The 3 volume Dennis Jenkins shuttle book is due in February. Available at the Specialty Press web site.
Thanks for the update! Would have pre-ordered, but shipping would have been 120 dollars... Hoping for Amazon listing.
Wow, fantastic to see this will be published soon (and just before my birthday too ... ).
Here is what Dennis writes in his preface to "Developing an Icon":QuoteWhen I wrote the mini-edition of what became this book in 1988, the response was overwhelmingly positive, leading me to write the first of the expanded hardcover editions. By the time I finished in 1991, however, Aerofax was largely out of business and other publishers said there would never be a market for more than 500 copies of a book on space shuttle; all declined to publish it. Believing there was a story to be told, I published the book myself. Roger D. Launius, then chief historian at NASA, took notice and coached me on how to make the book more authoritative; the improvement was evident in later editions. By late 2016, more than 100,000 copies of three editions had passed.This is more than an update to the previous edition; it is a complete rewrite and will obviously be the last.
When I wrote the mini-edition of what became this book in 1988, the response was overwhelmingly positive, leading me to write the first of the expanded hardcover editions. By the time I finished in 1991, however, Aerofax was largely out of business and other publishers said there would never be a market for more than 500 copies of a book on space shuttle; all declined to publish it. Believing there was a story to be told, I published the book myself. Roger D. Launius, then chief historian at NASA, took notice and coached me on how to make the book more authoritative; the improvement was evident in later editions. By late 2016, more than 100,000 copies of three editions had passed.This is more than an update to the previous edition; it is a complete rewrite and will obviously be the last.
Any further word on this book? I pre-ordered it from Amazon, which at the time said publication would be February 15, 2017. Now it says "shipping in one to two months".
Amazon is far more expensive than direct.
Just noticed that Amazon UK have dropped their price by nearly 30%, about £40 reduction So if you're in a different country you may want to check too. Hopefully a further sign that release is happening, as I think Amazon tends to revisit pricing at/around release.
The out of stock indication appears to be automatic once the release date Amazon has is reached, if there's no stock yet received. It hasn't yet been in stock!I don't know about Germany, but at least in the US and UK Amazon has a price promise that if the price drops between your order and an item being released then you are only charged the cheaper price when it is shipped to you. So I don't need to cancel my UK order and re-order to get the cheaper price. I hope Amazon has this policy elsewhere?
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 02/26/2017 08:51 amThe out of stock indication appears to be automatic once the release date Amazon has is reached, if there's no stock yet received. It hasn't yet been in stock!I don't know about Germany, but at least in the US and UK Amazon has a price promise that if the price drops between your order and an item being released then you are only charged the cheaper price when it is shipped to you. So I don't need to cancel my UK order and re-order to get the cheaper price. I hope Amazon has this policy elsewhere?What's a little odd is it had a release date of mid-March in the U.K. I thought, but now that appears to have gone.
Thanks for the write-up, bekellysky! - I'm very tempted to get it... But the temptation, I must say, is tempered by realising that the two last volumes are more reference work than readable history. What is your take on that?
Quote from: Oersted on 03/09/2017 10:45 amThanks for the write-up, bekellysky! - I'm very tempted to get it... But the temptation, I must say, is tempered by realising that the two last volumes are more reference work than readable history. What is your take on that? So far, it's a reference work, but in narrative form. Not dry facts, as much as that would have been tempting for the author. Maybe they'll put a sample page from each volume on the web site, so people can see for themselves. (I haven't checked.)bob
Re: DOD. There is an interesting section on the building of vanderburg calif site. Photo of enterprise on a real ext tank and dummy SRBs on the slc6pad, construction and difficilities explained. Section on air force MOL. I won't get back to it until the weekend at the soonest.
It has just arrived. No one bother me for the next month or so.
Quote from: Marsin2010 on 03/13/2017 02:38 amIt has just arrived. No one bother me for the next month or so.Great to see Amazon US deliveries are arriving, but curious their website still says '5 to 6 weeks' (unless they have sold out all their initial allocation?!).Amazon UK having said for weeks that my order would be shipped this Friday (17th), is now saying they need more time to give a good estimate and they'll email me when they know ... Still should at least be on their way over the pond by now.
Ronpur, we need a bit more of a review than that... :-)
In stock on March 28, 2017.
My copy (from Amazon DE) shipped from the UK (Tamworth) warehouse.
My Amazon UK copy arrived today and on first thumb-through it certainly lives up to expectations.
He uses some very harsh words about the promised flight rates and reveals internal studies that showed these to be nonsense. Since this isn't a political history he doesn't explore why NASA HQ continued to promise 24 flights per year up to 1986.Of course the roles of USAF, NRO, and NSA in Shuttle are still concealed by secrecy but there is a good sense of why the space intelligence community first embraced and then rejected shuttle.
Of course the roles of USAF, NRO, and NSA in Shuttle are still concealed by secrecy but there is a good sense of why the space intelligence community first embraced and then rejected shuttle.
So, I finally read through this book to the end. (yes, I'm a speed-reader and no, I don't have a 9-to-5 job). I have the two earlier editions and some of the less relevant material in them has been omitted to fit within the 3-volume limit.But there is a vast amount of additional material, not just about the later missions but much about the historical background. Did you know that:- the X-20/Dyna-Soar pilot would have been issued an AR-15 rifle for disabling Soviet satellites- many eminent experts such as Bob Truax and Wernher von Braun were secret shuttle skeptics- Klaus Heiss of the infamous "Mathematica Study" was so confident in the results that he formed a company to build an extra Orbiter with private capital and lease it to NASA- the management at Rocketdyne became convinced that the staged-combustion cycle of the SSME was unworkable and tried to get Marshall to switch to a gas-generator design with lower pressures (similar to those in the final Block II SSME)(Historical nitpick: Jenkins repeats the standard fiction spread by the promoters of the doomed X-38 project that PRIME/X-23A and X-24A had the same configuration and proved its stability at all Mach numbers -- the photos in the book show that the two vehicles were very different.)For a guy who worked on the program most of his professional life, Jenkins is surprisingly objective about the Shuttle's design weaknesses and the engineering and management failures that led to the two losses and several groundings. He uses some very harsh words about the promised flight rates and reveals internal studies that showed these to be nonsense. Since this isn't a political history he doesn't explore why NASA HQ continued to promise 24 flights per year up to 1986.Of course the roles of USAF, NRO, and NSA in Shuttle are still concealed by secrecy but there is a good sense of why the space intelligence community first embraced and then rejected shuttle.Much of volume 3 is devoted to summaries of each mission. Even the most obscure flights of Shuttle's boring middle years get at least 2 pages. The major accidents and groundings have comprehensive coverage. All the proposed upgrades are discussed along with the confusing succession of Shuttle-C and Shuttle-Z proposals. There is a whole chapter devoted to the Vandenburg SLC-6 fiasco. Upper stages and the lack of same get a good treatment, except there is still no technical reason given for the cancellation of Centaur-G and Centaur-G'.Finally there is a comprehensive discussion of the dismemberment of the surviving Orbiters for the Constellation program, and the installation of fake components for museum display (something future generations will surely regret).A section on costs shows that each Shuttle mission cost exactly $1.642B in FY2012 dollars, not counting NASA Center support and civil service salaries. Allowing 25-30% extra for these costs brings the per-mission cost up over $2B.
An AR-15 gun ? really ? (trying to figure an EVA astronaut with an AR-15 aiming at a soviet satellite) Klaus Heiss created Spacetran in the late 70's to privately fund that fifth orbiter cancelled by the Carter administration. It didn't went well.
My copy has now been dispatched by Amazon UK.
Quote from: Star One on 04/03/2017 09:53 pmMy copy has now been dispatched by Amazon UK.Likewise, arriving tomorrow (ordered on 26/02/17)
Quote from: hopalong on 04/05/2017 10:19 amQuote from: Star One on 04/03/2017 09:53 pmMy copy has now been dispatched by Amazon UK.Likewise, arriving tomorrow (ordered on 26/02/17)I just called Amazon as I ordered mine on 11/02/17 and I've still heard nothing They can't explain why other orders have been fulfilled, but are looking into it and will get back to me ... hopefully that'll have the desired effect!
That's weird did they indicate it was just yours or were there other similar unfulfilled orders?
Quote from: Star One on 04/05/2017 02:07 pmThat's weird did they indicate it was just yours or were there other similar unfulfilled orders?They didn't say. However, I had previously changed the shipping option on my order, so I suspect that confused something in the system.Anyway, I've now had an email saying my order has been dispatched! So if anyone thinks their order is overdue, I suggest chasing it.
It also describes how the Shuttles went into museums. The Atlantis display only opened in 2013.http://www.collectspace.com/shuttles/
