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Author Topic:   Space Shuttle: Celebrating 30 Years (Bizony)
cspg
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Posts: 6228
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 04-02-2010 12:58 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA's First Space Plane
by Piers Bizony
This superbly designed and lavishly illustrated book marks a special moment in history: the final mission of the space shuttle. Noted space and science author Piers Bizony has put together a retrospective that covers all 134 space shuttle missions, including the final flight of the shuttle, which is scheduled for September 2010. In addition to covering every space shuttle mission, the book also covers the development and design of the space shuttle, as well as the technical specifications of the vehicle and details of its major assemblies and subassemblies. A full double-gatefold provides a large-scale technical drawing of the space shuttle.

About the Author
Piers Bizony has written about science, aerospace, and cosmology for a wide variety of magazines in the UK and the US. His previous books include 2001: Filming the Future, The Rivers of Mars (shortlisted for the NASA/Eugene M. Emme Award for Astronautical Writing), Starman (a biography of Yuri Gagarin, also a BBC TV program) and Space: 50, a collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, marking the 50th anniversary of Sputnik. His latest project, Atom, ties-in with a major BBC TV series on the discovery of quantum physics. His most recent book is One Giant Leap, a celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

  • Hardcover: 300 pages
  • Publisher: Zenith Press (15 October 2011)
  • ISBN-10: 0760339414
  • ISBN-13: 978-0760339411

jjknap
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Posts: 277
From: Bourbonnais, IL USA
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 09-19-2011 05:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for jjknap   Click Here to Email jjknap     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
First impression —

I just received the book. It is large in a "square" format. The pictures are beautiful, but it lists the date of the last flight as summer 2011... I thought this was being delayed to include details on the last flight? It does include details on the STS-134 flight.

jjknap
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Posts: 277
From: Bourbonnais, IL USA
Registered: Apr 2011

posted 09-19-2011 06:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for jjknap   Click Here to Email jjknap     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well, I have to say, this book has the most beautiful pictures of the shuttle/station I have ever had in one book. There are one to two pages on most missions, with some of the more interesting mission receiving four pages.

Again, there is a two page spread on STS-135 that has a picture of the crew and shuttle workers posing with the tail end of Atlantis in the OPF. Still, I wish they could have included some more detail about the last mission since they delayed the publication until after the mission.

It is certainly worth the money though, a beautiful book it is.

cspg
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Posts: 6228
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 09-27-2011 09:02 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Despite the missing pictures of STS-135, it is still a beautiful book.

heng44
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Posts: 3454
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 09-29-2011 12:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for heng44   Click Here to Email heng44     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The book is well worth the price because of the great photos, but there is a number of irritating and stupid mistakes in the text.

p51
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Posts: 1680
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011

posted 09-29-2011 12:15 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for p51   Click Here to Email p51     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Such as? I have the book on order and would like to know before it gets here...

heng44
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Posts: 3454
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 09-29-2011 02:29 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for heng44   Click Here to Email heng44     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I haven't read the book yet, but when I randomly scanned the text in several spots I noticed (from memory, I am at work now):
  • John Glenn posing before his flight in 1963 (should be 1962, of course);
  • Columbia's ejection seats were removed before STS-5 (I believe they were only disarmed and removed after STS-5);
  • there were two extra flightdeck seats on STS-5 (was only one, the other was in the middeck);
  • Bruce Peterson's crash in the M2-F2 lifting body is dated September 1968, which should be May 1967.
This last mistake is presented as a quote by Peterson, but if he really said that the author should have corrected that.

But as I said, I bought the book for the photos.

garymilgrom
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Posts: 1973
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007

posted 09-29-2011 05:16 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for garymilgrom   Click Here to Email garymilgrom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I bought this book and agree with posters above. Great photos, a few errors and I really miss having the last flight.

p51
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Posts: 1680
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011

posted 09-29-2011 09:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for p51   Click Here to Email p51     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by garymilgrom:
I bought this book and agree with posters above. Great photos, a few errors and I really miss having the last flight.
I couldn't have said it better. I just got mine today and have only had time to thumb through it. STS-135's mission date wasn't even there.

One thing that I would have liked that others here might not have cared about would have been about 4-6 pages of all the mission insignia in color near the back. I think that would have been better than the so-so drawing of the orbiter that's in there...

Tykeanaut
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Posts: 2216
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 01-03-2012 03:12 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tykeanaut   Click Here to Email Tykeanaut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
While I am very pleased with it I wish the mission patch emblems had also been included and the crew members listed again in the shuttle flight log section.

cspg
Member

Posts: 6228
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 08-05-2014 10:22 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well, the book comes out again next April but it doesn't say if it's a second edition or simply a paperback.

Email sent to the publisher/author.

cspg
Member

Posts: 6228
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 08-05-2014 11:20 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Response from the publisher:
The book being published next spring is a flexibound edition with an updated foreword and new photos for the final mission, as the book was originally published before the final mission took place. We will likely also be doing some minor updates as needed throughout the book to address any errata and bring relevant information up to date, but generally speaking this will not be an expanded edition. I do notice that the thread you linked below (*) mentions some apparent errors, and I have passed the link on to the book's editor to confirm we have already noted these items.
Note: (*) The link in question is this cS thread.

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