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The Space Shuttle: Roles, Missions and Accomplishments

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A recent Newsweek article on the International Space Station complained that watching repetitive shuttle flights was about as exciting as watching huge trucks rolling along the highways. Everyone, it seems, remembers the compromises that went into designing the space shuttle, and the huge cost overruns. Against this sea of apathy and negativity, David M. Harland's book is an island of relief. He reminds us that even though space shuttles may look like DC 9s carrying tourists they are in fact marvels of design and engineering carrying men and women who possess "the right stuff" for our day and age in space. The shuttle is well into its second decade. Its achievements have not been as conspicuous as, say, landing astronauts on the Moon, and it is easy to lose track of a growing list. Mr. Harland organizes these accomplishments by area (physical science, life science, commerce, etc.) so that one can see the impressive results. In addition, I found many new ideas, such as his analysis of the Challenger disaster that does not point the finger of blame at poor communication, a rigid bureaucracy, or managerial incompetence. I came away with renewed appreciation for this remarkable vehicle with its remarkable crews, and a sense of relief that at long last it will serve its original purpose of partnering with a station in space.

The Space Shuttle: Roles, Missions and Accomplishments by David M. Harland

is a really fabulous book! On the 530 pages (!) Mr. Harland tells you each little fact about the STS-programme, but in a way that does not annoy you at all. From ALT (Approach and Landing Tests) and pre-STS-1 across the Challenger Accident in Jan. '86 up to the STS-89 mission (which was launched in Jan. '98) he tells us all and everything about the 'Rolls, Missions and Accomplishments' of the Space Shuttle. It can be read like a novel you read before sleeping - but you won't fall asleep while reading this book! I would have bought the book even if it cost double the price. This book is really worth to buy! so BUY IT!

mw

When NASA began work on the Space Shuttle in the latter 1960s, few recognized how important a part of American life it would become over the next thirty years. "The Space Shuttle: Roles, Missions, and Accomplishments," by David M. Harland, goes far toward capturing the essence of the shuttle's place in that history. It is an important contribution to the historical literature of the Space Shuttle and its uses.

In many respects the idea of a reusable Space Shuttle dates at least to the theoretical rocketplane studies of the 1930s by Austrian aerospace designer, Eugen Sänger. By the 1950s it had become an integral part of Wernher von Braun's master plan for space exploration: an orderly set of stages aimed at creating a permanent space station serviced from the Earth by a reusable winged vehicle or shuttle, leading to a colony on the Moon, and finally undertaking a human expedition to Mars. This model gained increased legitimacy in the 1968 feature film, "2001: A Space Odyssey," in which the stunningly picturesque wheeled space station was reached from Earth by a winged, reusable space shuttle.

These were the ideals that motivated NASA engineers in the 1960s, as they pursued the dream of a permanent presence in space, made sustainable by a reusable winged vehicle providing routine access to space at an affordable price. Some NASA officials compared the methods of launching into orbit used on Project Apollo to operating a railroad and then throwing away the locomotive after every trip. A reusable Space Shuttle, they argued, would make the trip much more cost effective. Studies NASA conducted in the mid-1960s found that reusable space technology was within reasonable grasp, more evolutionary than revolutionary, and that a hefty investment of research and development funds could yield a substantial reduction in operations costs. Flying thirty or more times a year, such a system would be an economical alternative to the use of large "throw away" launchers like the Saturn V. All of the spacefaring nations of the world have eventually accepted that paradigm as the raison d'ętre of their human space flight efforts in the latter twentieth century.

The goal of efficient operations in a heavy-lift booster--especially with the decision for budgetary reasons to terminate the Saturn V booster production line in mid-1968 after the completion of fifteen launch vehicles--prompted NASA's commitment to the Space Shuttle as a continuation vehicle for human space flight. Once it was underway, NASA leaders believed, they could also move forward with a space station, which the Space Shuttle could both place in orbit and support logistically. In addition, and this was in part serendipity from the NASA perspective, because of the Space Shuttle's size and versatility a portion of its payload bay could be used to haul scientific and applications satellites of all types into orbit for all users. The Space Shuttle was to be, essentially, the achievement of one-size-fits-all, in this instance the vehicle providing all orbital services required by users. This type of standardization has long been an important part of American mass production, the Model-T automobile and the F-111 fighter-bomber being examples of how it was supposed to work.

Although the development program was risky, between 1972-when President Nixon approved the effort--and 1981--when the first orbital flight took place-a talented group of scientists and engineers worked to create the world's first reusable space vehicle. Since that first flight the various orbiters--Atlantis, Columbia (lost on February 1, 2003 during reentry, Discovery, Endeavour, and Challenger (lost in 1986 during the only Space Shuttle accident ever to take place)-have made more than 100 flights into space. Throughout, the vehicle has been a workhorse of space exploration for projects both international and domestic. The Space Shuttle has launched numerous scientific satellites, including the Magellan spacecraft to Venus, the Galileo probe to Jupiter, and the international Ulysses spacecraft to study the Sun. Each also undertook scientific and technological experiments ranging from the release of experiments into space, through the continued flights of the European Space Agency's "Spacelab," to a dramatic three-person EVA in 1992 to retrieve a satellite and bring it back to Earth for repair. The shuttle also has deployed the Gamma Ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. It has also demonstrated its usefulness in two complicated servicing missions of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993 and 1997.

Between April 1981 and the end of 1997, the Space Shuttle carried approximately 2.3 million pounds of cargo and more than 750 major payloads into orbit, including more than 300 for NASA, more than 140 for the Department of Defense, and more than 100 for commercial interests. Through 1997, astronaut crews have also conducted more than 50 extravehicular activities (EVA) and Shuttle crews are actively preparing for the EVAs necessary to build the International Space Station in orbit beginning in late 1998. Through all of these activities, a good deal of realism about what the Space Shuttle can and cannot do has now emerged.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Space Shuttle enjoys the same plaudits and suffers from the same criticisms that have been present since not long after the program began. It remains the only vehicle in the world with the dual capability to deliver and return large payloads to and from orbit. The design, now more than two decades old, is in need of replacement. The failure to do so, as seen in the loss of Columbia, represents the single most significant failure of leadership in the history of the space program.

David M. Harland's important study of the Space Shuttle fills in many of the details of its myriad uses over its operational life. It provides an overview of the variety of missions and the unique capabilities of this remarkable machine. As such, it is one of the critical building blocks in the furtherance of historical knowledge about the history of the Space Age and the place of NASA and the Space Shuttle in it. This book is now out of print, unfortunately, but perhaps anew edition will be produced in the near term that discusses the history of the shuttle since this work was first published in 1998.