X-15: The NASA Mission Reports: Apogee Books Space Series 13 [Paperback]

Robert Godwin (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Apogee Books Space Series | Publication Date: January 1, 2001

The X-15 program, which produced mountains of new information about hypersonic flight, is thoroughly outlined in this volume.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Just like the other fact-filled installments in Robert Godwin's excellent NASA Reports series, this survey of the X-15 (arguably the world's first reusable spacecraft) pulls together sheaves of unedited official documents to convey the backroom planning and under-the-hood complexity behind one of aviation's most ambitious programs.

Fans of Godwin's previous NASA entries might notice a few changes here: because this book covers an endeavor that involved three different aircraft on 199 successful flights over nearly a decade, Godwin had to modify his usual comprehensive reprinting of press releases and mission reports. Instead, this collection offers pilot biographies, NASA's semiannual reports to Congress, flight manuals, the complete proposal that won North American Aviation the X-15 contract, flight logs, the USAF's formerly classified development plans, and more. The accompanying CD-ROM includes hundreds of photos and hours of MPEG video footage, featuring highlights like the pink-eraser X-15A-2 and Neil Armstrong's farewell voyage before he checked out to become a bona fide astronaut. (If you're still worried about those missing mission operation reports, don't fret: the CD-ROM includes the full text for all of them, too.)

Such exhaustiveness can be exhausting for the faint of heart, but data junkies and armchair astronauts will no doubt revel in the minutiae. Even casual readers can find some fun stuff here, in between the emergency procedures and exploded engine diagrams. For instance, check out NASA's script comments on 1961's feature-length flick X-15, starring Charles Bronson and Mary Tyler Moore. --Paul Hughes

Review

"The ultimate historical reference source for a pioneering programme..." -- The Observatory Magazine, December 2001. "Robert Goddard has once again compiled an excellent account of this most fascinating space plane..." -- Astronomy Now, May 2002.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Collector's Guide Publishing Inc (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1896522653
• ISBN-13: 978-1896522654
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,958,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Collection of NASA X-15 documents, April 2, 2001

By 

Frank Fischer (Braunschweig, Deutschland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: X-15: The NASA Mission Reports: Apogee Books Space Series 13 (Paperback)

For the book "X-15" (The NASA Mission Reports) Editor Robert Godwin collected all important documents from NASA about the "X-15": These are: Biographies, Development of the X-15 Research Aircraft 1954-1959, Bi-Annual Reports to Congress, Nort American proposal, Interim Flight Manual, Utility Flight Manual, X-15 Pilot Rescue Manual, X-15 Flight Log, X-15 The Movie Correspondence, X-15 Accident Report, X-15 Press Release and X-15 Contractor Advertisments The book also contains 8 all-color-pages and hundreds of technical drawings, diagramms and tables. But the best (as always) is the included CD-Rom that features some NASA-Footage, Documets, an interview with Bill Dana, Fligt Logs, Transcipts, books (!) and a VR-Quicktime-model of the X-15. It is important to notice that this is not an dramatic pocket book with test-pilot-heroes (like Neil Armstrong (!) ) but a collection of technical NASA-documents. But why a book about a X-plane in a series of books about spaceflight? The X-15 was the plane that flew to the edge of space and broke some altitude and speed records and gave important impulses for the development of the Space Shuttle. This book shouldn`t be missing in any aerospace-library and is essential for any technical interested people.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Flight Manuals alone are worth the price!, July 30, 2001

By 

Martin Gomez (Fairfax, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: X-15: The NASA Mission Reports: Apogee Books Space Series 13 (Paperback)

I collect Flight Manuals for aircraft, with particular emphasis on those that I'll never get to fly (SR-71, B-17, Apollo CSM, F-16, B-737, etc.) This book includes the Interim Flight Manual for the X-15, with procedures, system descriptions, etc.

It also include a great deal of information from the proposals and plans used to develop it. I haven't even gotten to the CD-ROM yet.

If you're an airplane geek, and want to know how this stuff worked, I strongly recommend this.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In-deep Technical Information, April 3, 2001

By 

Jose Portillo (Caracas, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: X-15: The NASA Mission Reports: Apogee Books Space Series 13 (Paperback)

This is the first book on The NASA Mission Reports series, which includes a user's manual on the X-15 and even information about the contractors. The book includes the original NAA document on the proposed X-15 during 1950's.

The other books (Apollo) on these series do not includes user manuals or contractor information.

Excelent book!