For nearly fifty years, a wide range of missiles and rockets has propelled U.S. satellites and spacecraft into the sky. J. D. Hunley's two-volume work traces the evolution of this technology, from Robert Goddard's research in the 1920s through the development of the Titan missiles and launch vehicles in the 1960s to the refinement of the space shuttle in the 1980s.

With the first book devoted primarily to military hardware and the second to launch vehicle hardware, Hunley offers a sweeping overview of these impressive engineering innovations as well as insights into the dynamic personalities responsible for them. Together, the two volumes offer a unique, invaluable history of rocketry that should appeal to a wide range of scholars and space buffs.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 2 reviews)

Excellent review of space age technology

This is an excellent two volumes book. It is one of the best about space technology, versus fundamental science.
It uses the story of rocket development to outline what modern engineering is all about. The author's choice to divide his subject in two volumes, space launchers versus military missiles, is a good choice, allowing to highlight differences and similarities.

The narrative and chronological style used in both volumes best shows the development of each technology over time. The author gives due credit to the extraordinary contribution to V. Braun, a bit too much to Goddard.

The book's organization by chapters, each describing a launcher family, makes any specialized or focused research easier.
The scope also extends about organizational and managerial influence on the development of a given technology, only when relevant, avoiding `old boys' futile personal career narratives.

My only regret is the lack of data recapitulation tables, by chapter, providing an exhaustive data presentation for the chapter.

It was worth bying.

September 17, 2008

extensive research

From an already incomplete record of documents and people's memories, Hunley explains the rocketry developed by the US during the space race. As the subtitle says, from Viking to the Space Shuttle.

The book shows signs of extensive research. Fully the last quarter of the book consists of footnotes, that often refer to original NASA publications. But even with this work, at several places in the text, it refers to incomplete information about earlier projects. No doubt many of the original engineers had retired and died by the time this study was done. Some of the expert knowledge was never put on paper.

The coverage of the shuttle is not bad. But you could probably find more extensive writeups elsewhere. As the most recent project in the book, it benefited from the most complete records, as well as perhaps the greatest public interest.
July 22, 2008

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Preludes to U.S. Space-Launch Vehicle Technology: Goddard Rockets to Minuteman III
by J. D. HUNLEY

Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight
by David A. Mindell

How Apollo Flew to the Moon (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration)
by W. David Woods

The Development of Propulsion Technology for U.S. Space-Launch Vehicles, 1926-1991 (Centennial of Flight Series)
by J. D. Hunley

In the Shadow of the Moon
Directed by David Sington
Starring Harrison Schmitt, Alan Bean, Edgar D. Mitchell, Michael Collins (II), Neil Armstrong
VELOCITY / THINKFILM