posted 08-24-2011 01:08 AM               

Space Shuttle Almanac
by Joel W. Powell and Lee Brandon-Cremer

When the final sonic boom startled this author at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility on 21 July 2011, and the orbiter Atlantis settled onto Runway 15 for the last time, the Space Shuttle Era quietly came to an end. With the final 'wheels stop' call, the magnificent orbiting machines would fly no more, sadly consigned to museums at KSC, Los Angeles and the Smithsonian.

As the saying goes, all good things come to an end - 'flames to dust', the shuttles are now permanently grounded. Critics have argued that the shuttle retirement was premature, that it should have continued in operation until commercial companies are able to pick up the slack of carrying cargo (and eventually astronaut crews) to the International Space Station. The arguments fell on deaf ears in Congress and in the Obama Administration, and the shuttle's fate was sealed.

The Final Edition of the Space Shuttle Almanac, on the other hand, is a celebration of 40 years of shuttle operational history as much as it is a final compilation of mission facts and figures, dates and times. Primary author Lee Brandon-Cremer has added an outstanding collection of images for every mission and every section to enhance the readers experience. There are 1,400 pages, over 1,000 photos and over 1,000 diagrams to view.

The Almanac's format is a digital version available as a download or on CD. This enhances the utility of the Almanac as a research tool and as a historical overview of three decades of shuttle flight operations. For the authors, the Space Shuttle Almanac has been a labour of love. It has been a 20 year commitment to document the large and small details of shuttle flights that always seemed to 'fall through the cracks' in standard shuttle histories and accounts. The authors hope that this Edition of the Space Shuttle Almanac will serve as a worthy tribute to the magnificent shuttle program.

posted 08-24-2011 09:05 PM               

After 20 years research and compilation, this is a unique collection of Space Shuttle history facts found no where else. This is not your ordinary eBook, the website samples demonstrate that fact.

If you can find single other source we would be interested – let us know because there isn’t one.

You can carry one file on your computer or iPad and have the entire Space Shuttle Program at your finger tips.

posted 08-25-2011 12:18 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Lee Brandon Cremer:
You can carry one file on your computer or iPad...

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But you can't view the website on your iPad, iPod or iPhone, because it's Flash.

posted 08-26-2011 08:49 AM               

First of all; it is huge. There are more that 1400 pages to go through. There is an incredible amount of information spanning the entire shuttle program. Starting with STS-1 and ending with STS-135. It contains data, photo's, diagrams, cut-outs of each mission. The data quallity is, as far as I can tell, very high. Only managed to find one small mistake. In the crew list of STS-41G it credits Kathryn Sullivan with her second flight instead of Sally Ride, but that's nitpicking.

On top of that there is a whole section dedicated to the ISS, again including data, photo's, diagrams and cut-outs. I have yet to study it in detail, but it looks terrific.

The download is easy to do and it works very smoothly on my iPad2. I am sure this is going to be one of my favorite reading files in the weeks to come.

posted 08-26-2011 09:36 AM               

I defy anyone to find the majority of the artwork, since it was pre-internet era. Scanned from collections held by the authors.

Some of the research is unique ie. SRB Case Use, the extrapolation of that data has never been published publicly. Items such as Experiment lists, OMS Usage and Landing Data are unique. Much much more.

Many of the early photos are not available online and were saved and scanned from hard copy only handed out during the missions over 30 years, images never released on the net.

Your final conclusion is very true, there has never been such a comprehensive boiling down of the facts, artwork and images in one place. Joel and I created this as a passion over 20 years of loving careful research and cross referencing. Some of the data may indeed not match some NASA sources, but anyone in this business knows NASA itself has given contradictory information/facts over the decades, we have striven to correct those errors.

posted 08-26-2011 01:54 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Lee Brandon Cremer:
The book isnt Flash... only the website... the website is to view samples.

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posted 08-26-2011 02:15 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by PeterO:
You've just lost a potential customer who might have gone ahead and bought it immediately. Will I buy it when I get back to my desktop computer? Perhaps. Will I even remember to look? Probably not.

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posted 08-26-2011 06:20 PM               

It was optimised for this purpose.

posted 10-10-2011 09:57 PM               

We have just included some updated (complete) lists of SRB Case Use Serials, ET Reentry Impact Points, Landing Speeds and Rollout distances and a comprehensive listing of orbiter and payload weights throughout each mission, Launch to Landing.

This data came to us late from FOIA requests made years ago. The lists were in our book but not complete.

As the new information is considered invaluable, we decided to update the book and reissue the CD to all those customers who have ordered so far.

Dont let it be said we arent the best source for Shuttle information available. Second to none.

posted 11-20-2011 06:53 PM               

We have not had a single disappointed buyer and with our money back guarantee you really cant go wrong.

Note we are including a free 200 page supplement on the ISS and Mir with complete mission logs and photos/ diagrams showing the growth of each station over its life.

posted 12-06-2011 11:00 PM               

It's worth it, peeps. Even if all this material was available "somewhere" online, who has the time? It's a wonderful compilation of data, stats, pics, diagrams, and other Shuttle ephemera all collected in an easily accessible format.

Incidentally, I printed the thing out. Yep, all 1,303 pages of it. Call me old-fashioned, but I appreciate having a printed book to yank off the shelf and flip to what I need when I need it. FYI, printed out double-sided on 24# laser bond paper, the Almanac and the ISS/Mir supplement stack just about 3.25" high unbound.

The only drawback to the hard copy is that some documents, especially diagrams from early in the program, can be difficult to read on an 8.5" x 11" printed page. This is where you appreciate being able to to zoom on the PDF.

Anyway, can't recommend this enough, esp. at the reduced price.

posted 12-07-2011 04:15 PM               

I just want to point out... there is data in there not found on the internet, photos not online, diagrams never published and info never seen outside of NASA.

I challenge anyone to have all the individual SRB case serial numbers, OMS data, ET impact points, DTO and experiment lists, and so much more. That stuff is not found online anywhere. Took us 20 years to collect.