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aurora899
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« Reply #45 on: 02/06/2009 10:45 AM » |
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For fiction, I would recommend "Shuttle" by David C. Onley, a rather battered copy of which I still have on my bookshelf. It was published back in 1981, around the time of the first space shuttle mission. Basically, it tells the story of the first (disastrous) orbital test flight of NASA's new airborne launch system; a large hypersonic jet carries the shuttle orbiter to the edge of the atmosphere where it fires its own SSMEs and then climbs into orbit. (Rather like the pre-credits from the James Bond film "Moonraker" there is no explanation of where the liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel is kept). Anyway, the orbiter and its hypersonic carrier aircraft end up mated in low earth orbit after a problem just prior to separation and NASA is forced to launch a rescue mission.
As the blurb on the back cover reads, "a stunning story of rescue in space that grips to the very last page."
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elmarko
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« Reply #46 on: 02/06/2009 06:12 PM » |
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Are Jim Oberg's books any good? PS, JimO, you can reply if you want but you may be slightly biased... 
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DMeader
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« Reply #47 on: 02/06/2009 07:06 PM » |
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Are Jim Oberg's books any good?
PS, JimO, you can reply if you want but you may be slightly biased...
Yes. Enough said.
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MATTBLAK
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« Reply #48 on: 02/07/2009 10:05 PM » |
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Are Jim Oberg's books any good?
PS, JimO, you can reply if you want but you may be slightly biased...
Mr Oberg's books are terrific.
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kneecaps
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« Reply #49 on: 03/17/2009 03:44 PM » |
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The fourth edition, to be published after shuttle retirement, may become a multivolume set in order to restore previously deleted material.
Ah! I have the 3rd edition and i've read it to death, one of my prized books! Please push for a multivolume set as I would really like to see the missing material. (On a side note, I found a copy of Sutton for £15).
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LMSenus
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« Reply #50 on: 03/18/2009 01:25 AM » |
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Has anybody mentioned Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton? I read that a few years ago and it was quite good.
I second the motion re: Kranz's book. I think I may take both books with me on vacation this June for a re-read.
Has anybody read Gene Cernan's book Last Man on the Moon?
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Andrewwski
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« Reply #51 on: 03/18/2009 02:08 AM » |
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Yes, I've read all that you mentioned.
Don't remember too much about Cernan's though. It was a few years ago. Didn't stick out as one of the best, but I do think it was good nonetheless.
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Blackstar
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« Reply #52 on: 03/18/2009 02:11 AM » |
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Has anybody mentioned Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton? I read that a few years ago and it was quite good.
It's not good. It was ghost-written for them and contains a lot of mistakes.
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Andrewwski
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« Reply #53 on: 03/18/2009 02:15 AM » |
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Maybe that's why I didn't remember it.  I've read too many astro-authored books that all but the best get jumbled together.
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LMSenus
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« Reply #54 on: 03/18/2009 02:19 AM » |
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Has anybody mentioned Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton? I read that a few years ago and it was quite good.
It's not good. It was ghost-written for them and contains a lot of mistakes.
I read it years ago... guess I'm dropping that from the re-read list.
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elmarko
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« Reply #55 on: 03/30/2009 10:58 AM » |
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Bumping the thread because I'm half way through Dragonfly, and all I can say is "holy crap".
Is there any evidence that some of the problems of those years are still around? Because reading it is really frustrating!
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elmarko
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« Reply #56 on: 03/30/2009 11:04 AM » |
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And one other thing. It's generally accepted that JimO's Star-Crossed Orbits is a great book, but is Red Star in Orbit any good?
Edit: Not that I'll find it for cheap anywhere, of course.
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Jorge
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« Reply #57 on: 03/30/2009 08:05 PM » |
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Bumping the thread because I'm half way through Dragonfly, and all I can say is "holy crap".
Is there any evidence that some of the problems of those years are still around? Because reading it is really frustrating!
Some of it is gone. In particular the climate of fear created by Goldin/Abbey is no longer there. Other problems remain, of course.
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Jim
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« Reply #58 on: 03/30/2009 08:24 PM » |
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Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge
The Soviet Space Race with Apollo
Which are two books made from
Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945- 1974
by Asif Siddiqi
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elmarko
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« Reply #59 on: 03/30/2009 09:41 PM » |
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Looks like those are very highly regarded, Jim. Thanks for the tip. PS, looks like I'm going to have to get JimO's books despatched from the US 
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