Author Topic: Spaceflight Book Thread  (Read 201203 times)

Offline Antares

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #20 on: 01/19/2009 03:05 pm »
I can't believe The Man Who Ran the Moon about Webb by Bizony has not made this thread yet.

Mullane's book is great for its irreverence.

There's an interesting fiction book out a few years ago: Challenger Park.  It's mostly not NASA-specific, but happens to be set at JSC.  It captures that the day to day life at NASA can be just as tedious as everywhere else and its people are just as fallible as everyone else.  Fundamental conflict: An astronaut married to another astronaut gets involved with her lead instructor.  Trust me, it's not a pot-boiler.  The on-orbit climax of the book is pretty good, and fairly accurate.  It's been said that JSC readers enjoy it because it has little details about the area that others might not notice.
« Last Edit: 01/19/2009 03:11 pm by Antares »
If I like something on NSF, it's probably because I know it to be accurate.  Every once in a while, it's just something I agree with.  Facts generally receive the former.

Offline NavySpaceFan

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #21 on: 01/19/2009 04:30 pm »
I'm in the middle of SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA: Her Missions and Crews by Ben Evans (book details here).  So far so good!
<----First launch of DISCOVERY, STS-41D!!!!

Offline mrbliss

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #22 on: 01/19/2009 07:31 pm »
Has anyone read First Man?  Any yeas or nays?

Online Herb Schaltegger

Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #23 on: 01/19/2009 07:48 pm »
Has anyone read First Man?  Any yeas or nays?

Interesting but a VERY dry read.  I'm glad to have read it but it wasn't a very good look into Armstrong as a person so much as a retelling of his life's events.
Ad astra per aspirin ...

Offline Skylab

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #24 on: 01/20/2009 12:44 am »
For those interested in long-term effects of living in space, I'd recommend A House in Space and Diary of a Cosmonaut: 211 Days in Space

Can't post a complete list right now, I'd have to check my collection first.
« Last Edit: 01/20/2009 12:45 am by Skylab »

Offline subisnack

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #25 on: 01/26/2009 10:18 pm »
Thanks for the recommendation of "Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System". I added this to my collection last week. Great read so far! It's amazing to see how far back in history one has to go to see bits and pieces of "lessons learned" and how they were applied to the design of the Shuttle.

Offline SpaceUSMC

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #26 on: 01/28/2009 02:32 am »
I just finished reading Dragonfly. I thought it was a very good read. Interesting insight about the politics involved in the space program as well as the astronauts themselves and the choices they might have to make for thier carrers or even for the future of the program. I was lucky enough to find a copy in our MWR library here.

I also found a copy of the fictional book Ascent by Jed Mercurio, has anyone read this or is it not really worth the time?

Offline Suzy

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #27 on: 01/28/2009 08:01 pm »
I also found a copy of the fictional book Ascent by Jed Mercurio, has anyone read this or is it not really worth the time?

It's well-written but rather bleak (there's a graphic rape scene in the 1st chapter!). Reviews here and here

Offline Oersted

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #28 on: 01/28/2009 11:14 pm »
Two books by authors French and Burgess are a superb overview of NASA manned spaceflight:

Into That Silent Sea. Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-65.

In the Shadow of the Moon. A Challenging Journey to Tranquility 1965-69.

(read a lot of the 2nd book here:)
http://books.google.be/books?id=y_16I8NzSjEC&dq=french+and+burgess&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=lHHps-P5Pz&sig=zt4dGnwNsc4y3cZhKazBuGcOWk0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP1,M1

I haven't read the (so far) two other books in that series, but they both seem very interesting. One on Skylab is written by two astronauts who went there no less!

See:
http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/series/outward_odyssey/hitt_bookpage.html

Offline SpaceUSMC

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #29 on: 01/29/2009 02:37 am »
I also found a copy of the fictional book Ascent by Jed Mercurio, has anyone read this or is it not really worth the time?

It's well-written but rather bleak (there's a graphic rape scene in the 1st chapter!). Reviews here and here

I gave it the quick read. Wasent too too impresive, I just re-read Lost Moon so it was like dejavu. Not really genuine in my opinion.

Offline mlorrey

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #30 on: 01/29/2009 10:04 pm »
Just read:
Galactic Blues - Allen Steele
Anathem - Neal Stephenson - fantastic book, big, thick one, most of the plot is on a world where mathematicians and scientists are a priesthood sequestered from the general population as a means of retarding technological progress (this is a new idea on preventing a technological singularity), however the focus of the novel is on a spacecraft in orbit around Arbre which travels to alternate universes. How the residents of Arbre deal with a hostile alien ship that controls the high ground, gets into space when all their launch facilities have been rodded from orbit, and attacks the alien ship with sufficient force to force them into negotiating. Includes lots of zero-g activity.
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Founder, Lorrey Aerospace, B&T Holdings, ACE Exchange, and Hypersonic Systems. Currently I am a venture recruiter for Family Office Venture Capital.

Offline bad_astra

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #31 on: 01/30/2009 04:18 pm »
Michael Collin's book, I forget the name. Good read, though.
"Contact Light" -Buzz Aldrin

Offline gladiator1332

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #32 on: 01/31/2009 03:10 am »
I'm currently reading Space Race by Deborah Cadbury

http://www.amazon.com/Space-Race-Between-America-Dominion/dp/0060845538/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1233374870&sr=11-1

It is so far a great read. It tells the story of Von Braun and Korolev, starting in WWII and then extending through the space race.

If you are interested in the men who built the rockets that enabled us to explore space, then I highly recommend it.

It is really frustrating to know that Von Braun and team had the Jupiter C ready to go. We could have had a satellite months before the Russians. However, the US Govt was banking on the Navy's Vanguard program.

Offline Jorge

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #33 on: 01/31/2009 03:17 am »
Michael Collin's book, I forget the name. Good read, though.

Carrying the Fire.

Concur on the opinion - Collins is easily the best writer of the ex-astros.
JRF

Offline edkyle99

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #34 on: 01/31/2009 03:08 pm »
I'm a tech geek engineer, so I tend to read books that appeal to the tech geek engineer.

Saturn, Alan Lawrie, 2005
Saturn IB, Alan Lawrie, 2008
Rocketdyne- - Powering Humans into Space, Kraemer, 2006
Space Systems Failures, Harland and Lorenz, 2005
Space Shuttle, Jenkins, All editions
Titan II - A History of a Cold War Missile Program, Stumpf, 2000
Atlas - The Ultimate Weapon, Walker, 2005
Go for Launch - Illustrated History of Cape Canaveral, Powell, 2006
Fundamentals of Astrodynamics, Bate, Mueller, and White, 1971
Handbook of Astronautical Engineering, Koelle, 1961
Rocket Propulsion Elements, Sutton, 2nd Ed, 1958

I also like history

Korolev, Harford, 1997
Wernher von Braun - Crusader for Space, Stuhlinger and Ordway, 1996
Apollo, Murray and Cox, 1989
Countdown - A History of Space Flight, Heppenheimer, 1997
This New Ocean - Story of the First Space Age, Burrows, 1999
Moon Missions, Mellberg, 1997

I find myself hanging on to the occasional "dreamer" books. 

Starsailing, Friedman, 1988
Frontiers of Space, Bono and Gatland, 1976
Project Mars - A Technical Tale, Wernher von Braun, 1949 (pub 2006)

The holy grail for me, the falling-apart yellowed paperback that was my introduction to the fantastic story of the "Space Race", was this one, a book dedicated at the height of the Cold War to Grissom, White, Chaffee, and Komarov.

Appointment on the Moon, Richard S. Lewis, 1969

 - Ed Kyle
« Last Edit: 01/31/2009 03:11 pm by edkyle99 »

Offline GoForTLI

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #35 on: 02/01/2009 03:09 pm »
I would second (third? fourth?) the Jenkins book. 

Two NASA histories I liked:

Where No Man Has Gone Before.  NASA SP-4214
Stages to Saturn, A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles.  NASA SP-4206

Also, I think the 2 Presidential Commission reports should be required reading. 
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. -- Douglas Adams

Offline DMeader

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #36 on: 02/01/2009 05:04 pm »
Folks in another thread insist the X-15 is a spacecraft, so that gives me an opening to suggest one (actually two) of my favorite books.

"HYPERSONIC: The Story of The North American X-15" and "X-15 Photo Scrapbook", both by Tony R. Landis and Dennis R. Jenkins.

Offline overby

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #37 on: 02/01/2009 09:34 pm »
Does anyone know of any books about the classified military programs of both Russia and the US? My interest has been piqued with the recent articles on Space Review about the mission patches and the Keyhole sats.

If you can find it, "Deep Black the startling truth behind America's top-secret spy satellites" by William Burrows.  A decade out of print, and surely just as out of date but it presents history.  ISBN 0-425-10879-1

"Eye in the Sky The story of the CORONA spy satellites".  Dwayne A. Day, John M. Logsdon, Brian Latell (ed) ISBN 1-56098-773-1

"America's Space Sentinels DSP satellites and National Security".  Jeffrey T. Richelson.  ISBN 0-7006-1096-0

Offline elmarko

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #38 on: 02/02/2009 10:40 am »
Some great suggestions here.

I'm still confused about the Jenkins books. Am I after the first 100 missions book, or the history of the development book?

Or both? :)

Offline Jorge

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Re: Spaceflight Book Thread
« Reply #39 on: 02/02/2009 02:24 pm »
Some great suggestions here.

I'm still confused about the Jenkins books. Am I after the first 100 missions book, or the history of the development book?

Or both? :)

They are the same book. The Third Edition is the one with "the first 100 missions" subtitle, and is the most recent.
JRF

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