. Interview with Jacques Simon, Paris, 19 June 2013

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hermes Programme Evolution File, GMV SA, 31 March 1993, p VI.1

    Google Scholar 

  9. Interview with Daniel Sacotte by the author, The Hague, 13 August 2014

    Google Scholar 

  10. Interview with Michel Courtois by the author, Paris, 20 October 2014

    Google Scholar 

  11. Interview with Patrice Brudieu by the author, Paris, 17 June 2015

    Google Scholar 

  12. Interview with Christoph Hohage by the author, Bonn, 10 December 2014

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hermes Programme Evolution File, GMV SA, 31 March 1993, p VI.2

    Google Scholar 

  14. US Hypersonic research and development, Roy F. Houchin, Routledge, 2006, p 129

    Google Scholar 

  15. Study of the influence of size of a manned lifting body entry vehicle on research potential and cost, final report, part 1 summary, CR-66352, Martin Marietta, p 16

    Google Scholar 

  16. Wingless flight, R.Dale Reed, NASA-SP4220, 1997, p 175

    Google Scholar 

  17. Interview with Jean-Gérard Roussel by the author, St Cloud, 16 October 2014

    Google Scholar 

  18. Interview with Philippe Couillard by the author, Paris, 3 June 2014

    Google Scholar 

  19. Hermes Programme Evolution File, GMV SA, 31 March 1993, p V.8

    Google Scholar 

  20. Interview with Bernard Deloffre by the author, Paris, 18 January 2014

    Google Scholar 

  21. Interview with Frédéric d’Allest by the author, Paris, 3 June 2014

    Google Scholar 

  22. Hermes, feu la navette, Alain Cirou, Ciel & Espace, July/August 2015, p 30

    Google Scholar 

  23. http://tv.dassault-aviation.com/Memories__FrancoisMarie_Cordie-1045-en.html

  24. Bernard Deloffre: “Monsier Hermès”, Le Nouvel Observateur, 12 December 1987, p 64

    Google Scholar 

  25. Interview de Bernard Deloffre, par David Redon, 20 March 2032, Oral History of Europe in Space, ESA history Project INT052, p 44

    Google Scholar 

  26. Rêve d’Hermes, Philippe Couillard, April 1993, pp 67–84

    Google Scholar 

  27. Rêve d’Hermes, Philippe Couillard, April 1993, pp 56–59

    Google Scholar 

  28. Interview with Philippe Couillard by the author, Paris, 18 June 2013

    Google Scholar 

  29. Interview with Bernard Deloffre, by David Redon, 20 March 2012, Oral History of Europe in Space, ESA history Project INT057, p 27

    Google Scholar 

  30. Hermes Programme Evolution File, GMV SA, 31 March 1993, p IV.21

    Google Scholar 

  31. Interview with Philippe Couillard by the author, Paris, 3 June 2013

    Google Scholar 

  32. Interview mit Wolfgang Fincke, von Helmuth Trischler, 23 April 2010, Oral History of Europe in Space, ESA history Project INT077, pp 30–31

    Google Scholar 

  33. Europe’s Space Programme, to Ariane and beyond, Brian Harvey, Springer-Praxis 2003, p 121

    Google Scholar 

  34. Interview de George van Reeth, par Dawinka Laurels, 11–13 March 2002, Oral History of Europe in Space, ESA history Project INT052, p 44

    Google Scholar 

  35. Rêve d’Hermes, Philippe Couillard, April 1993, p 101

    Google Scholar 

  36. Rêve d’Hermes, Philippe Couillard, April 1993, p 90

    Google Scholar 

  37. Interview de Bernard Deloffre, par David Redon, 20 March 2003, Oral History of Europe in Space, ESA history Project INT057, p 26

    Google Scholar 

  38. Avion spatial Hermes - Histoire d’un manque de volonté politique, Philippe Jamet, French magazine Fusion no. 108, January/February 2006, pp 31–35

    Google Scholar 

  39. Interview with Patrice Brudieu by the author, Paris, 3 June 2014

    Google Scholar 

  40. Avion spatial Hermes - Histoire d’un manque de volonté politique, Philippe Jamet in French magazine Fusion no. 108, January/February 2006, p 34

    Google Scholar 

  41. Countdown begins for space factories, New Scientist, 2 June 1983, p 607

    Google Scholar 

  42. Plans for drug factory in space are dropped, New Scientist, 26 September 1985, p 25

    Google Scholar 

  43. Pioneering the Space Frontier, The Report of the National Commission on Space, Bantam Books 1986, p 81

    Google Scholar 

  44. Early launch sought for space factory, Flight International, 16 May 1987, p 48

    Google Scholar 

  45. Creating the International Space Station, David M. Harland, John Catchpole, Springer-Praxis 2002, p 99

    Google Scholar 

  46. Rêve d’Hermes, Philippe Couillard, April 1993, p 84

    Google Scholar 

  47. Rêve d’Hermes, Philippe Couillard, April 1993, p 104

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hilversum, The Netherlands

    Luc van den Abeelen

Authors
  1. Luc van den Abeelen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

van den Abeelen, L. (2017). Looking Back: The Hermes Experience. In: Spaceplane HERMES. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44472-7_25

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation