SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History [Hardcover]

Dan Linehan (Author), Arthur C. Clarke (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2008

In April of 2003, a company called Scaled Composites lifted the veil of secrecy from a longtime research program and introduced SpaceShipOne to the world. And the age of commercial space travel took off . . . like a rocket. This book chronicles the development of the world’s first commercial manned space program--a program that includes an airborne launcher (the White Knight), a space ship (SpaceShipOne), rocket propulsion, avionics, simulator, and full ground support. With ample illustrations, photographs, and behind-the-scenes information, SpaceShipOne provides a full picture of this classified project--from the conception and design to the deals that brought together Scaled Composites’ Burt Rutan and Virgin Airlines’ Sir Richard Branson to the plans for building a fleet of commercial suborbital spaceships and launch aircraft.

The story of SpaceShipOne combines the adventurous spirit of Charles Lindbergh, the entrepreneurial drive of Howard Hughes, and the urgency of the space race at the height of the Cold War. Author Dan Linehan, who was there at the launch, lets readers in on the drama and details behind the making of spaceships that will take twenty-first-century tourists to the final frontier.

Features a never-before-seen cockpit diagram, created especially for this book, identifying all seventy of SpaceShipOne’s instruments and controls.

Editorial Reviews

Review

National Science Teachers Association

“SpaceShipOne is the detailed story of the path to winning the Ansari X prize, a process that proved that ordinary people could fly into space without a so-called rocket…This book would appeal to anyone, in middle school and up, who is interested in flying, designing planes or spacecraft, and the details of how someone tried and succeeded in reaching a seemingly unattainable goal. The illustrations and diagrams greatly enhance the text, even when the details are dense and detailed—flight logs, instrument panels, and dimensions of the ship pieces. Content, illustrations, and the impact on future spaceflight because of SpaceShipOne all contribute to my recommendation.”

Book Description

This book chronicles the development of the world’s first commercial manned space program. With ample illustrations, photographs, and behind-the-scenes information, SpaceShipOne takes readers from the project’s conception and design to the deals that brought together Scaled Composites’ Burt Rutan and Virgin Airlines’ Sir Richard Branson to the plans for building a fleet of commercial suborbital spaceships and launch aircraft. Author Dan Linehan, who was there at the launch, lets readers in on the drama and details behind the making of spaceships that will take twenty-first-century tourists to the final frontier.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Zenith Press; 1st edition (May 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076033188X
• ISBN-13: 978-0760331880
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #998,813 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Star Rocket Ride, May 22, 2008

By 

Dave English (Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History (Hardcover)

On the first line of the acknowledgments page, author Dan Lineham apologizes to "any of my former English teachers who will have heart failure upon hearing that I actually wrote a book." I'm no doctor, but I have read a lot of space and aviation books, and I can say with certainty that all his former teachers are in no medical danger. This is a fantastic book. Really first rate. Glossy pictures throughout supporting excellent in-depth writing that has inside information with plenty of background history. And a foreword by the late Arthur C. Clarke who accurately says this book is "the inside story of how citizens reclaimed space."

It is so exciting to be reading about modern advances in space (by private rebels!), rather than re-hashed history from 40 and 50 years ago. I was worried that the book would be a few press pictures slapped together with a few superficial words covering just a couple of flights; but this is loads of awesome photographs with detailed and balanced writing coming from unique insider access. There is history and breadth with personal commentary from key players. There is detail with logs of all the flights and a full transcript of the Ansari X Prize-winning spaceflight. Overall a real quality production about a real exciting chapter in human history.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fitting tribute for the most significant aviation accomplishment in the past 20 years, April 13, 2009

By 

J. Rudy "Major, USAF" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History (Hardcover)

SpaceShip One, an invention of the creative genius Burt Rutan, is the most significant contribution to manned spaceflight since the Space Shuttle. SpaceShip One proved the ability to reach the limits of space, and be able to be reconstituted for a follow-on flight within two weeks. In doing so, SpaceShip One earned the $10 million Ansari X prize. "SpaceShip One: An Illustrated History", by Dan Linehan, is the story of that journey.

In the first chapter of the book, Linehan provides readers with a very brief overview of Burt Rutan's aviation inventions. Rutan has been a fixture in experimental aviation for decades, so it is essential for readers to have this background information. An idea without funding is just an idea, but when Rutan presented a sound business plan to Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen, the SpaceShip One project could get off the ground.

Next, Linehan describes the Ansari X prize, which promised to reward the first proven sub-orbital space flight that could be repeated within two weeks. He covers why the $10 million figure was chosen; the criteria for earning the award; and also some of the challenges to secure the funding for the prize money.

The remaining 8 chapters cover the construction of the aircraft (White Knight) and spacecraft (SpaceShip One). Each chapter covers different phases of the project, or facets of the construction.

There is a bit of technical jargon that may make reading comprehension a challenge for novices like me. However, the brilliant color photographs and other computer graphics expertly resolve that issue. In my one complaint about the book, in many cases the text referred to graphic aids that are displayed on other pages.

Burt Rutan's accomplishment is a truly historic event. This book presents that accomplishment in a means that can be appreciated by aviation enthusiasts and novices alike.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most important moment in manned spaceflight since the moon landings, November 22, 2008

By 

T. Smith (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History (Hardcover)

I find it astounding there are only four reviews here. For the first time, a private company put a man into space, and there seems to be remarkable little interest in it...at least, compared to what there should be. In the future, the first flights of SpaceShip One will go down along side Yuri Gagarin's flight and Apollo 11. This is how mankind will step into space, and stay there. As Rutan points out, the government has zero interest in getting you, the private citizen, into space.
As technologies improve, this first step will start the human race as a whole towards the stars.
That said, this is a very satisfactory book, and, I hope, the first of many. A technical book from someone like Springer/Praxis would be very welcome, although I suppose that depends on how much Scaled Composites and Virgin are willing to reveal.
Anyone who enjoyed or expects to enjoy this book is also advised to buy the Discovery Channel's set, Black Sky/Winning the X-Prize. Once again, however, I have to express some astonishment this groundbreaking achievement was not treated as it should have been and filmed in HD.
I wish Virgin Galactic, Scaled Composites, and whoever builds the first space hotel success, and I only ask it come quickly and affordably. I'd like to spend a week in orbit before I'm too old!