posted 12-04-2010 11:14 AM               

2011 will mark the last ever flight of the truly remarkable NASA Space Shuttle.

Commemorating 30 Years of Space Shuttle Exploration, this beautifully crafted photography book written and designed by Graphic Artist Luke Wesley Price, comprises some of the most breath taking and awe-inspiring NASA images from the Space Shuttle’s 30 year service history, ever to be published in one impressive collection.

To the general public, the Space Shuttle program has become "routine". It seems that, for the Space Shuttle and it's brave Astronauts to win extensive TV or broadcasting coverage, a disaster must occur.

At present, the STS Space Shuttle program is winding to a halt. However, by the time you get the chance to own this book, the Space Shuttle program will be all but a memory. My mission, is to make sure it isn't a distant one.

This stunning piece of work commemorates 30 years of manned Space Flight aboard an American treasure, a world phenomenon and unquestionably, the most technologically advanced vehicle ever made - The Space Shuttle.

This book pays tribute to the 5 space worthy Orbiters built by NASA; Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, and exhibits them in some of the most amazing images you will ever see. From the dangerous blast off sequence; ripping through Earth’s Atmosphere and reaching for the stars, to some of the most vivid on-board mission photographs, such as space walks, extraordinary astronaut maintenance work, docking with the International Space Station and much more, this 200 plus page, 10”x10” Hardbound book is a piece of art you will want to pick up time and time again.

The photographs are presented beautifully on high quality photo-grade paper and displayed in a fashion which lets the images do the talking. At the reverse of the book, you will find details on every single STS Space Shuttle mission flown, including launch dates, a documentation of the crew, plus many more special features.

• 10x10" Hardback First Edition, Summer 2011

posted 12-06-2010 02:26 PM               

Thanks for your interest so far, it certainly is an exciting project to undertake.

Indeed we are waiting for the final missions to launch before we go to print, as we certainly need to pay recognition to the crew of those last flights. There are also some nice little extras in honour of each STS flight included in the book, which I'm sure all fans will appreciate. If those last remaining missions provide any photographs that make the cut, then they will surely be added at the final stages of the book.

For this project I have concentrated on producing a beautiful collection of some of the best images that have come out of the STS program. A real showcase of the Shuttles service history. My rule for inclusion into the book, is that it has to be something visually special, something that makes the viewer inspired!

This book primarily focus on the beauty of the Space Shuttle orbiters themselves in all their glory!

posted 08-02-2013 01:30 PM               

This is a select email to those of you showed interest in reserving a copy some time ago.

I am please to announce that today, Space Shuttle: A Photographic Journey 1981-2011, will go on worldwide sale via our website. This is a Pre-Order and books will ship last week of October. I wanted to give you people who have supported the project the first chance to place your orders before advertising begins.

Due to massive popularity of this publication, the run was extended very slightly, mainly to accommodate for press copies and library copies. This First Edition is limited to 1981 copies worldwide. As you can see this is still highly limited. The first 500 copies are hand numbered and signed by the author on a certificate in the front of the book, while stocks last. These are exclusive to spaceshuttlebook.com and won't be available anywhere in the future.

If you would like to hold onto your reservation, please visit the website and place your order asap to avoid disappointment. If you are interested in the first 500 signed editions these may not be around for long and I wanted to offer them to you guys first, as you have been supportive all along.

The books are sent from the UK, so we have strived to keep shipping costs down as best possible for our US and EU customers. We are in fact swallowing half the shipping cost here, in order to get you guys a good deal as shipping can be costly. I'm sure you will find this acceptable. The book is sturdy and quite heavy, and the detail on finish is fantastic. We strived to make this a beautiful coffee-table/art book that is a little more special than other books. I hope you guys and girls enjoy it.

Please visit the brand new website for details/new images from the book and to place an order.

Thanks for your kind support and keep the legend alive.

posted 08-27-2013 01:13 PM               

This is a limited first edition of 1981 copies worldwide, plus a "first 500 copies" option that is hand numbered and signed, available only from here.

It is a beautiful coffee table book, which presets some amazing images in a fantastic way, I hope some you may find this project interesting. I have worked on the project for 4 years and it has been a blast! As you may or may not know, NASA's shuttle images aren't all in the best of conditions, but we have done great things with some of NASA's most creative pictures to clean them up and fix them for this book. NASA's image have been a great help along the way and the project has gained support from personal heroes of mine such as John Glenn and Bruce McCandless!

posted 10-19-2013 11:06 AM               

The photos have been carefully selected and formatted on to high quality gloss paper coupled with descriptive text with each photo.

The book is the space shuttle comparable to Michael Light's "Full Moon" photographic history of the Apollo moon landings.

posted 10-22-2013 11:10 AM               

All orders begin shipping tomorrow, we've got lots to get through here, but we shall get these out to you right away!

posted 11-01-2013 11:59 AM            

The focus is on the machinery rather than the astronauts which is no bad thing. The Space Shuttle is one beautiful spacecraft and this book shows it in all its glory from pre-launch to post landing.

posted 11-04-2013 11:34 AM               

I've only had time so far to quickly flip through the pages, but as others have said, the book is a stunning visual tribute to the space shuttle program.

The photos are well chosen, capturing the splendor of the spacecraft and its different phases of flight.

posted 11-06-2013 08:27 PM               

First of all, I can only echo others' sentiments on the sheer quality of this book. The photo selection, reproduction, layout, materials, binding, packaging... all top-notch.

For those still on the fence about purchasing a copy, it might be more useful for me, by way of review, to elaborate on what this book is and what it isn't.

Space Shuttle: A Photographic Journey is not a linear history-in-pictures of the Shuttle program... it's more of a celebration, and a beautifully executed aesthetic study of the machine itself.

After a prologue, the volume is presented in four parts depicting the phases of a Shuttle mission: Preparation, launch and ascent, on-orbit, and return to earth. Within each section are photographs of each phase from throughout the program. All the iconic images are here, from Columbia on the pad, floodlit at night before STS-1, the first launch and touchdown at Edwards, Bruce McCandless flying free with the MMU... all the way to Paolo Nespoli's shot of Endeavour docked with the ISS and the last launch and landing, with hundreds more less-seen but well-selected and stunningly presented photographs depicting both the Shuttle's staggering complexity and almost stately beauty. Yeah, I said "beauty." Anyone who browses through this book and sees a "flying brick" doesn't get it and never will.

Indeed, aside from the terrific production, I think what most pointedly makes this "not just another Shuttle book" (as a previous poster put it), is that it is focused entirely on the machine itself. The only astronauts' faces to be seen herein are those of the STS-74 crew peering out at Mir through the flight deck overhead windows. There are no shots of crews in Hawaiian shirts "surfing" in microgravity, or batting M&M's across the cabin into each other's mouths. Don't get me wrong, that stuff tickles me as much as anyone here, but it's simply outside the purview of this book.

posted 11-10-2013 11:21 AM               

After gazing through these magnificent photos, I took the time to see which flights were represented.

• Seven missions are illustrated in the "pre-Challenger" era.
  
• Nineteen flights used for the "post Challenger to Columbia" era.
  
• And, of the 22 "post Columbia" missions flown, 20 are illustrated in this book.

posted 11-10-2013 03:52 PM            

However, I see one major drawback in the production: many photos are presented over two pages such that the binding fold in the center between both pages disturbs the possibility to enjoy the complete photo. For example pages 120-121 show the shuttle docked to the ISS with the earth and black sky in the background. But the ISS is merely visible since it vanishes in the fold of the binding. I will never understand why that is not considered in the book making-process.

The general layout of the book reminds me of "Full Moon", but that book uses fold-outs for large panoramic photos, which can be laid flat to look at. I do not buy a signed book and then cut the spine to get loose leaflets which can be laid flat for looking at. All the photos in the NBC news review linked to above suffer from this issue.

posted 11-14-2013 12:19 PM            

I'd also like to comment on the packaging. I ordered this book along with another unrelated title through amazon.com. Both books were shipped together in one box. The other title was loose in the shipping container and sustained minor corner dents and dust cover scratches. The Luke Wesley Price book was absolutely pristine, the book itself sealed in shrink-wrap and then enclosed in its own sturdy protective box.

posted 01-09-2014 09:28 AM               

The response to the book and the work I have put into this project has been overwhelming and I thank you all for your kind words. It's not easy doing something on this scale completing off your own back, but I am happy I saw the project through to the end! I hope you see this book as something maybe just a little more "special" than your average space book... that's what I intended right down the the design, production and last details.

The book is now mostly sold out worldwide with very very limited copies left.
I have kept some signed copies back so I can attend the Space Lecture event on April 12th (thanks to Ken Willoughby and Andrew McDermott). It would certainly be nice to meet the legendary Ken Mattingly.

posted 03-03-2014 11:00 AM               

The quality of the book and packaging are truly special. As a collector, I value these attributes very highly. Luke has put together a terrific book and the attention to detail throughout is excellent - from the high resolution vibrant photos, to the solid book binding and construction it is obvious a great deal of care went into this production. The custom outer box is a very nice touch and provides excellent protection to all four corners and edges of the book.

Luke's customer service has been top notch as well - when my first copy (a signed, numbered below 100 edition) arrived with a few dings in it from the shipping monkeys, Luke graciously sent me another brand new copy straight from the UK - also signed, with an even lower number than the one I had, for FREE!