Customer Reviews

Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System The First 100 Missions, 3rd Edition

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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.

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.

Having just spent some time on the subject myself I can say in all good faith that Dennis Jenkins has done a remarkable job of compiling information on America's Space Transportation System. This book stands head and shoulders above anything else I have seen published on this complex subject. Covering everything from the earliest designs of Valier and Sänger up to and including future proposals for liquid boosted versions of the Shuttle, this book has it all. I have been carrying this book around with me for 48 hours straight. Brilliant job!

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.

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.

This book is a valuable resource for anybody interested in the Space Shuttle Program. Not only does it detail much of the early history of lifting reentry vehicles, it provides a (short) overview of each flight and contains tables that provide just about every detail of the flights (the exact thrust produced by each Solid rocket Booster, the serial numbers of each engine used, the precise amount of liquid oxygen loaded in the External Tank, etc.). One reader noted some discrepencies in launch/landing dates, but the confusion probably arises since Jenkins uses GMT (actually, UTC) times instead of Florida/California times - if the launch or landing was near midnight, then the date might be different in GMT. Although a tad confusing, this is more precise since it eliminates needin to know if the launch site was observing daylight savings time at the momenent.

The book is printed on excellent quality paper, is well bound (no dust jacket, however), and the photos are drawings are very well reproduced. The book is highly reocmmended to anybody interested in the Space Shuttle.

Please note, however, that the book only covers the first 100 missions (through late 2000), so it does not include the recent Columbia accident.

The title of this review says it all. Well put together and puts you right in the seat of the greatest machine in the world. Breaks down the pioneering development of reuseable spacecraft and details the development of the beloved orbiter family. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the space shuttle and our nations great space program. Awesome job!!

This book is a must-have for the armchair astronaut. The book gives a great history of the development of the shuttle, and a very detailed description of the shuttle systems. If you want to know what really makes the shuttle tick, and know where the systems fit, this is a great book. It has very detailed drawings of components, and system operation explanations. It is not too engineering-ese in that the descriptions are not written in rocket science language, rather, it is written in a way a interested layman could grasp how and why the shuttle systems where brought in to the design.

This book is an absolute must-have for the armchair astronaut.

Dennis Jenkins has really outdone himself. "Space Shuttle : The History of the National Space Transportation System" is the single most comprehensive reference on the shuttle. It contains practically anything that anybody needs to know about the shuttle without consulting the shuttle user's manuals. A lot of rare history, drawings, and photographs concerning the early development of the shuttle appear here for the first time. A comprehensive history of the hundred-odd shuttle flights is provided as well. Anyone who reads this book should be able to describe all of the orbiters inside and out. For space enthusiasts, this is not a book that you can afford to miss.

This is the best book to date about the shuttle. I refer to it several times per week when I need to answer questions from colleagues, the news media and the public.

I also learn something every time I read it. Jenkins' fine use of editorial comment, facts, statistics and insider knowledge make it invaluable.

I didn't think Jenkins could (or needed to) top the second edition of the book, but he did with the third.

If you need the facts and more, buy this book!