Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) [Paperback]

Tim Furniss (Author), David J. Shayler (Author), Michael D. Shayler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 22, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0387341757 | ISBN-13: 978-0387341750 | Edition: 1

This flagship work charts a complete chronological log of orbital manned spaceflight. Included are the X-15 "astroflights" of the 1960s, and the two 1961 Mercury and Redstone missions which were non-orbital. There is an image depicting each manned spaceflight, and data boxes containing brief biographies of all the space travelers. The main text is a narrative of each mission, its highlights and accomplishments, including the strange facts and humorous stories connected to every mission. The resulting book is a handy reference to all manned spaceflights, the names of astronauts and cosmonauts who flew on each mission, their roles and accomplishments.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews:

"This hefty (829 pages!) volume is a chronicle of every human space mission launched from Yuri Gagarin’s Vostok 1-in-April 1961 to the Soyuz TMA-9 flight to the ISS in September 2006 – 250 flights in all. It is thus an extremely useful quick-reference for any space enthusiast. … Each entry includes the basic flight statistics, the names and flight history of the crews, a summary flight log, and a box giving the flight’s key milestones. … . A very useful volume!" (David Maclennan, Liftoff, Issue 242, 2007)

About the Author

Tim Furniss is a well known author of 35 popular space science books including the bestselling Jane’s Manned Spaceflight Log, published in 1983 and updated in 1987, which sold 16,000 plus copies, but is now out of print. Dave Shayler has authored and co-authored 7 successful Space Science Springer-Praxis books and has a further 3 under contract for publication in 2004. We therefore have the ideal team of authors for this flagship book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 872 pages
• Publisher: Praxis; 1 edition (February 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387341757
• ISBN-13: 978-0387341750
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,192,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very great book, March 29, 2007

By 

Paolo D'angelo "Paolo D'Angelo" (Rome, Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) (Paperback)

I was really impressed by the Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006.

Simply the best !!! A book with many details of each manned space mission since the Gagarin's flight. Highly recommended. More than 820 pages rich with any type of information.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who did what - and When?, April 20, 2007

By 

Y. Juhani Westman "Juhani Westman" (Helsinki Finland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) (Paperback)

This one is big as a medium size telephone directory - around 820 pages - but it has to be. Chronicling some 250 space flight since April 12, 1961 up to September 29, 2006, and the participants from Yuri Gagarin to Anousheh Ansari, in lucid prose and memory-stirring photographs, this is a worthy follow-up of the Tim Furniss earlier chronicling of the first 103 space flights. That milestone was passed in April 1983. We tend to equal "space flight" with "flights to Earth Orbit" or "Flight to the Moon", but suborbital flight to more than 80 kilometres - 13 in the X-15 rocket plane and 3 in the comercial "Spaceship One" are included as official flights that reached space. Aborts during launches are also included, as are the incredibly sad listings of the crew of STS 51-L, where Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe attained only 1 minute of spaceflight experience, before that ascent was so cruelly - and unnecessarily - terminated.

The Authors have visely chosen to present all the numerical data in both metric and imperial measurement. If I have to search for something missing, I would wish for an alphabetic index of persons, who participated in which flight style, but then the size of this volume, already in that class which seriously hampers the compulsory bed-reader, clearly would have grown quite out of hand. Let us be thankful for the mass of facts we already have got here.

For the veteran armchair astronaut this volume brings back a lot of memories, and still succeeds in serving up a plethora of data that has slipped the memory over those 45 years. For the young reader, this presents the scope of Mankinds first forays off our planetary shores and trips to the offshore island of the Moon. It's an incredible history after all, and it's all here.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have!, February 10, 2007

By 

space1966 (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) (Paperback)

An amazing publication: covers Vostok-1 (Gagarin) to Soyuz TMA-9. Tons of info for each flight: International designation; launched; Launch site; Landed; Landing site; Launch vehicle (for the shuttle you have the tank number, the SRB set and the SSME engines); Duration; Callsign; Objective; Flight Crew; Flight Log and finally Milestones. Also three chapters cover respectively: Reaching the heavens (access/method; Space flight methods/launch systems); The Quest for Space; The orbital programmes (Vostok, Mercury, Apollo, Shuttle, Salyut, Shenzhou etc..).

An outstand reference works for anybody who is interested in the history of spaceflight!

A must have on one's bookshelf.