Dec 20 2011
The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane by Piers Bizony
I normally do not get too geeked out about books on space exploration. However, I just read The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane by Piers Bizony and I was very impressed.
In the beginning of the book, Bizony briefly discusses the theoretical roots of the shuttle that began as far back as the 1930s. He then describes the two space-plane concepts that predated the shuttle and how these concepts influenced the shuttle design. Bizony also touches on how NASA engineers balanced the needs of space travel with the political realities of the late 1960s and early 1970s when the shuttle took its final form.
The book is divided into seven chapters (entitled stages in the book) that describe the different phases of the shuttle missions. In each chapter, Bizony includes a brief synopsis of what occurred with the shuttle program in the time period discussed. Two of the most interesting discussions center on the investigations behind the Challenger and Columbia disasters.
