Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System--The First 100 Missions

By Dennis R. Jenkins

Book Overview

This history chronicles the development of reusable spacecraft, including the full and fascinating history of Space Shuttle flights and all developmental and experimental craft. This book has been... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0963397451
• ISBN13: 9780963397454
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: D. Jenkins
• Length: 524 Pages
• Weight: 4.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 8.7" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

An Outstanding Technical History

This book is by far the best technical history of the Space Shuttle, presenting an overview of the vehicle's development and use. It begins with a discussion of the origins of the goal of winged spaceflight in the 1920s, extends through the Dyna Soar, lifting body, and X-plane research until the decision to proceed with the Space Shuttle in 1972. It then goes into great detail about the shuttle's design and development effort in the 1970s and then discusses in some detail the first 100 missions of the program since 1981. In every case Jenkins offers an excellent technical analysis of all aspects of the vehicle. This book is the place to start in any effort to understand the history of the Space Shuttle. When the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) started investigating the shuttle accident of February 1, 2003, its members read this book as background to their important work. Jenkins soon became a staff member supporting the CAIB and his expertise showed in the final report.

Technically Refreshing

I am an engineer and find the book technically informative. The writings, pictures and diagrams reach just far enough below the surface to make the book very enjoyable. More..more.

The Most Comprehensive Book About the Space Shuttle

While many books have been written about the historical development of the Space Shuttle, this book is without a doubt the best and most thorough of all. In addition, to the comprehensive text, the book contains hundreds of black and white and color photographs as well as numerous line drawings to further help the reader understand this marvelous space vehicle. Roughly the first 40% of the book covers the developmental history of the Space Shuttle from the early designs of Sanger, Bredt and von Braun, though the X-planes and Dyna-Soar to the many numerous NASA designs of which there are several hundred. These first 200 hundred pages far eclipse any other book on the subject and focus on the engineering side of the project and avoids most of the political discussions that accompany most other books on the subject. The next 60-70 pages cover the development of the present Space Shuttle. After this large introductory section, the book examines the first 100 mission of the Space Shuttle, including the Challenger accident and all the changes made to the Shuttles to improve flight worthiness. The final sections provide very technical descriptions of all aspects of the space shuttle from the landing gear, the thermal control system, the heat shields and much, much more. While I can't comment about the technical accuracy of all these sections, for those sections that I'm familiar with, the thermal control system, the environmental system and EVAs, I couldn't find anything wrong.One final thing to add, in my over ten plus years working as a NASA contractor at the Johnson Space Center, I would say that I have referred to this book more than any other when I'm looking for information about the Space Shuttle, whether it is just general information or something more technical.

A Comprehensive Must-Have

Wow.Dennis Jenkins has created an absolutely definitive reference work in this massive and well illustrated volume. It appeals strongly to both the casual reader (such as myself) as well as - I suspect - the expert (such as Robert Godwin!).As such, it is a highly recommended history of the Space Shuttle program full of interesting detail.

Best single reference on the Space Shuttle system

Dennis Jenkins has generated the ultimate reference on the Space Shuttle program. Covering everything from the first concept designs of the 1960's to the latest technology upgrades, it is virtually required reading for space enthusiasts. Excellent photographs and illustrations fill the pages, including line drawings of dozens of the early designs and the current Shuttle subsystems. If I were to own only a single book on the Shuttle program, this would be it.