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The Next Shuttle Book Review
Marion IA (SPX) Dec 02, 2005 Dave Ketchledge, a high powered rocketry hobbyist, has written and e-published a new book, titled The Next Shuttle, devoted entirely to the construction and flight of Shuttle prototypes, their technical problems, how they were solved, and successors of the Shuttle today. Dave is a professional Instrumentation Engineer, a former Navy nuclear reactor operator and testing engineer, and a member of both NAR and TRA. Back in the 1990s, Dave coined the term Vertical Trajectory System, or VTS to describe several active guidance systems potentially useful to amateur rocketry. He has written articles for the high power rocketry hobby, but this is his fi rst book. The Next Shuttle is the fi rst totally electronic book that I have read, and what a book it is. It encompasses thirteen chapters, with well over 400 8 1/2 by 11 inch pages packed with color graphs, diagrams, charts, scale drawings, and photographs. Dave has compiled a wealth of information regarding the detailed history of failure and advancement and the visible future of the space shuttle and other flying spacecraft. The Next Shuttle provides a technical discussion of problems encountered during development of the flying spacecraft and the solutions that overcame them. I really enjoyed reading about difficulties encountered during spacecraft development and the innovations that were used to rectify them. The Next Shuttle provides eyewitness, pilot and engineering stories about developmental and flight concerns of various flying spacecraft. But he didn't stop there. Dave also provides data for the construction of flying models of the prototypes that led to the design of the Rockwell Space Shuttle. Scaled drawings are provided for several of the lifting bodies, the Bell X-1, X-20 DynaSoar, the X-15, the Rockwell Shuttle, and the Lockheed Venture Star. When I read a book that I really enjoy and I learn new things about the space program and the machines, I like to look over the sources used by the author. Some books are very skimpy on their sources lists. The Next Shuttle provides an entire chapter listing the sources of the information used in the book. Dave goes even further than just a listing in his sources chapter; he describes the content and use of each source, and provides a brief review. Although these source descriptions and review are very valuable, I have never seen this done before now. What a great concept. Conclusion If you are interested in building and fl ying models of the Shuttle prototypes and successors, this is a great place to begin. If you are interested in the technological history of the development of the Shuttle and other fl ying spacecraft, this is a great place to become informed. If you are looking for a good listing of rocketry related source books complete with a brief review of each, this is your book. Visit the publisher's web site for more details and a sample of the book. Pros This book provides a dense collection of great data compiled into a single book. The Next Shuttle provides developmental stories, model making data and a very detailed source listing. The price is just $25 since you order on CD or download it from Dave's website in pdf format. This also allows Dave to provide a lot of color. A book of this size and with this amount of color would be very expensive if published in the normal fashion. Cons Dave is an instrument engineer. You will have to get past the sometimes troublesome tense and sentence structure, which tends to make some parts of the book not as clear as they could be. Although this problem does detract from the text, it is infrequent enough for the book to remain easily understood. The book could use the talents of a good editor. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Space Shuttle News at Space-Travel.Com
Shuttle Foam To Be Left Off Fuel Tank
Houston (UPI) Dec 16, 2005The insulating foam on the space shuttle that broke loose during liftoff last July, will be removed from future launches, NASA officials said in Houston. |
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